ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — Getting to the beach in St. Johns County could one day mean hopping on a trolley.
The county is considering a public trolley system that would serve South Ponte Vedra Beach and Vilano Beach.
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Along that stretch, private homes line State Road A1A and there are few public access points or places to park.
“You don’t have a lot of parking around here,” beachgoer William Bell said.
Why a trolley?
The county said the idea has two goals: make the shoreline easier for the public to reach, and help pay for a major beach restoration project.
St. Johns County is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on a long-term federal partnership to restore the shoreline in South Ponte Vedra Beach.
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To move forward, the county needs a sustainable way to fund its local share of the cost. One of the main things the Army Corps looks at when setting that share is how much public beach access exists within the project area.
The trolley would have designated stops at county-owned properties in the project area. It could also stop at existing public access points in Vilano Beach, which could help with the cost share for the Army Corps project already underway there. The county said the system could also support its broader mobility efforts.
Mixed reactions
Beachgoers who spoke with Action News Jax were split.
“A trolley might help, might help with mobility, wouldn’t require any parking,” Russell Davies said. “Sounds like a good idea. It never hurts to get more people to the beach, you know?”
Others weren’t sold on it.
“You gotta, I guess, pay for the trolley, right?” Tiffany Kimberling said. “I would probably just go to the one where I could park.”
Nothing decided yet
County officials stress that the concept is still being evaluated. No decisions have been made about where stops would go or whether the county will pursue the trolley at all.
How to weigh in
The county will hold a community meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 7, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve, 505 Guana River Road in Ponte Vedra Beach.
The same presentation will be given at 4, 5 and 6 p.m. After each one, attendees can visit breakout stations to ask questions and give feedback.
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If you can’t attend, the presentation will be recorded, and a transcript of the question-and-answer sessions will be posted at sjcfl.us/CoastalProjects after the meeting. The county may schedule more meetings depending on community interest.
Questions can be submitted ahead of time to St. Johns County Coastal Management at 904-209-0260 or coastalprojects@sjcfl.us.
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