Newly elected St. Johns County Commissioners aim to control the county’s rapid growth

St. Johns County is growing yearly with more housing, infrastructure, and people. The two newly elected St. Johns County commissioners said they want to better control that growth.

It’s well known that St. Johns is one of the fastest-growing counties in Florida and the United States. The county has over 250 developments in the works mostly in northern St. Johns, according to its own website.

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“That’s the overwhelming growth theme for everyone – it’s the rapid expansion growth,” newly elected County Commissioner District 3 Clay Murphy said.

Murphy said his mission is to control the growth in the county.

“With our infrastructure and roads, I think we have done a really poor job of planning,” Murphy said.

He says not having better negotiations with developers and not treating economic issues as a business decision all caused projects to be backed up.

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“Whatever is brought forward we will approve. We can’t do that anymore. We see the effects of it. The effects are in the street and overcrowded schools and the fact people can’t get to work,” Murphy said.

Murphy said he wants to change the pro-growth message that the previous commission encouraged. But he’s not alone. Newly elected County Commissioner Ann Taylor is on board with controlling the rapid growth.

She said their similar development views will give them better odds when voting on projects.

“He and I will be able to help out, make a difference, and be able to say no to projects that are going to have a negative impact on our residents in our community. And being able to push the no button,” Taylor said.

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Murphy and Taylor join Commissioner Krista Joseph to make up a slow-growth majority on the commission.

The county told Action News Jax in July it’s expected to almost double in size before 2050.

The University of Florida projects the county’s population to go from 315,317 to 652,600 by then.

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