ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — St. Johns County commissioners just said “yes” to an Elkton man’s request to replace his home with a potential shopping center.
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The property sits on SR-207, right off I-95 South, which is made up of the man’s home sitting by itself on two acres of land. St. Johns County property records show the house has been there since 1962 and was only recently bought in 2020 by the new homeowner.
He went through the Ponte Vedra Beach based law firm Birchfield & Humphrey to ask the county for permission to allow his home to be removed from the property and replaced with a parking lot and a building in the middle. The building, based off the homeowner’s application, could be used for a number of things, including a restaurant, grocery store, school, church, and other businesses.
Action News Jax’s Finn Carlin went to the home, rang the doorbell multiple times and knocked at the door, but nobody was home at the time. We even found the homeowner’s phone number through the application, but it immediately hung up when we tried calling.
However, one of his next-door neighbors has been living in Elkton for the last five years and says she doesn’t want to see a new shopping area built next to her house, especially since she moved there to avoid development.
“My kid lives here. We just like our privacy, and I think having a business is unnecessary,” said Wendy Johnson, who lives next door.
Action News Jax spoke off-camera to the man living next to Johnson’s home, who didn’t want to interview with us. But he told us he believes the homeowner should be able to do what he wants with the property, even if it includes turning it into a business area.
The homeowner hasn’t yet shared any plans for what will be done with the property or when, but the lawyers representing him expect development to start in the next two years. County rules say something needs to be built there in the next five years.
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