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The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has funded right-of-way purchases on State Road A1A in Vilano Beach, along Coastal Highway from the State Road A1A intersection north to 24th Street. The purchase money is programmed for fiscal years 2027 and 2028, with construction to follow. If you own land or run a business on this stretch, the programmed land buying is ahead of you.
When Will FDOT Buy Land on A1A North of Vilano Beach?
FDOT’s adopted program schedules right-of-way purchases on this corridor in fiscal years 2027 and 2028, with construction programmed for fiscal year 2029. That timing comes from the Adopted Work Program dated July 1, 2026, FDOT’s adopted budget for fiscal years 2027 through 2031.
The prior fiscal year 2026 through 2030 program carried no right-of-way funding on the trail item. The fiscal year 2027 through 2031 program added it.
What Is FDOT Building on Coastal Highway?
FDOT plans an 8-foot-wide trail for pedestrians and cyclists, plus drainage work to reduce roadway flooding, on Coastal Highway (SR A1A) from the State Road A1A intersection in Vilano Beach north to 24th Street. FDOT’s Coastal Highway project page lists the work as:
- An 8-foot-wide shared use trail.
- Drainage improvements at various locations.
- Removal of two southbound right-turn lanes.
- Minor restriping of three northbound left-turn lanes.
The project runs under two FDOT item numbers. Item 429931-1 covers the drainage work. Item 429931-2 covers the trail and carries the right-of-way phase.
How Much Right-of-Way Money Is Programmed?
The trail item carries $811,522 for right-of-way purchase and $178,219 for right-of-way services across fiscal years 2027 and 2028.
| Phase (Item 429931-2) | Fiscal Year 2027 | Fiscal Year 2028 |
|---|---|---|
| Right-of-way purchase | $520,879 | $290,643 |
| Right-of-way services | $85,644 | $92,575 |
Florida’s state fiscal year 2027 runs from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. Neither item carries a right-of-way relocation phase, the separate budget line for relocation costs.
Own frontage on Coastal Highway? Our Florida eminent domain attorneys can review FDOT’s plans for your parcel before the first offer arrives.
What Could FDOT Need From Your Property?
On a trail and drainage project, the interests FDOT acquires can include a strip of land, a permanent easement, or a temporary construction easement. Each is valued differently, so the first question to answer is what FDOT is actually taking.
Ask FDOT’s right-of-way agent:
- Is FDOT taking land outright, or an easement?
- Is any easement permanent or temporary, and for how long?
- Does the taking reach parking, landscaping, signs, or a driveway?
- Will drainage work change how water moves across what you keep?
Temporary easements raise their own valuation questions. Our guides to temporary construction easements in Florida’s eminent domain process and maximizing compensation for temporary construction easements explain why.
A narrow strip can still cost a property far more than its square footage suggests. See our posts on severance damages when part of your land is taken and what happens to access and parking in a taking.
What Makes a Coastal Taking Different?
Coastal owners near Vilano Beach can deal with two condemning authorities: FDOT on the road side and St. Johns County on the beach side. The two efforts run on different schedules and acquire different interests.
In October 2024, St. Johns County Resolution 2024-433 authorized the county to acquire perpetual beach and dune easements, by negotiated sale or eminent domain, for the federal Coastal Storm Risk Management Project covering the South Ponte Vedra Beach and Vilano Beach reaches. The resolution notes that renourishment is expected about every 12 years, depending on erosion and storms.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project page reports that its most recent Vilano Beach renourishment finished placing sand on December 10, 2023.
A beach easement and a road taking are separate claims, and settling one does not resolve the other. Owners with coastal parcels should review both together. Our erosion control and beach restoration and coastal, water development, and riparian rights teams handle the shoreline side, and our post on beach access versus ownership rights covers a related question.
Have a beachfront parcel near Vilano Beach? Talk with our eminent domain and condemnation team before you sign any easement, road or beach.
What Must FDOT Do Before It Files Suit?
Before filing a condemnation case, FDOT must negotiate in good faith, make a written offer, and give you at least 30 days after you receive it to respond. Those rules appear in section 73.015 of Chapter 73, Florida Statutes.
Your clock starts when the offer arrives, not on a calendar date:
- 30 days or more: the minimum response window before FDOT can file suit.
- 15 business days: FDOT’s deadline to provide its appraisal after you request it, along with right-of-way maps and construction plans to the extent prepared.
- 180 days for business owners: the deadline to submit a good faith written business damage offer.
If negotiations fail, FDOT can file suit and may seek early title through quick take. Our guide to quick take timelines under chapter 74 covers that path, and our post on deficiencies in eminent domain appraisals explains what to check in FDOT’s numbers.
Can a Vilano Beach Business Claim Business Damages?
A business on this corridor may recover business damages if it meets every condition in section 73.071(3)(b). The business must:
- Face a partial taking, not a whole one.
- Have more than five years’ standing.
- Be owned by the party whose land is taken.
- Operate on adjoining land that party owns or holds.
The claim must be pleaded in written defenses. A court must strike a business damage claim that misses the 180-day offer deadline unless the owner shows a good faith justification. Our post on business damages under section 73.071 covers the records that prove it.
Run a business on A1A in Vilano Beach? Contact Jimerson Birr early, because the 180-day clock does not pause while you decide.
Who Pays for Your Attorney?
Florida’s eminent domain statutes generally require the condemning authority to pay the owner’s reasonable attorney’s fees and costs, and section 73.015(4) extends that right to settlements reached before a lawsuit. Fees based on benefits achieved follow a statutory schedule in section 73.092(1)(c):
- 33 percent of any benefit up to $250,000.
- 25 percent of any portion between $250,000 and $1 million.
- 20 percent of any portion over $1 million.
Hiring counsel before you respond does not forfeit that right. Our post on recovering attorney’s fees in Florida eminent domain cases explains how benefits are measured, and our guide to what landowners should know before accepting an offer covers the first conversation with FDOT’s agent.
Why St. Johns County Owners Call Jimerson Birr
Jimerson Birr represents Florida property and business owners in condemnation matters brought by the state, counties, municipalities, and utilities. We research corridor projects at the work program item level and publish what we find, so you walk into the first meeting knowing how your project is funded and scheduled.
For owners on Coastal Highway, that work includes:
- Reviewing FDOT’s offer, appraisal, and right-of-way maps.
- Measuring the effect on access, parking, signs, and drainage.
- Coordinating a road taking with any beach easement request.
- Building severance and business damages claims on schedule.
Our attorneys work from our Ponte Vedra Beach office and Jacksonville office, and our real estate development and construction team advises on reusing a smaller remainder. For more of the region, see the First Coast Expressway in Clay and St. Johns Counties and major FDOT projects in North Florida.
Received a letter about A1A north of Vilano Beach? Contact Jimerson Birr to schedule a review before you respond to FDOT.