BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Telegraph Staff Writer
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— Clay County officials led a town hall-like discussion on the county’s emerging strategic plan in Keystone Heights.
The gathering at the beach pavilion on Wednesday, June 14, was the final of six meetings officials held throughout the area.
County Commission Chair Betsy Condon said she started pushing for a county strategic plan after being elected.
“When I ran in 2020,” she recalled, “I kept hearing a theme from voters: Where’s the county going? What is the county’s plan? You guys act like you don’t have a plan, and things get built with no infrastructure.”
“(The complaints) were some of the things we’ve heard here tonight,” she continued, “so when I became chairman, the county manager asked me what my priority was for my year as chair. He knew I had been talking about a strategic plan, so I just said to him, we need a strategic plan. Our citizens deserve to know.”
Condon added that the land use regulations and zoning for some of the county’s high-growth areas, like Lake Asbury and northern Middleburg, were implemented in 2005 and 2006.
“Well, we all know the world has changed completely since then,” she said.
Condon said that she and her colleagues on the board of county commissioners wanted public input while drafting the strategic plan, and that was the purpose of the meeting.
Assistant County Manager Troy Nagle said that after officials consult with stakeholders and the county’s largest landowners, they will draft a preliminary report for another round of public comment.
Nagle said that although the county has always maintained a five-year capital budget plan, the strategic plan seeks to visualize the county in a 10-to-20-year horizon.
He added that the plan’s final version will not only describe goals but also include measurements to determine how fast county officials are reaching desired outcomes.
“What we want to do is set strategic goals and inside of that to actually have measurables on a five-year increment that we can say: Here are all the great things we want to do. Now let’s measure ourselves and see how successful we are in actually doing those things.”
What you like about Clay County
Peyton Beattie and Annie A. Wallau from the University of Florida’s extension office in Green Cove Springs facilitated the discussion. The pair asked the crowd two questions. They first asked participants to name their favorite aspects of living in Clay County.
The rapid-fire responses included water resources, parks and trails, and the Main Street USA atmosphere of its towns.
Keystone Heights City Manager Lynn Rutkowski said she appreciated the county’s diverse quality of life.
“You can go all the way up to Orange Park, where it’s an urbanized area and where it’s not very far from a grocery store or any convenience,” she said. “You can come down south the Keystone Heights where it’s more of a rural atmosphere.”
Rick Bebout seconded Rutkowski’s observation.
“Down here,” he said, “we have our own culture.”
City Council member Chris Thompson said her favorite part of Clay County was the friendliness of its residents.
Improving quality of life
Wallau and Beattie then moved on to what they said was the weightier question of the evening: How can county officials improve the quality of life for Clay County residents?
Lake Region resident Brandon Ludwig said increasing local employment opportunities should be a priority.
He said Clay County has one of the highest percentages of residents that commute out of the county for work.
“Whether it’s economic incentives to attract companies to maybe bring a headquarters here or corporate office to the county, things of that nature would bring more jobs for residents,” he said. “So instead of having to commute, there are those opportunities here.”
City Council member Tony Brown said the county could help develop the economic opportunities at the Keystone Heights Airport, which he called a jewel.
He added that the City of Palatka has successfully attracted aviation and industrial enterprises to its municipal-own airport, and Clay County and Keystone Heights could do the same.
Brown echoed Ludwig’s point that increasing local job opportunities would increase the quality of life for Lake Region residents.
“I think everybody here has had to drive somewhere to go to work,” he said. “Economic development in this area would help tremendously in keeping families together and getting them home at a decent hour.”
He added that some commuters leave for work at 5:30 in the morning and get home at 8:00 at night.
Brown also recommended that county officials address the lack of emergency or urgent care facilities in the southern part of the county.
Another resident said the county should improve the roads throughout the area. He added that the county’s current upgrades to county roads in the Lake Asbury area came too late.
Thompson said her top priority is already being addressed: raising water levels in the area’s lakes to their former levels.
“They used to be fantastic,” she said. “Keystone was a vacation destination. We used to have bass tournaments here, ski shows; I mean, it used to be a playground. That’s one thing I am so excited to get on the road.”
Several residents recommended paving County Road 315 between State Road 21, near Belmore State Forest, and State Road 16, near the Clay County Fairgrounds. The roadway, also known as Sharron Road, is now partially asphalt and partially sand and clay. Participants said the dirt sections of the road could become impassable during rain.
One speaker said that her GPS routed her onto Sharron Road after a traffic crash on State Road 21.
“Luckily, I drive a truck, the participant said, “but there were several cars that were just stuck on the sides with their flashers on. They couldn’t get through the sand.”
“It doubled my commute,” she continued, “But if it had been paved, it would have been the perfect alternative.”
