ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The St. Johns County Planning and Zoning Agency is pushing forward a project to build a cell tower in St. Augustine South, one of three in the last year Action News Jax has told you has received concerns from nearby neighbors.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
Last September, we told you about a cell tower proposal in Nocatee that neighbors were against. A few months earlier, in May, we told you about a similar project planned in Rivertown.
But the new tower project planned to go up near the intersection of State Road 207 and Wildwood Drive, right behind the Freedom Baptist Church, seems to be getting more mixed responses from people living nearby than the other two did.
“It’s no problem for me, as long as it don’t mess up our cell phone reception,” said Bob Blac, who has been living in the nearby Entrada neighborhood for the last few years.
Frank Weldon lives a few doors down from him. He’s an 81-year-old Army veteran who’s still going to work for the Bass Pro Shop next to the Buc-ees off I-95. He says he needs the cell service the tower would bring.
“Saint Augustine is a growing community, and there’s building and all kinds of stuff going on and I think a cell tower would be a good thing,” Weldon said.
St. Johns County maps out cell towers across the county. It says there are three other towers all located within 10 minutes of both their neighborhood and the site of the possible new tower. The developer says it would boost Verizon coverage in the area, but some other people living nearby think it will hurt the look of the treeline.
“Whenever I see these things go up, people are like, ‘oh my gosh, look at this thing, it’s so ridiculous,’” said a St. Augustine homeowner during last night’s Planning and Zoning Agency meeting.
One of the agency’s board members also shared concerns for the project, worrying it could damage some of the nearby homes if the tower, which would be 160 feet tall, were to fall over.
“I just don’t think I can approve this application,” said board member Judy Spiegel.
Even though the Planning and Zoning Agency has given the project approval, it still needs to be approved by the St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners before it can be built.
The county’s development tracker usually shares when a county board will have a hearing on projects like these, but there isn’t a future date yet set for the tower. The next time it has a chance to be heard by county commissioners will be in their meeting on March 4th.
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
