Speculation about a Callahan property’s development has circulated western Nassau for months.
Property owners Shari Graham and Albert Higginbotham own the property under the titles of G&H Land Development LLC and Main Line Timber LLC. The majority of the trees that were on the land were removed and, over the course of the past several months, dirt was hauled in and has been spread around the property. Work still continues on the property.
The landowners plan “Callahan Commercial” for construction on part of the 33.53 acres of land they hold near the intersection of U.S. 1 and Old Dixie Highway. The project includes a substantially sized commercial building, according to the final sketch submitted with an application for a permit from the St. Johns River Water Management District. Ample room for parking is included on the sketch.
A previous sketch submitted with the application shows smaller retail space adjacent to the large commercial building, but the final paperwork nixes the retail to provide additional parking.
No further information is given on what type of commercial business would occupy the space. The property is within Callahan town limits and zoned commercial highway. The only permits that have been filed are with the town for clearing of the land and with the SJRWMD for wetland and stormwater drainage impact. Building permits would have to be pulled prior to any building construction and no plans were on file as of Monday afternoon.
The property will include a stormwater management system. Prior to site work, the property naturally drained into Alligator Creek, which borders the southern portion of the land parcels that encompass the project. According to the application, “The site will be graded to drain by surface flow and through a system of inlets and pipes into the proposed storm water facility for the necessary treatment and attenuation prior to discharge into Alligator Creek.”
Callahan Commercial’s development will impact 7.61 acres of jurisdictional wetland fill. Due to a lack of space for upland buffers, secondary impacts are presumed to be 1.2 acres. To compensate for that, Graham and Higginbotham will preserve 37.2 acres of wetlands and 8.8 acres of upland near Middle Road. The property they own there encompasses 111.11 acres of timber according to the Nassau County property appraiser website. That preservation will connect into other conservation areas. The vegetation includes slash pine, saw palmetto, bitter gallberry and bracken fern in the uplands and red maple, slash pine, laurel oak, cypress, cabbage palm, fetterbush, Virginia chainfern and netted chainfern in the wetland area.