ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – First Coast Energy has withdrawn its application to rezone land for a proposed Daily’s convenience store and gas station in the Fruit Cove area of St. Johns County, the Board of County Commissioners said Friday.
The company pulled its application for an approximately 7.7-acre property at 600 State Road 13 North, the board said in a statement. The item had been scheduled for a public hearing before the Board of County Commissioners on Aug. 4; because of the withdrawal, it will not be considered at that meeting.
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Fruit Cove residents have opposed a Daily’s gas station several times over the years.
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.
On July 9, the planning and zoning board unanimously denied the proposal after First Coast Energy failed to submit a traffic study ahead of the meeting.
A 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,” Hewitt said.
The withdrawal leaves the proposal off the county commission agenda for now.