ST. JOHNS, Fla. – Residents in the Fruit Cove community plan to come together in opposition of a proposal to bring a townhouse and apartment development to the predominantly rural neighborhood along Fruit Cove Road.
The possibility of new construction is already being met with resistance from many who live in that area.
Many of the people who live there who spoke with News4JAX say the county is already struggling to deal with growth.
Residents have created a Facebook page called Save Fruit Cove Road, and they’ve started a Change.org org petition that has more than 4,000 signatures against the rezoning.
John and Magan Hartley said they have found their dream home in Fruit Cove, and RISE, a real estate company’s proposal to build new townhouses and apartments, puts their wildlife, peace and privacy at risk.
″We moved from an HOA community, and we moved away from that development for that reason,” John Hartley said. “We wanted to be out here with our kids, family and nature, and that’s all being threatened right now.”
“I think that changes the entire makeup of the area, and in the meetings that we’ve had so far with neighbors, the pulse is nobody wants this,” Magan Hartley said. “They don’t want to talk about development. They want this to go away. They don’t want this rezoned.”
The Hartleys join hundreds of residents, like Jeremy McAllee, who are against the plan to develop 36 acres of land along Fruit Cove Road currently zoned for both rural and residential development.
“The development is just going to bring in more students, more overcrowding and more issues with the schools,” McAllee said.
Any building would need the county’s approval to rezone a portion of the land.
A meeting originally scheduled at the middle school was canceled, but a community meeting will still be held Wednesday at Geneva Presbyterian Church from 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.