Ponte Vedra Residents Still Want a Chunk of Guana for a High School

[Steve W]

It appears some of the residents of Ponte Vedra still like the idea of building a school on state conservation land, known as Guana WMA. It also seems this is the best solution to them as it is basically just unused land and is just a bunch of palmettos and pine trees. It also appears that their needs outweigh those of all the others that use this area. Additionally it appears these residents are poor planners of where to live and raise a family as there was no high school there when they moved into the area. Now that their children are all of the sudden teenagers, they have seen the light and they do not want to be hassled by the inconvenience of having to drive up SR210 to get them to Nease high school.

So now they have persuaded Herb Payton(owner of Gate gas stations), not to just give development rights to the Outpost land inside of Guana but to give ownership of the land to the state for a swap of 50 acres.

So why is this proposal a bad idea? It seems like just a land for land swap, right?

It is not because the parents are ignorant to the need for areas of conservation, the pitiful lack of hunting opportunities in NE FL or even that there will be damage created to the surrounding areas. No it is because it will set a very dangerous and currently non-existent precedent for other state owned lands. Allowing the use of state purchases conservation land purchased through the Save Our Coasts program will open additional coastal land to development.

It almost makes one wonder if developers are backing this school proposal to get their hands on more coastal land so develop them into condos.

I hope you will oppose this proposal and any others in the future.

So just where can PV residents get 50 acres to build a new HS? I will continue to propose my solution, take it from the TPC land, there is plenty there to build a HS and it is more centrally located to all the residents of PV.

Here are some links to recent articles in the Florida Times-Union…

Group backs Guana land swap for school

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu...shtml (http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/022206/nes_21155323.shtml)

Using Guana park land for school is still a bad idea

Op-ed by Ron Littlepage

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu...shtml (http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/022406/opl_21191163.shtml)

[Steve W]

Basically the proposal is this...

Herb Peyton, owns a parcel of land inside Guana, located in the NW section, it at the end of Neck Road. I believe it is called "The Outpost".

If you look at the WMA brochure you will see a little box that is marked private property. That is the land we are talking about that will be swapping. I am not sure how big the entire parcel is but the deal is for 50 acres of it to be given to the state.

Here is the WMA brochure (you will need Adobe to view it.) http://myfwc.com/hunting/wma/N...6.pdf (http://myfwc.com/hunting/wma/NE_Region/Guana_River-2005-06.pdf)

In return the state will give 50 acres over to the St. Johns County School Board along Mickler Road. The article states it will be across the street from the Publix, which is at the intersection of Mickler and SR210.

In order for this to be approved the state cabinet and governor must approve it after it goes through all the other state agencies.