NoDemolitionJCPCDD.com - Background Info

Background Info - Note: there are several sub-menus that update readers. Please check them out.

What's at stake?

A JCP CDD Capital Improvement Project: 30-year bond for up to $42 million to be paid by special assessment against each household within the CDD. WHY??? Does it make sense?

courtesy wikimedia

On September 6, 2022 all CDD members were present. Four voted yea, and only one, Cindy Howell voted (for a second time), no to incurring a 30-year bond for up to 42,000,000 for capital expenses.

THANK YOU CINDY HOWELL FOR SHOWING FISCAL RESTRAINT IN A TIME OF UNPRECEDENTED INFLATION POST-PANDEMIC!

Latest record from the County: NZVAR 2024000003

(Still waiting for the wording of the variance request itself.)

Project Name: Julington Creek Plantation Bald Eagle Management Plan

Parent Project: MDP-2023000046

Issue Date: 1/24/2024 7:14:59 AM Comp Date:

Applicant: Ellen Avery-Smith /WK (904) 825-0879 /HM (904) 825-1615

Owner:

Proj Desc: Request for a Non-Zoning Variance to Section 4.01.10.C.4 of the St. Johns County Land Development Code to amend and restate the Bald Eagle Habitat Management Plan for Julington Creek Plantation to remove three existing community recreational facilities and underlying land from the secondary protection zone.

Paid Fees

Date

Time

Note

4/22/2024

3:44 PM

Comments Sent to Applicant

4/22/2024

3:44 PM

Comments Sent to Applicant

4/11/2024

2:47 PM

Comments Sent to Applicant

4/4/2024

1:39 PM

Comments Sent to Applicant

3/13/2024

9:33 AM

Project Description Updated

2/13/2024

12:15 PM

Comments Sent to Applicant

1/26/2024

10:12 AM

Project Description Updated

1/26/2024

10:08 AM

Project Description Updated

1/24/2024

7:18 AM

Fee Email Sent to Applicant

Agendas and Meeting Minutes SHOULD be available at the CDD website under the Agenda Center page. Here is the secret to finding the actual minutes, - click the Download Agenda button under the Agendas column. NOT EXACLY TRANSPARENT. If you want to see the actual meeting minutes from prior years, you will have to ask staff to locate them for you - not that they will know where or if they exist on the website.

The lack of transparency is conspicuous.

There is an Archives page that supposedly documents all the Audits, Budgets, Meeting Schedules, and Enhancement Project plans histories. Does this page provide ALL audits, budgets, meeting schedules, and enhancements plans? NO! Are the documents up-to-date? NO! Could you find the page if you tried? NO!

AGAIN. The lack of transparency is conspicuous. Deplorable...

Here are the issues

updated on 5/20 (in question form) our CDD should answer regarding their decision about what to do to improve property values and what steps needed to be taken to achieve this. Please review the New Info Page(s) as well.

JCP CDD Capital Improvement: 30-year bond for up to $42 million???

Residents Have the Following Concerns that you have not addressed. The fact that you have been considering this for over two years is irrelevant to this point. In the beginning of the discussion, we were in the middle of COVID and gave no thought to the original proposal. Now, you have been revising the plans and resubmitting surveys and polls at an astonishing speed, and have concluded that a 30-year bond not-to-exceed $42 million is required to address our aging Aquatic Center and Plantation Park. There is NO PLACE where anybody can research the CDD changes over time. The documents should be compiled into one place and they should be searchable so residents CAN understand the developments. You have done a very poor job of communicating, and you have no business “scolding” us that these plans have been “in the works” for around 3 years. Here is a non-exhaustive list of our concerns that have not been adequately addressed:

· JCP residents are allowed to use the pools in the Aquatic Center only three months out of the year. Why should each of us pay for capital improvements costing hundreds of dollars a year for over 30 years? The non-JCP swim teams use the pools more than we do. Who are these upgrades for? Not for us when you let us use the pool so infrequently.
· You have said after the new facilities are in place, we'll be able to use the pools year round. Why can't we use them now? Is paying the capital improvement "special assessment" a condition for using it more often? Sound kind of like a threat...
· You never mentioned that fact in any of your polls or surveys. Why did you omit such a relevant fact???
· In order to build these amenities, the present structures will have to be demolished. How will you reduce the disturbance (noise, dust, dirt) that nearby neighbors will experience, let alone our eagles?
· How long will residents be unable to use facilities (during construction/demolition)? How does that affect the children who cannot use the playground and pool? How about the special needs children and elderly? They lose the use of the facilities - at a time in their lives that really counts.
· Can you truthfully say that you have communicated the implications of the demolition/rebuild scenario?
· What is the project timeline from start to finish? How do sales stay competitive during the capital improvements phase?
· We want to know how these expensive improvements will “improve property values”? What do you mean by the phrase? Unless you can attach tangible quantifiable benefits to the results, why should you expect us to pay hundreds of dollars over the life of the bond (maybe 30 decades)?
· You indicated your decisions were not solely based on surveys? What else was your justification? Where is the cost comparison? Are people really going to flock to these amenities after they are built? They are going to get habituated to using the Recreation Center - that's where their friends will go. After construction, why should the want to leave the Rec Center when everyone, including their friends have bee going there?
· Why do we NEED these improvements (NOT why do we WANT them)? Are our sales of homes lagging behind sales of used homes in these other communities we are said to be “in competition” with? Will the improved amenities result in higher prices for our homes than we previously got? Will they shorten time on the market? Will increased CDD fees result in higher sales. Are we paying real dollars for vague assurances?
· We are living in a time of unprecedented inflation and continuing labor and supply shortages. Why are you considering a hike in assessments, or even a special assessment? Too many residents are still trying to recover economically from the pandemic. The actions you are taking could cause residents to lose their homes. How would that improve property values?
· Provide an accurate, scaled drawing so we know the size of improvements. For instance, how big is the “amphitheater” you’ll be building. (Oh, sorry... You removed that from the conceptual plan along with the pickleball court and the baby pool.) Have you thought about any inconvenience to nearby residents caused during usage of the amphitheater, and how will that be remedied?
· Will residents be able to use the aquatic facilities year-round, or will they be surrendered to outside swim teams for the majority of the year? Will any of the pools be heated as they were when the outside aquatic teams started to use them?
· What are the penalties for non- or substandard-performance, over budget, over deadlines? What contractual safeguards are you building into the agreement?
What if the eagle watchers see behaviors indicating the eagles are adversely affected? Will the work be paused or stopped. How does that affect delivery dates and project costs, or is there no adverse affect sufficient to stop or pause construction?

See a printable google document listing the above text.

Here are Google documents that summarize the meetings where this issue was discussed, so that you might see why these questions are relevant. The issue has been discussed throughout 2022 and 2023-4. Several elections have come and gone. Why the intransegence on the part of the BOS, and where are the supporting documents on the web.

Amenity presentations from 2021 and 2022. Includes survey results and comparisons to similar neighborhoods.
9/6/22 agenda and 6/28 Agenda and Minutes - and Other Enhanced Amenities and Increased Property Value Nonsense