GREEN COVE SPRINGS, Fla. – Green Cove Springs residents rallied enough push back to motivate county commissioners to reject the rezoning of land to make way for a new residential development.
Residents who were opposed to the development that could have become their next-door neighbor voiced opposition at the Clay County Commission meeting on Tuesday.
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“We’re just overpopulated right now. The roads are not adequate,” said LaWanda Barber, who lives in the area.
The property under consideration was on the west side of Green Cove Springs near the intersection of Country Road 315 and 315-C.
Developers submitted a proposal to commissioners to rezone the land and develop a Planned Unit Development (PUD) for 160 new homes.
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Commissioners voted against the rezoning at Tuesday’s meeting and passed it along to the state for further consideration.
The commission did not vote to approve the development.
“What’s the need for these house? We have them going everywhere,” one resident said at the meeting.
“This is our home, and we feel very strongly that it should be protected from development,” another person said.
And these residents aren’t immune to massive development. It’s going in on practically every side of them in the greater Green Cove Springs area.
The commission considered the residents’ comments, even pushing back on some social media chatter that suggested they were “in the pockets” of developers.
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“There are always people on Facebook saying the developers are in the commissioner’s pockets. [...] Tell me which developers are in my pocket and tell me which projects I’ve voted for,” Commissioner Betsy Condon said." “And I’ve voted for some that make sense.”
Commissioner Kristen Burke also detailed her experience.
“I received a call from our former Congressman, who was also our former commissioner, letting me know that he was asked by the developer for my support. And as I said to him, no, I do not have support for this,” Burke said.
Now that the rezone was turned down, it’s possible the developers could try and rework their proposal, but for now, the residents around County Roads 315 and 315-C have their victory.