Your CDD at Work

The Board of Supervisors of the Julington Creek Plantation Community Development District will hold their meetings for Fiscal Year 2008 at the Community Development District Recreation Offices, 950 Davis Pond Boulevard, St. Johns, Florida 32259 on the second Tuesday of each month at 6:00 p.m. as follows:

October 9, 2007

November 13, 2007

December 11, 2007

January 8, 2008

February 12, 2008

March 11, 2008

April 8, 2008

May 13, 2008

June 13, 2008

July 8, 2008

August 12, 2008

September 9, 2008

Meetings may be continued to a date and time certain which will be announced at the meeting. There may be occasions when one or more Supervisors will participate by telephone. At the above location there will be present a speaker telephone so that any interested person can attend the meeting at the above location and be fully informed of the discussions taking place either in person or by telephone communication.

Any person requiring special accommodations at this meeting because of a disability or physical impairment should contact the District Office at (904) 940-5850 at least five calendar days prior to the meeting.

Each person who decides to appeal any action taken at these meetings is advised that person will need a record of the proceedings and that accordingly, the person may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, including the testimony and evidence upon which such appeal is to be based. - James Oliver, District Manager

CDD Minutes and Record Archive (Public Records)

CDD Supervisor's Contact Information

Other CDD Contact Information

CDD financial management services company - Governmental Management Services. For more information, call 287-2633

For a comprehensive understanding of CDD laws under which the Julington Creek Plantation CDD operate please review Chapter 190 of the Law of the State of Florida at your convenience - go to: www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes.

The Julington Creek Plantation Property Owners Association has a new board of directors. The new Board members are:

Delbert Dosch                 Grovewood
Julius Edwards                Whispering Pines
Charles Pease                Eastwood
Donald Reilly                  Whispering Pines
Jim Richardson               Deer Run
David Taus                     Willow Pond

The seventh member will be an appointee of D.R. Horton - until such time as the developer builds out our community. For more details contact the May Management Company at 880-8796. This information is provided as a courtesy of the CDD Board of Supervisors.

The Julington Creek Plantation CDD has been working diligently towards the development of a new recreation center going back to approximately 2001. It was recognized by many residents that the original developer provided inadequate facilities to support the number of within JCP. It is difficult for us to remember every detail of that occurred during this time. As a result, I have gone back through the minutes from the CDD meetings dating back to the beginning of 2003. Below is a summary of those minutes to clarify the events and to fill in the gaps left by the recent meetings and newspaper articles.

In 2001, the CDD Board (then developer controlled by Julington Partners) held a workshop to discuss building an additional facility, similar in size to the existing swim club. It became apparent during this meeting that we really needed to pursue a facility that was larger and with more amenities. After much discussion, I made a motion to appoint an Ad Hoc Committee to undertake a study to determine what this facility should include and where it should be located. This motion passed and the Ad Hoc Committee of residents was established. The committee included 2 board members, myself and Kathy Minnis and 5 residents including Al Abbatiello, James Torrisi, Mary Ann Behrman, Tom Manuel and Tom Meyung. The committee spent the better part of a year researching land options and creating a survey for the residents to provide feedback.

During 2002, the existing residents were mailed the survey (approximately 2000 went out with a 50% return rate). The Ad Hoc Committee spent significant time analyzing the results of the survey in order to come up with a concept for the new facility. This survey process was completed in October 2002.

In February 2003, the Board selecteded Basham & Lucas to design the facility and the Ad Hoc Committee was officially disbanded. The District also began conversations with DR Horton, the developer that had purchased all of the undeveloped parcels from Julington Partners, to buy land necessary for the project. The Board was considering parcels 50, 51 and 52. During these discussions, I had conversations with Horton about donating $500,000 to the construction of the project given the benefit to their continued development activities that a new recreation facility would offer. We also discussed the need for the CDD to rezone parcels 50 and 51 should we use those for the facility. I also asked Horton to donate parcel 52 to the CDD.

The Board started discussing, in March 2003, the purchase of additional land to supplement the other parcels if we wanted to build a larger facility in one location. Rayland, the adjacent property owner, was not willing to enter into discussions until the DRI's for Durbin Crossing and Aberdeen were approved. In this timeframe, Horton started to discuss selling parcel 51 as 3 single family lots and using parcel 52 for multi-family townhomes. They agreed to wait until the CDD formulated the plan for the facility. Later that month, we were able to discuss potential prices for parcels 50 and 51, but Horton took parcel 52 off the table and did not offer it for sale to the CDD. They also confirmed that they had formally budgeted $500,000 for the recreation center which donation was not and is not contingent in any way.

