St. Johns County commissioners met in special session on August 19, 2026 to decide whether three tracts of agricultural land qualify as agricultural enclaves under Florida Senate Bill 686. Two were certified. The largest one, and the one closest to Nocatee, was not decided at all.
What the county certified
Commissioners certified two applications in back to back 3 to 2 votes:
- Heritage East, application ENCERT 2026-05, about 615 acres east of Interstate 95 and south of State Road 207.
- Heritage West, application ENCERT 2026-06, 550 acres on the west side of the interstate, east of Cypress Lakes.
Both were submitted by Heritage Development of Northeast Florida, and Jacksonville Today reports the proposals come from companies connected to the homebuilder MasterCraft Builder Group. News4JAX reports the two properties have run as timber operations for roughly 70 years and that county staff found both met every statutory requirement.
The two tracts total about 1,165 acres. Jacksonville Today reports the proposals could yield as many as 13 homes per acre, or close to 15,000 homes across both sides of the highway. That figure is a ceiling reported by the developer's plans, not an approved unit count, and no site plan has been approved.
On both votes, Chair Clay Murphy, Commissioner Whitehurst and Commissioner Sarah Arnold voted in favor. Commissioners Krista Joseph and Ann Taylor voted against.
The 4,462 acre application was continued to September 1
The third application, filed by BR-4700 and covering roughly 4,462 acres north of Nocatee against the Intracoastal Waterway and the Duval County line, was continued to September 1 at 9 a.m. Jacksonville Today reports the delay is to let county staff confirm the shape and size of the northernmost boundary of the parcel.
That tract comes from the Davis family, founders of Winn-Dixie and of The PARC Group, the developer behind Nocatee. Representatives for the developer say the plan is one home per acre, which would be up to 4,462 homes. Attorney Ellen Avery-Smith, representing the applicant, told the board the application meets all applicable statutory requirements.
This single application is larger than every other agricultural enclave filing in the county combined.
Why commissioners said their hands were tied
SB 686 took effect on July 1, 2026. It lets an owner of undeveloped agricultural land seek certification as an agricultural enclave, and certification is a determination about whether the land meets a statutory definition rather than a vote on whether the development is a good idea. The statutory criteria, as summarized by News4JAX, are that the property must be undeveloped and in unincorporated county land, owned or controlled by a single person or entity, used continuously for bona fide agricultural purposes for at least five years, meet at least one of five perimeter or proximity definitions, be served by adequate public services or have the owner agree to fund them, not exceed 1,280 acres per parcel, and sit in a county with a population of 1.75 million or fewer.
Chair Clay Murphy put the board's position this way, per Jacksonville Today: "We look at these agricultural enclaves as a preemption from the state, and I'm not happy. I'm not happy with them at all. But what I discovered is that when you get into this position is, whether I'm happy or not is not the deciding issue. The deciding issue is 'What does the law say?'"
Ahead of the hearing the commission had discussed suing the state over the law. County legal counsel, led by attorney Richard Komando, advised that the county would be on better footing defending a challenge brought by a developer than challenging the state outright, and the board decided not to sue for now.
The detail with the longest tail
One line in the Jacksonville Today report matters more for the next ten years than the vote counts do. Development plans for these tracts will go through the county's existing staff level checks, including school concurrency and natural resource load. But neither project would come back before the County Commission, or the public, for approval.
That is the practical effect of the law. The public hearing that happened on August 19 was about whether a definition was met. For these two tracts, it was also the last one.
Six more applications are in the pipeline
St. Johns County Growth Management Director Mike Roberson confirmed to Jacksonville Today that the county has received three further applications beyond the ones heard: 379 acres south of County Road 210, 310 acres north of County Road 208, and 51 acres northeast of the I-95 and State Road 207 intersection. Nine applications have been filed under the law in total, and three were turned away by county staff for not meeting the qualifications.
The board that decides the rest of them will not be the same board. Jacksonville Today reports that Martin Pyszczymuka, who has been vocally opposed to the county's current pace of growth, is set to take the seat currently held by Sarah Arnold in December, after the August 18 primary.
What this means for buyers and sellers in northern St. Johns County
Nothing about the housing supply changes this month. Certification is a threshold determination and no homes are approved, permitted or under construction as a result of these two votes. The horizon on a tract of this kind is measured in years.
What does change is the information available to someone making a decision now. If you are buying near the I-95 and State Road 207 corridor, or anywhere north of Nocatee toward the Duval line, the county's own records now show what is proposed next door, and those records are public. The specific figures to ask about are the certified acreage, the density the applicant has stated, and the road and school capacity studies filed with the development plan.
For sellers in those areas, the same information is a disclosure question rather than a marketing one. Buyers who find this reporting later will ask what was known at the time.
Our roundup of Florida housing laws for 2026 covers SB 686 alongside the other changes that took effect this year, and the Jacksonville housing market page carries the current inventory and price picture for the region.
People also ask
What is an agricultural enclave in Florida?
Under Florida law an agricultural enclave is undeveloped agricultural land that is effectively surrounded by land already developed or zoned for other uses. Senate Bill 686, which took effect July 1, 2026, lets the owner of such land ask the county to certify that it meets the statutory definition. Per News4JAX, the criteria include that the parcel be undeveloped and in unincorporated county land, be owned or controlled by a single person or entity, have been in bona fide agricultural use for at least five years, meet one of five perimeter or proximity tests, be served by adequate public services or have the owner fund them, not exceed 1,280 acres, and sit in a county of 1.75 million people or fewer.
How many homes were approved in St. Johns County on August 19, 2026?
None. The commission certified that two tracts, Heritage East at about 615 acres and Heritage West at 550 acres, meet the definition of an agricultural enclave. Certification is not approval of any homes. Jacksonville Today reports the proposals could produce as many as 13 homes per acre, or close to 15,000 homes in total, but that is the developer's stated ceiling rather than an approved unit count, and development plans still have to be filed and reviewed by county staff.
What happens to the Davis family land north of Nocatee?
The County Commission continued that application, filed by BR-4700 and covering roughly 4,462 acres, to a meeting at 9 a.m. on September 1, 2026, so county staff can confirm the shape and size of the parcel's northernmost boundary. If it is certified, representatives for the developer say the plan is one home per acre, which would be up to 4,462 homes. Nothing about that outcome is settled as of August 20, 2026.
The takeaway
Two tracts totaling about 1,165 acres crossed a legal threshold on August 19 by a one vote margin each, and by the county's own account the vote turned on what the statute says rather than on whether commissioners wanted the growth. The application that will matter most, at 4,462 acres and touching the Intracoastal and the Duval line, is still open and comes back on September 1. Anyone buying in northern St. Johns County between now and then should read the September 1 agenda.
Sources
- News4JAX, "Split decision: St. Johns County certifies two agricultural enclaves, delays third vote", by John Asebes, published August 19, 2026: news4jax.com
- Jacksonville Today, "1,000-plus acres of agricultural land OK'd for development in St. Johns", by Noah Hertz, published August 19, 2026: jaxtoday.org
A note on one discrepancy between the two reports: News4JAX describes the meeting as taking place Tuesday and Jacksonville Today describes it as Wednesday. August 19, 2026 was a Wednesday. This article refers to the date rather than the weekday. Both outlets agree on the votes, the acreage and the continuance.
How this article was prepared: every figure, vote count, acreage, application number and quotation above is taken from the two named reports, each of which was read in full, and is attributed to the outlet that published it. This summary was drafted with the assistance of an AI system and reviewed before publication. It is a summary of third party reporting on a public meeting, not legal advice and not a statement of the county's official record; the official record is the county's. All information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Equal Housing Opportunity.