North of Nocatee, the Open Land Is Still Undecided

The largest undeveloped tract with Intracoastal Waterway access in northern St. Johns County runs from the northern edge of Nocatee to the Duval County line, with the Intracoastal on its east side. A buyer touring Palm Valley this fall may take that open land as a fixed backdrop. It isn't. In 2026 a new state law changed who decides its future and what they are allowed to weigh. The county denied the application in September, and the developer has since asked a judge to review that denial. Buyers comparing Ponte Vedra, Palm Valley and the Nocatee edge should judge that acreage on the legal process it is going through, because the land-use map no longer decides the outcome.

The Law That Took Effect on July 1

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Florida Senate Bill 686 on April 24, and it took effect July 1. It created a fast review process for residential development on land certified as an "agricultural enclave." Normally a large rural tract would go through a comprehensive plan amendment and a rezoning, with votes by the planning board and the county commission. A certified enclave skips those steps. Its residential development moves through administrative review.

The Jax Daily Record quoted the key sentence from the law:

Enclave development projects "must be treated as a conforming use, notwithstanding the local government's comprehensive plan, future land use designation, or zoning."

According to the same report, once a property is certified, the county cannot deny the development based on its plan, its zoning or traffic impacts. To qualify, a property must be unincorporated, undeveloped, under single ownership, at least 75% surrounded by existing development, and in a county with fewer than 1.75 million residents. It also had to meet those requirements as of Jan. 1, 2025. The general size cap is 1,280 acres. A separate category allows up to 4,480 acres when a parcel is substantially surrounded by dense residential development.

The law also set a clock. County staff has 30 days to issue a compliance report, and the commission then has 30 days to approve or deny. An application left without action for 90 days is approved automatically. A denial has to be in writing with findings of fact, and the applicant then has 30 days to petition the circuit court.

What Sits on the Table

BR4700 LLC is the company that filed for the Palm Valley tract. State corporate records tie it to the Davis family, founders of Winn-Dixie. The figures below come from the July reporting and the county's own application record.

At the requested one unit per acre, the tract could hold about 4,462 homes. Under the law's ceiling of six per acre, the figure would be 26,772. At the hearing, attorney Ellen Avery-Smith said several times that the owner wanted to limit density to one unit per acre. The application does not name a community, describe housing types or amenities, or include a phasing plan. Its residential intent appears only in the density figure and in a JEA letter confirming water and sewer capacity.

In its statement to the Jax Daily Record, The PARC Group cited its record of master-planned communities in Northeast Florida, including Nocatee, eTown and EverRange.

How the Vote Unfolded

The application moved fast because the law required it to.

1. July 1, 2026. BR4700 filed on the day SB 686 took effect. Applications for six St. Johns County properties came in that day.
2. Aug. 19. At a special quasi-judicial meeting, commissioners voted 4–1 to continue the Palm Valley item to Sept. 1, with Commissioner Sarah Arnold voting no.
3. Sept. 1. A motion to deny certification failed, and a motion to approve it also failed. The board took no further action that day.
4. Sept. 15. Commissioners voted 3–2 to reject certification. In September, the commission also voted 3–2 to seek an injunction against SB 686 itself.
5. Oct. 21. The Jacksonville Business Journal reported that the Nocatee developer is asking a judge to review the county's denial of a certification "that could pave the way for thousands of homes in Palm Valley."

According to News4JAX, The PARC Group said after the denial that the commission's decision was "clearly inconsistent with the facts presented in our application and the County's staff report recommending approval," and added, "We intend to appeal the decision and fully expect to prevail." The county application record lists the tract as "North of Nocatee Parkway, west of Intracoastal Waterway, east of Duval County line."

Why Roads Came Up Anyway

The law bars a county from denying a certified enclave over traffic. Roads still dominated the August hearing, because certification was the last step in the process where the public could weigh in. The Ponte Vedra Recorder reported that one resident estimated about 3,800 added peak-hour trips at one unit per acre. He also said the Roscoe-Palm Valley Road area was already over capacity. A petition opposing the project had more than 2,000 signatures. Commissioner Krista Joseph described the trip to the beach: "When we have this many people that want to get to one entrance to the beach, they go down Mickler Road."

Avery-Smith responded that certification is not a building permit. "The next step in the process is the approval of a development plan," she said, according to the Recorder, and that plan "does not waive your Land Development Code requirements." She said any plan would still go to the St. Johns River Water Management District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, would need utility permits from JEA and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and would go through county permitting.

Both points matter to a buyer. If the land is certified, Palm Valley's traffic concerns can no longer stop the project. Certification alone also would not put houses on the ground. Several more permit reviews would come first.

A Second Case Shows the Votes Can Change

The Palm Valley decision isn't the only one in the county being challenged. On Aug. 19, commissioners approved two other enclaves by 3–2 votes: Heritage Development East, 615 acres, and Heritage Development West, about 551 acres, on either side of I-95 south of State Road 207. Shortly after the Palm Valley denial on Sept. 15, Commissioner Christian Whitehurst moved to reconsider those approvals, saying the county needed to be "consistent." On Sept. 28, the board voted 3–2 to change both certifications to denials. Arnold, Joseph and Ann Taylor voted to deny. Murphy and Whitehurst voted to keep the certifications.

Before that meeting, Heritage filed a petition for writ of prohibition in the 7th Judicial Circuit on Sept. 23. The petition argued that SB 686 gives the county no authority to reconsider a certification once it is approved. Whitehurst warned that a denial without "competent, substantial evidence" in the record could put the county in an "unwinnable position" in court. Taylor argued that the applicant had to prove every element of the law, and she questioned how the county had defined an urban service area.

So the same five commissioners split 3–2 in both directions within six weeks, and the arguments in both cases rest on how the law's definitions are read. Commission Chair Clay Murphy said as much to News4JAX: "I think the courts need to weigh in on this. If we're wrong, we're wrong." He described the county as feeling "growth fatigue probably for the last 15 years." He also said he would pursue a court stay of the law and bring petitions to the Florida Legislature on the first day of its January session.

What a Palm Valley Buyer Can Watch

The open land a buyer sees from Palm Valley Road this November depends on court review, a possible challenge to the law itself, and whatever the Legislature does in January. These are the public records that will show each step.

• The county's enclave record. St. Johns County's ENCERT 2026-01 record shows the application's status and its dated history.
• Circuit court review. A ruling on PARC's request for judicial review could change that "DENIED" status.
• The Heritage petition. Heritage's petition in the 7th Judicial Circuit asks whether a county can reconsider an enclave certification once it has been approved, which is one of the questions raised by this fall's votes.
• The January legislative session. Murphy has said he will bring petitions on the first day of session.
• A development plan, if one comes. If the land is certified, the next public document would be a development plan. That plan would show the community name, housing types and phasing that the application left out.

This post is general information about a pending land-use matter and isn't legal advice. If a purchase depends on what happens to nearby land, please confirm the details with a land-use attorney.

At Glen Hamilton, we follow this case because so many of our clients choose Ponte Vedra and Palm Valley for the water and the open space around it. If you are weighing a home near the Intracoastal north of Nocatee, we can walk through the public record on this tract with you before you write an offer. Let's Connect.