County withdraws offer to Veterans Administration

The contentious relationship between the US Veterans Administration and St Johns County continues with the county withdrawing one option from consideration after Historic City News learned that there has been no response from the government agency regarding their local Community Based Outpatient Clinic.

According to a letter from St Johns County Administrator Michael D. Wanchick to VA Contracting Officer Tammiko Newell in Washington, DC, the county expressed interest in providing interim space for the Community Based Outpatient Clinic in the new Health and Human Services Building on San Sebastian View.

“Since St. Johns County has not received a Request for Lease Proposal package, there is no longer sufficient time to relocate the other providers that would be displaced,” Wanchick wrote today. “Therefore, the offer is withdrawn.”

Since it was announced that the US Veterans Administration was in a “hold-over” status in the former county Health and Human Services building, now owned by Lowes Home Improvement Centers, all eyes have been focused on where the outpatient clinic would relocate — or, as some have speculated, if it will simply close. If that were to occur, local vets would be forced to travel to the VA Hospital in Gainesville, or elsewhere, which would impose a heavy burden on the patients, especially those with service-connected disabilities.

The hold-over cannot continue indefinitely. The county and all tenants must vacate before January 1, in order for demolition and new Lowes construction to begin. If the VA does not voluntarily vacate the existing building, it “would lead to numerous detrimental outcomes”, Wanchick wrote.

It is still possible for St. Johns County to provide a temporary site for the VA to set up a modular building on San Sebastian View, next to the Health and Human Services Building, or on Inman Road.