JEFFERSON COUNTY, Fla. (WCTV) – It’s a fun fact many Monticello residents enjoy sharing when out-of-towners pay a visit.
“It’s the only county in the state that doesn’t have a red light, and people are shocked,” said Tammy Brookins.
She’s a local mom who is now speaking out against a proposed truck stop that would put an end to that claim to fame.
“Having no traffic lights from the Georgia border to the Gulf of Mexico and the entire county is one of our, like, sort of sacred mores, one of our greatest traditions,” she shared.
California-based Solero Land Company has applied to build a TA Travel Plaza at U.S 19 and Nash Road, just south of I-10.
A California company wants to build a TA Travel Plaza at U.S. 19 and Nash Road.(WCTV)
The proposal calls for a convenience store, a truck maintenance center, 66 parking spots for cars and 16 spots for semi trucks.
An earlier proposal from Solero called for a much larger development with enough parking spots for 126 semi-trucks.
The Jefferson Board of County Commissioners denied that application in February 2025. Solero returned to the county earlier this year with the scaled-down proposal.
“Hopefully that helps some of the citizens feel a little better,” County Manager Shannon Metty told WCTV after a March commission meeting. “I understand that the development there maybe isn’t necessarily wanted by everybody, but a person has personal property rights, whether they’re commercial or residential. So, I feel like at that point, we can only do as much as our code and state law allows.”
Carly Peary said she lives a mile from the proposed site.
“We can see every star in the sky at my house at night and that’s not going to be the case anymore,” she said.
Peary thought she had won the fight after the initial proposal was defeated. But with this new development, all her worst fears are back on the table.
“A stoplight is a tragedy for this county,” she said. “It’s like a symbol, you know, and once you give it up, there’s no stopping. I’m not against progress. I’m against progress for progress’s sake.”
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Solero recently held a public informational meeting in Monticello to address their plans. Peary, who attended the meeting, came away unimpressed.
According to Peary, a representative for the company explained that they never intended to install a traffic light at the truck stop, but the Florida Department of Transportation requires it.
A spokesperson for FDOT told WCTV in a statement that the agency “reviewed this matter and has issued the applicable permit based on its statutory authority and access management regulations.”
Peary reached out to FDOT to get crash data statistics for the intersection in question. According to data shared with her, there have been about two dozen crashes there in the last decade, most of them minor.
This current proposal is considered a minor development, meaning there won’t be a hearing in front of the planning and zoning board about it.
Instead, the planning director must make a decision on the matter before a May deadline.
In the meantime, Solero is challenging the denial of the larger development in court.
One question keeps Peary up at night. If they win in court, would Solero still go through with the smaller development?
She said an attorney representing the company couldn’t answer that question at the recent info meeting. That same attorney told WCTV Solero declined to comment on this story.
An email and a call to Jefferson County Planning Director David Wheeler also went unanswered.
For the group of concerned citizens, they’re not sure what the next steps will look like, but they want to keep up the fight.
It’s not a business that we need,” Brookins said. “There’s already five gas stations right there. We don’t need that as a community. It’s just somebody wanting to put it there.”
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