By Travis Gibson • News4Jax
The St. Johns County Board of Commissioners approved a controversial expansion Dec. 21 of SilverLeaf, a new development in northwest St. Johns County.
The commission approved the plans 4-1, with commissioner Paul Waldron the “no” vote.
The plan will add more than 2,300 acres to the development, providing property for up to 5,600 more dwelling units and another 250,000 square feet of commercial space.
The added units would be split into 3,000 single-family units, 600 multifamily units and 2,000 age-restricted units.
People in the area sent dozens of emails to commissioners to oppose the expansion. Some spoke at the meeting about potential problems like traffic and environmental impact.
“Do you have any specific factual evidence today that if we approve this project, we’re going to endanger lives on the highway?” commissioner Jeremiah Blocker asked one of the public speakers.
“Well, of course not, but how could I?” said Al Abbatiello, chairman of Bartram Scenic & Historic Highway Corridor Management Group, who represented about 35 community members.
“But the fact of the matter is traveling requires vehicles on the roadway. We’ve talked about currently, with the total approved, you’re looking at 16,300 residents, and that means approximately 2.3 vehicles per home. You’re looking at thousands of new vehicles on roadways, which are already congested, which you have to admit they are already congested.”
A representative of The Hutson Companies, which is the developer, said traffic will not be a major issue because the expansion will coincide with the addition of the First Coast Expressway, which is expected about 2030.
The community is between County Road 210 and Florida 16, and hundreds of homes have been built in the past few years.
The expansion approved Dec. 21 will take the development across Florida 16 and expand past County Road 13.
When completed, the project will include:
•16,300 residential units
•2 million square feet of retail space
•900,000 square feet of office space
•300,000 square feet of hospital space
•About 10,900 acres in total land use
Development is expected to be completed in 2047.
News4Jax is a Jacksonville Daily Record news partner.