ST. JOHNS, Fla. – It was standing room only Wednesday night as hundreds packaged a church in Fruit Cove, rallying against a proposed apartment and townhome development that would be placed in a predominantly rural neighborhood.
Residents tell News4JAX the application to begin rezoning and building hasn’t been filed, but they are preparing with a well-organized campaign, even printing letters and sending them to St. Johns County leaders in opposition of the plan.
According to RISE’s site plan, the company wants to build age-restricted apartments and a townhome community. Developers would need the county’s approval to rezone a portion of the land in order to build.
Thu Nguyen attended the Wednesday night meeting. She said her extended family lives in the area.
“We just want peace and quiet,” she said. “I mean, I encourage growth, but not here. Keep it preserved. Keep it beautiful.”
Dawn Hutchins has been helping organize an effort against the proposal with the group “Save Fruit Cove” — taking steps to bring attention to the proposal and block its progress through the bureaucracy of local government.
She said that it all begins with zoning.
“Once they rezone that one part, that makes the areas around it compatible with that new zoning, so it just starts from there and it keeps on going,” Hutchins said.
She said her mind was blown by how many people showed up for the meeting.
“It gives me so much hope,” Hutchins said. “I am so proud of our community for coming out and responding so quickly.”
Magan Hartley says the proposed development would be next door to her home.
“We’ve invested everything we have into making it our forever home, so to pull in tonight and to see all the people here that are ready to support and go to war for us, to keep our spot what it is and not let this developer come in and just ruin something so special, which is Fruit Cove, it means everything to us,” Harley said.
The organizers say the fight could be long, and they encouraged attendees to keep showing up and making their voices heard to local leaders.
As of Wednesday, more than 4,000 people have signed a petition on change.org against the proposed development.
A request for comment Wednesday from RISE was not returned by publication of this article.