The communities along the William Bartram Scenic and Historic Highway are the reason many moved to northwest St. Johns County. Fruit Cove, Switzerland, Hallowes Cove and Orangedale are all areas where the natural beauty draws people who want to live there.
Newer communities seem to lack that definitive character that is an important point of providing community pride. Many of them are cookie cutter designs that seem to be drawn from a corporate headquarters somewhere far removed from our more laid back Southern charm. It seems that few try to fit into the surrounding landscape and instead make the landscape conform to whatever they think is best, regardless of its natural features.
Streams are filled, trees removed and the land is flattened. Many of the newer areas lack anything, except perhaps the name and the price, that makes them any different from the development next to them. And many lack that very atmosphere of a small town where people can walk or sit, shop or just visit and get to know one another.
A good first impression is very important. As people enter the area across the Julington Creek or Shands bridges, what do they see?
Growth is inevitable, according to Edward T. McMahon, a senior resident fellow at the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C., but the destruction of community character and natural resources that too often accompanies growth is not.
We should have some goals and standards in place to go by. New additions need to be good for the community. They need to be good for the environment and they need to be good for business. It is a proven fact that trees are good for the community. Asphalt parking lots and garages, unsightly strip malls and sign pollution are not. We know that, good or bad, people make decisions on looks.
We need to decide what looks are worth identifying and preserving in northwest St. Johns County.What makes your community different from others? Take a photo of a distinctive scene or view in our area that you think makes us unique from others. E-mail your photos to news@mystjohnssun.com.
Come and join other like-minded individuals at the next Scenic and Historic Highway meeting on Jan. 10. The meeting is held at 6:30 p.m. at the Julington Creek Annex on Flora Branch Boulevard (behind the Unitarian church).
Beverly Fleming is a park naturalist with the St. Johns County Recreation and Parks Department. She can be reached at (904) 284-9488.
