County Announces Additional Public Meetings for Comprehensive Plan and Strategic Plan

• 4 March 2024
• Category: Comprehensive Plan SJC News Public Meetings Strategic Plan
• Tags: 2024

St. Johns County is actively seeking community involvement in revising its Comprehensive Plan and developing a new Strategic Plan through a dynamic public engagement initiative. Three successful meetings took place in February, and an additional three are slated for March, further emphasizing the County’s commitment to inclusive and collaborative planning.

The March public meetings include the following:

• March 26, 6 to 7:30 p.m. at W.E. Harris Community Center, 400 E. Harris St., Hastings
• March 27, 6 to 7:30 p.m. at The Waterworks Building, 184 San Marco Ave., St. Augustine
• March 28, 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Creekside High School, 100 Knights Lane, St. Johns

The Comprehensive Plan is a state-required document that each county must evaluate for updates at least once every seven years. The Comprehensive Plan is designed to guide the future actions of a jurisdiction. For St. Johns County, it will present a long-range vision for a community’s future with long-range goals, objectives, and policies.

The intent in adopting a Strategic Plan in St. Johns County is to engage the public in developing strategic priorities and guide the allocation of resources in the future. In addition to the in-person meetings, the public can participate in an online survey, an idea map, and an online forum by visiting www.sjcfl.us/sjc-strategic-plan for more information. The public can also download and host a meeting using the “Meeting in Box” toolkit, where meeting materials and presentations can be downloaded and shared with groups.  

St. Johns County is excited that the Comprehensive Plan and Strategic Plan consultants have teamed up to create unique opportunities to capture public feedback on these two important initiatives. Although the plans are different, both plans are designed to help us plan for the short-term and long-term future of the community. These community meetings will create a collaborative environment for information sharing. BerryDunn is leading the Strategic Plan efforts, and Inspire Placemaking Collective is spearheading the Comprehensive Plan update.

In addition to the in-person meetings, St. Johns County has public kiosks throughout the community with printed copies of the Comprehensive Plan survey. These kiosks are available at the following locations:

• Anastasia Island Branch Library, 124 Sea Grove Main St., St. Augustine Beach
• Bartram Trail Branch Library, 60 Davis Pond Blvd., Fruit Cove
• Hastings Branch Library, 6195 S. Main St., Hastings
• Main Branch Library, 1960 N. Ponce De Leon Blvd., St. Augustine
• Ponte Vedra Beach Branch Library, 101 Library Blvd., Ponte Vedra Beach
• Southeast Branch Library, 6670 US 1 South, St. Augustine
• St. Johns County Utility Department, 1205 State Road 16, St. Augustine
• St. Johns County Permit Center, 4040 Lewis Speedway, St. Augustine
• St. Johns County Auditorium, 500 San Sebastian View, St. Augustine

The public can also access the Comprehensive Plan at www.SJCPlanUpdate.com to provide feedback through an online survey and interactive idea wall, as well as download and electronically share the printed version of the survey.

The Comprehensive Plan update public engagement efforts were presented to the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners on Nov. 21, 2023. The plans help residents identify their vision for the community’s future, coordinate local decision-making, and provide guidance to landowners and developers. The Comprehensive Plan is broken down into chapters called “Elements,” each covering a different topic area. The Elements included within the current St. Johns County Comprehensive Plan are Land Use Element, Transportation Element, Housing Element, Infrastructure Element, Coastal Conservation Element, Recreation Open Space Element, Intergovernmental Coordination Element, Capital Improvements Element, and Property Rights Element.