The Ponte Vedra Inn & Club’s application for its 30-year proposed renovation project to be rezoned as a planned unit development was approved by the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners during its monthly meeting on Nov. 7.
The application passed by a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Krista Joseph as the lone opposition to the approval.
Joseph’s concerns were similar to those during the public comments section, which were that she was not against voting for the project, but there was still some discussion and work that she believed needed to be worked out between the sides involved.
Commissioners Christian Whitehurst, Sarah Arnold, Roy Alaimo and Henry Dean all stated that they were satisfied with the way the project staff went about getting out in the community and taking the time to speak with residents to help work out any issues or questions that arose during the process.
The large crowd on hand that took during the public comments section of the meeting, was mixed with views from both sides and at times the lines even became very blurred, with some against it stating that they believe renovation was necessary and they had respect for the integrity of the Peyton family, which owns GATE Petroleum and the property being discussed, but they would like to see it be accomplished by following the regulations in place without so many stipulations being asked for the project.
According to John Peyton, president of GATE Petroleum Company and owner of the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club property, he was looking back the other day and determined he had met with about 143 people within the past year to talk about the project.
“It’s not a perfect plan, but there is no perfect plan,” Peyton said.
Peyton continued to reassure the residents in attendance and the Commission that he and his family’s company are proud of being part of the area and have acknowledged the concerns of the public and the boards they have met with to revise the plan several times.
However, one who did not believe they followed through with what they said they would after leaving the Ponte Vedra Zoning and Adjustment Board was Jane Rollinson, who has been a member of the board for three years and is a Ponte Vedra Beach resident.
“On Sept. 11, the PVZAB met for 11 hours to review the then filed application for a PUD with 31 waivers,” Rollinson said. “Twelve of the waivers were approved as written, 17 waivers were approved with amendments and two waivers were denied. The PVZAB also recommended that the application for rezoning into a PUD be denied until substantial issues with the application were resolved. Of the 17 waivers which were approved with amendments, the applicant did not follow through on 4 of them.”
Because they had not yet finished the completion of the request, Rollinson stated on behalf of the PVZAB that their request of denial to the Commission for review remains in place.
“The applicant should abide by the same height definition as all others in all places in St Johns County,” Rollinson said. “Additionally, there are no existing conditions, I would not call 2% of a building at 56 feet built before the zoning code changed, justification, that merit approving a waiver to build on the PVIC campus over 43 feet and the Lodge campus over 35 feet, except for the existing resort space on the east side of PVB.”
After gathering all the information available and hearing all the comments on the topic, including hours of meetings spent with the party behind the project gathering a better understanding of it, it passed with the majority vote and now the project is officially a planned unit development.
