YULEE, Fla. — Plans to build the 15th tire store in a 5 mile radius in Nassau County has one realtor calling for county leaders to put the brakes on development.
“We need some type of industry that has a living wage and we don’t," Randy Levangie, a retired realtor, said.
The county’s SR200/A1A corridor master plan says that “the county has a relatively low proportion of land designated for certain job- generating land uses, especially industrial and business park -type uses."
That's why development along state road 200, which goes through Yulee all the way to Fernandina Beach, is so important.
A 1.71 acre parcel of land along State Road 200 is designated for industrial use as part of the future land use map adopted in the county’s SR200/A1A corridor master plan. That means things like manufacturing, distribution, and warehouses.
This land is owed by the Nassau Baptist Temple and was recently split from a 11-acre parcel.
A upcoming vote to amend the future land use map could change the future use from industrial to commercial, paving the way for a discount tire store to be build on the parcel.
“The over arching theme in all the documents from Nassau County is balanced growth… 15 tire stores in a 5 mile radius is not balanced," said Levangie.
The decision to change the land from industrial to commercial use has already been adopted the county’s planning and zoning board.
In an email, the county planning director Thad Crowe says the SR200/A1A corridor master plan is a vision plan that needs future legislation before the plan goes into effect. Until that time, the county will continue to use previously adopted land development criteria and the decision to change the land from industrial to commercial does meet that criteria.
The next step is for the amendment to be adopted by Nassau County's Board of County Commissioners. A workshop will be held on the 25th to discuss the change. Members of the public are expected to come and give their thoughts.