A new suburban neighborhood is coming soon to Palm Valley.
St. Johns County Growth Management Director Suzanne Konchan said the community, called Valley Point, will be an 11-lot subdivision on six acres of land at 4485 and 4495 Palm Valley Road, near the Ponte Vedra Beach YMCA. She noted the developer, R. Wayne Flemister, has submitted an application for approval to rezone the area from Open Rural to Single Family Residential.
"The application says they are asking to rezone so they can develop 11 single-family residential lots averaging between 10 and 12,000 square feet each," Konchan said, "which is similar to the size of the residential lots that surround them."
According to Konchan, there is an eagle's nest near the property that will require the developer to seek an Eagle Management Plan to address the issue and develop within the area.
Flemister, a Ponte Vedra resident who is behind the Valley Point project, said the neighborhood will be a "boutique development" surrounded by nature and wildlife.
"It's kind of small," he said. "One of the things that drew us to the area is the wildlife, it's so plentiful and beautiful to observe."
Flemister added that he is cooperating with St. Johns County regarding the eagle's nest, and he intends to comply with all federal government regulations aimed at protecting the birds.
Regarding the future of Valley Point, Flemister said he has spoken to a number of different builders to get them involved with the property. The neighborhood should be completed in mid-spring or early summer 2019.
"They are all very interested," he said. "There isn't a lot of land like this, it's still large enough to put a nice little quiet development in there. I'm looking forward to working with the builder or builders and watching them build the end product."
One of the unique aspects of the upcoming neighborhood, Flemister added, is that it will be nestled in a quiet area away from the noisier parts of town.
Valley Point is not the only community Flemister would like to develop. The Ponte Vedra resident plans on purchasing other lots to develop more residential zones in the future.
"This is the first," he noted. "We're already looking to duplicate this idea and take another piece of land, not the large ones, but the smaller developed ones. We want to keep Ponte Vedra Beach as close to the quaintness that it's had in the past. There's only so much land and wildlife left."
