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Residents concerned about development as Beachwalk nears completion

PHOTO GALLERY: Giant man-made lagoon filled in off County Road 210

Residents are beginning to move into the new Beachwalk development as questions remain about traffic and development on County Road 210.

Beachwalk, which features the largest man-made lagoon in the United States and one of the largest in the world, is part of the building boom happening in northern St. Johns County.

Some neighbors wonder how much is too much.

"It’s been a long road," said developer John Kinsey on Monday, who made a ceremonial bucket pour into the development's 37 million-gallon lagoon.

"What you find now is a pent-up demand for new home ownership," said Kinsey about Beachwalk's homes.

The homes are priced anywhere from $350,000 to more than $1 million.

But some people who live along County Road 210 wonder what the blue lagoon will bring with it.

"In the last two years, the traffic on this road has tripled," said neighbor John Brown. "In addition to Beachwalk, since 2015 in northern St. Johns County, SilverLeaf, Creekside, Shearwater and RiverTown have all received the green light to build thousands of homes west of U.S. 1. And that doesn’t include Nocatee east of U.S. 1."

According to St. Johns County, its population is projected to double from about 230,000 people today to as many as 466,000 by 2040.

STORY: First renderings on St. Johns County 14-acre Crystal Lagoon released

Kinsey believes the growth will pay dividends.

"It’s easy to say developers don’t pay their fair share, but we spent $60 million on road improvements, school property donations, replacing utilities and widening County Road 210," said Kinsey. "If we haven’t paid our fair share, I don’t know who has.”