St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners Chair Krista Joseph asked colleagues April 1 to explore the creation and potential benefits of a quality-of-life advisory board.
It could be “a board that talks about ‘what are the things that are good for quality of life,’” she said at the board meeting.
She said it could address issues such as traffic, parks and urban sprawl.
“It could be a different perspective from people who live here,” Joseph said.
Ideal candidates could include constituents with vested interests and experience in issues such as waterways, forestry, development and concurrency, she said.
“Can we explore something like that?” she asked the commissioners. “Can we get consensus on at least exploring it?”
Commissioner Christian Whitehurst said he would support the concept provided it wouldn’t be redundant with other county boards, agencies or commissions.
In cities with similar advisory groups, some are extensions of an elected council or commission while others are voluntary.
In 2022, Jacksonville City Council member Michael Boylan chaired the Special Committee on Critical Quality of Life Issues, which culminated in a report presented Dec. 13.
New Orleans has a Quality of Life Committee that “provides an opportunity for the City Council to address quality of life issues holistically. Topics for discussion include blight, dumping, trash, high grass and others,” the report said.
Asbury Park, New Jersey, maintains a voluntary committee “whose goal is to identify critical code enforcement, housing, cultural and recreational issues facing the city and to create unique creative solutions to address these quality-of-life issues in a positive way.”
Santa Fe, New Mexico’s, committee “seeks to support equitable access to health and human services, employment, housing, education, arts and culture so that residents from every part of the city and of every income, age, religion, gender, ethnicity, ancestry, sexual orientation, physical or mental handicap and veteran or immigration status enjoy a high quality of life.”
Joseph said the committee could meet regularly or on an ad hoc basis.
“This could be an opportunity to just brainstorm, to be a think tank that looks at what we should be considering when we approve growth or really anything,” Joseph said. “It could be a group that looks at things coming forward and says, ‘We like it because of this’ or ‘We like it because of that. It checks the boxes of the things we like.’”
The St. Johns County Commission will revisit the quality-of-life committee concept at an upcoming meeting.