Storage facility meeting scheduled for June 19

This is an architect’s concept of the storage facility Ash Properties hopes to build on Flora Branch Road adjacent to the CVS pharmacy, in Julington Creek Plantation. FILE/Special

By MARK PETTUS
mark.pettus@mystjohnssun.com

Northwest St. Johns County residents interested in a company’s plans to build a storage facility in Julington Creek Plantation will soon have a chance to voice their opinions in a public forum.

Ash Properties Inc. hopes to build a 75,000-square-foot self-storage facility near the intersection of Flora Branch and Race Track Road. On June 19 the company will host a 6:30 p.m. neighborhood meeting about its plans at the Marywood Retreat Center on Florida 13 in Switzerland.

After My St. Johns Sun published a story about the proposed facility on May 5, county commissioners received hundreds of calls and e-mails with most opposing the facility. Later, the Julington Creek Plantation Property Owners’ Association board sent residents fliers opposing the facility in the same envelope that contained annual development news and homeowners association election forms.

Ash Properties cried foul over misinformation contained in the fliers, and said MAY Management Services Inc., the firm that represents the Property Owners’ Association and mailed the fliers, had the correct information about the project months prior to the mailing.

Most residents seemed concerned that Ash Properties had planned to build a 45-foot-tall warehouse across the street from a residential neighborhood, the one known as SouthBridge. But Randall Whitfield, Ash’s vice president, said the Julington project is a new concept that does not resemble other local storage facilities.

“We’re not wanting to do something that is displeasing to the community,” Whitfield said in an interview in May. “This [project] will only be 35 feet tall, about the same height as the CVS Pharmacy. It will be very pleasing, very aesthetic — it looks nice.”

Whitfield and Ash Properties’ Project Manager Pam Drury also promised in May to meet publicly to answer residents’ questions and concerns.

“We’ll have as many meetings as are needed,” Whitfield said.