People that go to the Beaches of jax (Jacksonville, Miami: spring break, sale)

[Florida2014]

My personal fav is Crescent.

[snuffybear]

Originally Posted by Robyn55

I FWIW - when my husband and I first moved to Florida - we wanted easy beach access. So we bought an oceanfront condo. Robyn

So simple, isn't it?

[snuffybear]

Originally Posted by Robyn55

More public beach access in PVB ain't gonna happen. Where would you put it? You want an "exclusive" PVB beach access - join a club. Otherwise - just go to JAX Beach. Plenty of beach access - especially if you're willing to pay $5 or so for parking these days. Robyn

There's a few vacant lots on the beach...the town should use eminent domain and create a public beach mid-PVB. They could have parking across the street (like in the area where the developer is trying to get approval for 66 houses!), and a wide crosswalk and sidewalk to beach. The vacant lot(s) I see are about 100' wide so that's enough for a small park/picnic area.

Or if the adjacent property owners scream too much, then they can JUST build the parking lot across from a pathway to beach and keep it nonchalant.

IMO, this one should be "resident parking only" (ie, residents of PVB) since we already have Micklers as a county beach.

[Florida2014]

I get the sense from the limited beach access points and tiny parking lots that the town does not need or want non-PVB residents. I can't imagine that it was by "accident" that it is so difficult to find a good spot for folks who don't have oceanfront property to park a chair on the beach for the day.

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by snuffybear

So simple, isn't it?

It was actually simple in our case. We were young - just out of school - with entry level lawyer jobs. Earning a total of $25,000/year (if that). Between the 2 of us. But we were able to buy a 1 bedroom convertible oceanfront condo on Key Biscayne (near downtown Miami) for $66,500 - in 1974 (IIRC - near the bottom of that real estate bust). Talk about the good old days! We earn a lot more now - but everything costs a lot more too. Robyn

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by Florida2014

I get the sense from the limited beach access points and tiny parking lots that the town does not need or want non-PVB residents. I can't imagine that it was by "accident" that it is so difficult to find a good spot for folks who don't have oceanfront property to park a chair on the beach for the day.

I don't think it has anything to do with PVB residents versus non-PVB residents. People who live in areas with "public access easements" to the water that abut their properties just don't want anyone using those easements. My brother used to have a house in Miami Beach with a similar easement - and he didn't want anyone using that easement either. When we lived on Key Biscayne - we used to have security guards who kept people from the adjoining public park from camping out on our property (which was everything landward of the mean high tide line).

Don't know if this is true everywhere - but it's certainly true in the parts of Florida I'm familiar with.

Another factor here is that the public beach access at Mickler's was very adequate here for a very long time (I never had a problem there when I used to go to the beach in the 90's). You have to remember that JTB wasn't finished until 1997. And there really wasn't a lot of development in PVB until the mid-90's and later. And there was certainly nothing like Nocatee or similar developments until post-2000 or even later than that. As with a lot of things when it comes to SJC - the existing infrastructure was never meant to and can't cope with the masses of new residents. Robyn

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by snuffybear

There's a few vacant lots on the beach...the town should use eminent domain and create a public beach mid-PVB. They could have parking across the street (like in the area where the developer is trying to get approval for 66 houses!), and a wide crosswalk and sidewalk to beach. The vacant lot(s) I see are about 100' wide so that's enough for a small park/picnic area.

Or if the adjacent property owners scream too much, then they can JUST build the parking lot across from a pathway to beach and keep it nonchalant.

IMO, this one should be "resident parking only" (ie, residents of PVB) since we already have Micklers as a county beach.

There is no way I know of to restrict beach access to a public beach to local residents of an unincorporated area. Keep in mind that PVB isn't a legal entity. It's simply a zip code - another unincorporated part of SJC. Meaning that it has no power of eminent domain - or power to tax. Now if PVB were to incorporate (which has been turned down before in an election) - and a future City/Town of Ponte Vedra decided to exercise a power of eminent domain to spend an exorbitant amount of money to create a public beach for local residents - that might work. Theoretically. Except that the politicians who voted for it could never expect to be re-elected. I think most voters like me think it would be a stupid waste of money. No one subsidizes my preferred activity (golf). Why should I subsidize someone whose preferred activity is going to the beach (except when it comes to public beaches that are open to everyone in Florida)? Especially when most of these people are wealthy enough to buy pretty expensive houses?

Overall - if you look back at my messages over the years - I have always said that the public beach access here is pretty lousy. And - with all the population growth - it's just getting lousier. You want better and more exclusive beach access that's super close to your house - join a private beach club. Just like we belong to a private golf club. Robyn

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by Florida2014

PVB's beaches are the very worst up and down the coast IMO. They are rocky and the water is murky. I laugh to myself when folks brag about living "close to the beach" over there because as nice as PVB is on land Mickler's and the Guana beaches are really awful options for spending a day at the beach. Atlantic, Jax, St Augustine, Vilano, Crescent and Flagler have better facilities and better beaches. Let the PVB property owners keep those crap beaches to themselves, lol.

I'm not sure the PVB beaches are so bad for this part of the Florida. Then again - they are nothing like the beaches in SE Florida. Which - in turn - are inferior to the beaches in the Caribbean or similar. The water here is - overall - kind of murky and brown a lot of the year - as opposed to blue and brilliant. Not much to look at. Although we had a lot of reasons to leave Miami - the beaches and the color of the water weren't in that category. We moved about twenty years ago - and I still miss looking at that beautiful blue water. Robyn

[snuffybear]

Ocean beaches are supposed to be public, not private. Not everyone can or wants to join a beach club. I do think the county could restrict PARKING to residents of PVB or St. Johns County.

Just offered one solution, but I'm sure the PV Blvd residents would not like my solution. I'd like to see if St. Johns County has a proposal for this or is thinking about it....because if Micklers and several lots at Guana are all filling up on popular weekends, what is their solution?

[RamenAddict]

Originally Posted by Robyn55

I'm not sure the PVB beaches are so bad for this part of the Florida. Then again - they are nothing like the beaches in SE Florida. Which - in turn - are inferior to the beaches in the Caribbean or similar. The water here is - overall - kind of murky and brown a lot of the year - as opposed to blue and brilliant. Not much to look at. Although we had a lot of reasons to leave Miami - the beaches and the color of the water weren't in that category. We moved about twenty years ago - and I still miss looking at that beautiful blue water. Robyn

Really? A friend in Miami was telling me about how everyone from there goes to Naples for vacation because the beaches there now are just so filthy. A lot has changed in the past 20 years. While the water here may not be a pretty blue, at least the beaches here are well maintained. I was on Jax Beach on the morning of Memorial Day and while the trash cans were full awaiting trash pickup, the beaches themselves were free of trash.