In April 2003, the discussions then turned back to acquiring 50, 51 and 52 for a total of $875,000 ($175,000 for each lot, 3 on parcel 51 and 2 on parcel 50, and zero for parcel 52) as well as the $500,000 contribution. The Board was also researching the County approvals needed on each parcel for the facility.

St. Johns County indicated that we would need a Notice of Proposed Change (NOPC) on parcels 50, 51 and 52 as well as a Major Modification to the PUD. On the Rayland parcel, we would need a Major Modification to the PUD and to rezone the land from Silva culture. During this meeting, we were told that the NOPC must be approved before the Major Modification could be approved and that the certain land use changes can only occur twice a year on a cycle. It was also learned that a CDD has no rights under Florida Statutes Chapter 380 to independently undertake an NOPC. Therefore, we were required to work through the developer (DR Horton) in order to get the NOPC completed. At this point in time, the District had 2 options that we were assessing, 1) parcels 50, 51 and 52 or 2) parcels 50 and the Rayland parcel.

During May of 2003, the CDD commenced negotiations with Rayland. Additionally, the CDD Board selected the option involving parcel 50 and the Rayland parcel and we approved the purchase of parcel 50 from DR Horton. The Board felt that it was important to place the new facilities in one centralized location.

In the June 2003 meeting, the Board heard the first discussion from Horton about the potential land use change on parcel 52 for "homes". The district also began negotiating the purchase contract on parcel 50 with Horton in July 2003. The draft of the contract included the acquisition of parcel 50 and the contribution of the $500,000, split into 3 payments occurring during the construction of the facility. There were also ongoing negotiations with Rayland concerning land acquisition and a Right of Entry Agreement.

In August of 2003, Horton informed the Board that they were fine with selling us parcel 50 but had conclusively decided not to sell parcel 52. They did discuss that they were looking into the viability of building townhomes on the site.

At the September 2003 meeting, the Board heard the first discussion concerning Horton adding parcel 52 to the NOPC and contributing another $50,000 to effectively cover the costs of the land use change process. The Board was told that Horton wanted to go through the NOPC to rezone from recreation to multi-family for townhomes. We were also told that 2 NOPC applications within one DRI shouldn’t be done simultaneously. At that point we discussed adding a provision to the contract on parcel 50 to be able to sever the NOPC application in the event the request on parcel 52 stumbled. Concerning the Rayland parcel, in spite of months of negotiations, Rayland informed us that they were converting to a Real Estate Investment Trust and all contract negotiations would be delayed until the conversion was completed.

The Board received another draft agreement on parcel 50 from Horton at the October 2003 meeting. This draft had the first mention of the potential for higher density for parcel 52.

Since that time, the Board has spent considerable time completing the purchase of parcel 50 and negotiating the Rayland contract, which was finalized in May of 2005 after 2 years.

Clearly, the intent of the Board has been to bring the recreation center to fruition for the benefit of the entire community. If we are guilty of anything, it is of not realizing that we may be perceived as guilty by mere association. The donation of the $500,000 from DR Horton to the CDD was finalized while we were still considering the purchase of parcel 52. The donation and the NOPC application were completely separate issues. The donation is not contingent upon Horton’s success or failure for any land use changes. It was clear that the CDD had no legal standing to undertake the application of the NOPC and was required by law to apply through the developer or with their contractual consent. The Board was also advised after our consultants conferred with County staff that we should not run 2 NOPC's within the same DRI at the same time. As a result of all of these issues, the Board agreed to the joint application.

While the board at the time was aware of DR Horton's intent to rezone parcel 52 to multi-family, it was never clear until the application was filed just how many units they had planned for the site. It should be noted that all of this information is memorialized within the Minutes maintained by the Julington Creek Plantation CDD.

It is not within the CDD's purview to become involved with zoning issues. The Board has not taken a position on any land use change except its own, now or in the past. In fact, I do not believe any CDD in the County has involved itself in any land use changes – Chapter 190, F.S., provides that CDD activities are subject to all County land use and environmental regulations The County has strict processes in place whereby property owners can provide input on zoning issues. It is regrettable there is a misperception about the CDD's role in land-use issues. In the proper forum and venue, we support the affected homeowner's in their efforts to voice their concerns to the PZA and BCC. We apologize for the contentious atmosphere this has created with the affected residents. On a positive note, this issue will hopefully encourage community involvement on an on-going basis.

The CDD Board will continue to work diligently to bring the new recreation center to a reality. We will focus on providing a facility that the residents want and one that all of us can be proud of.

Please click on the link provided below for information on the division of responsibility for the maintenance of the common areas within Julington Creek Plantation and those areas which border our community.

Current Meeting Calendar

CDD Minutes and Record Archive (Public Records)

CDD Supervisor's Contact Information

Other CDD Contact Information