ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – Neighbors packed the county complex in St. Augustine on Thursday, wearing red and urging officials to reject a proposed Daily’s Gas Station and car wash to be built beside the Fruit Cove Estates neighborhood along State Road 13.
After nearly an hour of discussion, the St. Johns County Planning and Zoning board voted unanimously to deny the proposal, dealing another setback to First Coast Energy’s decade-long effort to develop the property as a gas station.
Residents said the project would dramatically increase traffic and pose safety risks to the community. First Coast Energy purchased the property in 2016 and has made repeated attempts to develop it. A previous Daily’s proposal for the site was rejected by county commissioners in 2019.
The board’s consideration of the item was complicated further when First Coast Energy failed to submit a complete traffic study ahead of the meeting, a point that drew sharp criticism from residents and board members alike.
“The plans project nearly 5,500 daily trips of traffic in and out of this gas station,” said Michael Dunlop, Fruit Cove Estates HOA president, drawing applause from the packed room. Neighbors say the only community entrance, Otoe’s Place, and a nearby school bus stop would be endangered by the additional traffic.
All 44 homes in Fruit Cove Estates oppose the current proposal.
“With Daily’s, this is a pattern,” Dunlop said. “They’ve had seven months to prepare for this. I implore you to not fall for this.”
Neighbor Keith Dube echoed that sentiment. “Third time isn’t a charm. It’s already been ruled twice and denied twice that this is not an appropriate spot for a 24-pump gas station.”
Another resident, Chris Hewitt, pointed to an increase in crashes near the intersection over the past two years. “If you look at traffic over the last two years, it’s significantly increased — accidents here at the same intersection. To believe that there’s not a safety risk from Daily’s coming in, adding all of that traffic, large trucks — it’s nonsense.”
When reached previously, First Coast Energy declined to provide a public statement. Company representatives did not address questions at Thursday’s meeting.