ChristinaAbel's blog

In a surprise move, the St. Johns County commissioners decided Tuesday to stop a plan that would have charged homeowners a fee for fire services.
Four of the five commissioners had voted in favor of the fee in June, but changed their minds after receiving a lot of negative feedback from the public.
Currently, homeowners pay for fire services through their property taxes, but that’s not enough to fund infrastructure needs, such as new fire trucks and fire station buildings, so the commissioners were looking into charging a fee based on the size of the residents’ homes rather than their property values.

The sky is not falling on Ponte Vedra Beach’s restaurants.
With recent publicity about several businesses closing, other businesses are feeling the fallout from rumors that they are also shutting their doors.
Steve Anderson, regional marketing director for Twisted Martini restaurant and nightclub, which has locations in Ponte Vedra Beach and downtown Jacksonville, said rumors that the bar is closing have hurt the business.
Anderson said they have no plans to close their Ponte Vedra Beach or downtown locations. He said they are deeply involved in the Ponte Vedra Beach community and, since they opened their second location there in April 2007, business has been booming.

Some residents want the walk that would start at Ponte Vedra Boulevard.

By CHRISTINA ABEL, Shorelines

PONTE VEDRA BEACH - A residents' movement to build sidewalks on Ponte Vedra Boulevard has gained even more traction and now a group of homeowners wants to extend the sidewalk to Mickler's Landing.

In a Municipal Service District meeting Monday, Jim Staman said he's trying to get his neighbors together to pay for a 4,500-foot sidewalk on the west side of the boulevard that would run from 1008 Ponte Vedra Blvd. south to Mickler's. That stretch of concrete is expected to cost about $73,000.

   Dozens of Sawgrass Marriott Cabana Club members are planning to boycott ordering food and drinks at the club to show their anger over an 80-percent increase in membership dues.
   In support of the members’ protest, the president of the Ponte Vedra Athletic Association baseball club has decided to no longer hold their annual fund-raiser at the club.
   And club member Scott Erwin, who is also the general manager of the San Jose Country Club, called the dues increases “grossly unreasonable.”
   But the Marriott is holding steady with its new fees.
   “The only thing I will say is that our membership renewals are going very well,” said Debi Bishop, managing director of the Sawgrass Marriott.

A precautionary boil water advisory is in effect for certain customers in Ponte Vedra to boil water used for drinking and food preparation through Saturday.

The customers in Ponte Vedra are from 181 San Juan Drive to 196 San Juan Drive.

This precautionary advisory is issued as a result of bacteriological (coliform) samples showing possible contamination of the water during a planned water main outage. Coliforms are bacteria that are naturally present in the environment and are used as an indicator that other potentially harmful, bacteria may be present.

Coliforms were found and this is a warning of potential problems.

The Nocatee developers want to use 540 acres they own near the Palm Valley Bridge to set up a buffer between the development and the nearby Dee Dot Ranch and to open up space to the west for construction of parking spaces for the PGA Tour.

They also want to build single-family homes there.

The new plans would call for St. Johns County modifying its comprehensive plan to allow building a half-mile closer to the Intracoastal Waterway.

The Davis family, which sold the 540 acres northwest of the bridge, has had a close relationship with the PGA Tour and wanted to help them out by providing more parking for The Players tournament, which draws fans from across the world, said Greg Barbour, a partner of the Parc Group developers.

Ponte Vedra High School Athletic Director Gene Baker said Jan. 17 that he is taking applications for the school’s Booster Club board.
Wednesday is the deadline for applying for the positions of president, vice president, secretary and treasurer. On Thursday, a preliminary ballot will be posted on the high school Web site, at http://www-pvhs.stjohns.k12.fl.us/. Candidates can send a letter of interest for these positions to Baker at bakerg@stjohns.k12.fl.us.
Until Monday, Jan. 29, there will be a review period in which other people can apply for positions or candidates can take their names off the ballot. Then, on Jan. 30, there will be an election at 6:30 p.m. at Landrum Middle School for the board positions.

In the aftermath of losing head football coach Craig Howard, Nease High School officials were quick to name a new coach, Danny Cowgill, the school’s defensive coordinator for the past seven years.
Cowgill, a Nease alumnus, was ready to move into a head coaching position, said Nease Principal Linda Thomson.
Thomson said that the timing was perfect because they could have lost Cowgill to another school had they not been able to offer him the position.
“He’s been a great asset; we’re lucky to have him,” Thomson said.
Thomson announced Sunday that Howard is leaving to be the head football coach at Columbia High School in Lake City

For more on this story, see Wednesday's Shorelines.

  At a meeting Tuesday, the St. Johns County School Board unanimously chose Ponte Vedra High School as the name for the school being built just west of the Palm Valley Bridge.  The school is set to open in Aug. 2008 and students living east of the site will attend the new school, while those living west of the site will go to Nease High School.

   At a St. Johns County School Board workshop Tuesday, Superintendent Joseph Joyner said he will submit three possible school names for the new high school being built just west of the Intracoastal Waterway.

   The names are Ponte Vedra High School, Ponte Vedra Beach High School and Ponte Vedra LeMaster High School. The School Board will vote on the name at its meeting Nov. 13.