One Councilor Voted Against the Controversial Green Cove Apartment Plan. Here's Why
Thomas Smith Says He Asked His Fellow Citizens
Thomas Smith was the newest member of the City Council during the run-up to the votes that have landed Green Cove in the middle of an expensive court battle.
In June 2022, the council was about to decide whether to annex 14 acres from Clay County so it could change the zoning and approve a 260-unit, four-story apartment complex on the parcel. The landowner is from a prominent political dynasty in the county.
An aviation company at Reynolds Industrial Park and Reynolds itself were opposed to the idea because the development would be in the flight path to the Reynolds Air Park runway. Tenant and landlord both cited public safety and noise as reasons to deny the project.
So, how should Smith vote?
Council critics might say that Smith’s approach to the problem was a novel one—he decided to ask his constitutents what they thought.
“I’m not adverse to growth in that area. I know we are going to grow, but we have to be smart about the growth, and we have to ultimately listen to our residents, the folks who make up the city,” Smith said, explaining his lone vote opposing the development.
“Speaking with those constitutents in the weeks leading up to it (the votes), nearly everybody I spoke with was against the proposed development. They were not adverse to growth, but this specific growth they were against.”
Green Cove Springs has what is called an at-large system of representation. Smith occupies Seat 4 on the council, but that doesn’t correspond to a district within the city, unlike in many other munipalities and Clay County itself. In other words, every councilor represents the same 10,000 people living within Green Cove city limits.
Yet, Smith’s outreach led to a vote out of step with the four-to-one majority. (In fact, the Green Cove council has a reputation for voting 5-0 on nearly everything that comes before it.)1
“I went with what my constituents asked me to vote for. Despite being the lone no vote, I still think that was the right vote,” he said.
Facebook reaction to earlier stories about the litigation have reinforced the notion that the Green Cove council doesn’t pay sufficient attention to the opinions of constitutents.2
“They had public hearings but it’s not like anyone could change anything, they were more of ‘this is what we are doing’ meetings,” Alex Thorp said in a recent comment on the Residents of Green Cove and Clay County Facebook page.
“That's literally most meetings. Public input is for show. I won't be on a street corner with a campaign sign again for any level of local politics,” Hope Chessel responded. “So tired of paying in to be a pawn and a piggy bank.”
One of the constitutents with whom Smith spoke was Ted McGowan, executive director at Reynolds Park.
Smith won’t divulge specifics from that talk, but he does say he wasn’t as surprised as other Green Cove leaders when news came that Pegasus Technologies, the aviation tenant at Reynolds, had filed suit against the city—actually three separate lawsuits. Reynolds Park itself later joined Pegasus as a co-plaintiff.
Smith stresses that he doesn’t fault the city’s process leading up to its approval of the development. He said all the steps were taken correctly according to state laws and local ordinances. And no-vote aside, Smith is rooting for the city to win in court for the sake of fellow taxpayers, who are now on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees—win or lose.
Even if a judge rules in the city’s favor, victory will be a bitter one, Smith said. “My take is that we have already lost. Not only have we lost, but the taxpayers have lost,” he said.
If you reside within the city of Green Cove, and a city councilor asked your opinion on the apartment proposal prior to last year’s votes, please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below. If you are a city councilor, please feel free to comment as well.
You might have to go back to the Covid era to find a split vote on the issue of whether to require masking in public.
Even in a really basic way, the City Council discourages public contact compared to, say, Clay County commissioners. The cell phone number for each commissioner is listed on the county webside. The city’s website lists only an email address, no number.
I am in the Town of Orange Park and feel for Green Cove. We really are pawns. We really do not have a say. It is foul. My family both sides gave so much for our "freedom" and I now know it was all for nothing. We are eating our own for the very few that think "we know best". It is bs. My faith in humanity is gone. We are lost. All for money and a false sense of power. So So So sad.
Yes the tax payers will pay yet they already are. DO NOT LET THAT OR ANY APARTMENT COMPLEX BE BUILT IN THAT AREA.