Commissioners vote down proposal for Daily\u2019s gas station in Fruit Cove<\/a><\/p>\nThe proposal, which includes plans for a gas station and car wash, has drawn unanimous opposition from all 44 homes in the Fruit Cove Estates community, according to residents who live there. Residents are particularly concerned about the project\u2019s impact on traffic and safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plans project nearly 5,500 daily trips of traffic in and out of this gas station,\u201d Michael Dunlop, Fruit Cove Estates resident and HOA President said. \u201cThey want to use our community road. It\u2019s the only road into our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The proposed development would have two access points – one from State Road 13 and another through Otoe\u2019s Place, the main entrance road to Fruit Cove Estates. This second entrance has raised significant safety concerns among residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a school bus stop right at the entrance. We have disabled people in this community,\u201d Dunlop explained. \u201cIt\u2019s going to provide a huge hazard to safety to both residents and school children and adults.\u201d<\/p>\n
First Coast Energy, Daily\u2019s parent company, purchased the property in 2016 and has made multiple attempts to rezone it for a gas station. Their last proposal in 2019 was rejected by county commissioners.<\/p>\n
Krista Dube, a Fruit Cove Estates resident, confirmed the unified opposition within the neighborhood. \u201cWe have 44 homes in this neighborhood and each home is against this current proposal from Daily\u2019s,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Diana Washington, whose home would be just around 35 feet away from the gas station, expressed concern upon learning about the traffic flow plans. \u201cThat\u2019s going to be really, really… it\u2019s going to be a big impact then,\u201d Washington said. She said she has been dealing with loud noise since developers began clearing the potential gas station area. <\/p>\n
Residents are also worried about crime and safety issues. \u201cIt just brings a whole host of issues that really a gas station is just not compatible with this area and we do not want it,\u201d Dunlop stated.<\/p>\n
When contacted, First Coast Energy representatives provided some information, but would not give a public statement. Currently, no meetings are scheduled among St. Johns County commissioners to discuss the development. Residents tell News4JAX they will be speaking out during public comment at upcoming commission meetings. <\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 Residents of Fruit Cove Estates in St. Johns County are once again fighting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[49001,116,118,117,5902],"class_list":{"0":"post-118777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-fruit-cove","9":"tag-jacksonville","10":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","11":"tag-jacksonville-news","12":"tag-st-johns-county"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}