"We only have about nine government-owned early voting locations."
That's St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections Vicky Oakes, talking about a building site on Timberwolf Trail that most Shearwater residents currently know as a stretch of cleared land next to Trout Creek Academy. Oakes has framed the project as a response to a county that keeps adding rooftops faster than it adds places to cast an early ballot. It's easy to assume this is just the next amenity drop from Freehold Communities, another line item to go with the lazy river and the zipline. It isn't. The project rising there belongs to St. Johns County, not to Shearwater, and that distinction is going to shape how the space gets used, who else shows up, and what it's for on the two days a year that matter most to an elections office.
Two different builders, two different rulebooks
Everything residents currently use in Shearwater came from the same source: Freehold Communities built it as part of the master plan, and the HOA structure keeps it running. The Kayak Club, the Outpost Adventure Park, the Har-Tru tennis courts, the community garden, the dog parks, the 12-foot-wide trail that lets kids walk to school without crossing a street. All of it sits inside the private system that came with buying a home here.
The project going up at 575 Timberwolf Trail is a different animal entirely. St. Johns County broke ground on it June 20, 2025, right next to Trout Creek Academy, as part of a $123 million regional park plan that covers four sites across the county. This one just happens to sit inside Shearwater's own footprint.
| The Kayak Club & The Outpost (open now) | Shearwater Community Park and Library (opening early 2027) | |
|---|---|---|
| Built and paid for by | Freehold Communities and the Shearwater HOA | St. Johns County, through its regional park plan |
| Who can use it | Shearwater residents and their guests | Any St. Johns County resident |
| Location | Inside the amenity core off Kayak Way | 575 Timberwolf Trail, beside Trout Creek Academy |
| Core features | Lagoon pool, Lazy Bird River, The Perch slide tower, kayak launch to Trout Creek, zipline | Library hub, eight pickleball courts, an airnasium, splash pad, skatepark |
| Also functions as | Community event space | County early voting site during elections |
A resident who treats the new park as "another Shearwater amenity" is going to be surprised the first time they show up on a Saturday and find people from Silverleaf or TrailMark there too. That's by design. County-funded parks serve the county, not a subdivision.
The weekend you already know
None of this changes what's already working. The Kayak Launch gives residents a way onto Trout Creek without loading a boat onto a car, and Trout Creek connects out to the St. Johns River for anyone who wants to go further than an afternoon paddle. The Outpost Adventure Park next door adds a zipline, a fire pit, and a hilltop slide for the kids who'd rather not sit still in a kayak. Golf carts are welcome at both, with dedicated parking at each so the drive-park-walk routine that eats up an hour at most amenity centers doesn't apply here.
The Kayak Club itself is still the anchor: a zero-entry lagoon pool, a multi-lane lap pool, the Lazy Bird River billed as Northeast Florida's longest lazy river, and The Perch, the three-story slide tower that gives the pool deck its skyline. None of that is going anywhere. The new park isn't replacing this system. It's sitting down next to it.
What's rising on Timberwolf Trail
As of the county's April 2026 construction update, ground has been broken and work is underway on the Shearwater Community Park and Library. The county's own figures put this specific project's cost at about $12.3 million, a smaller number than the $48.3 million combined price tag for this park and the neighboring Silverleaf Sportsplex, which gives a sense of scale: this is the family and library-focused half of the pair, not the athletic-complex half.
The plan calls for a community center with a library hub and multipurpose rooms, an airnasium (a covered, open-air structure built over a basketball court), a second uncovered basketball court, eight pickleball courts, a splash pad, a skatepark, and open green space. County Public Works Project Manager Brad Guagliardo described the goal plainly: the parks are meant to give residents places to "stay active, gather for community events, and enjoy outdoor recreation." The target opening is early 2027.
The library piece is worth sitting with. St. Johns County Public Library System Director Debra Rhodes Gibson has said the Shearwater location is being built with a specific audience in mind:
"This Shearwater Library aligns more specifically with [Parks and Recreation's] target audience of children and families."
That's not boilerplate. It signals the county is treating this branch differently than a standard library outpost, built around the fact that Shearwater and the surrounding Ashford Mills area skew heavily toward young families.
Why it matters that the county is paying, not Freehold
A privately funded amenity answers to the HOA and, ultimately, to the developer's sense of what sells homes. A county-funded park answers to a budget line and a countywide need. That's why this particular site is also going to double as an early voting location. Oakes' point about having only nine government-owned early voting sites across the entire county isn't a small operational detail. It means a facility like this gets used for something residents in a privately amenitized community rarely think about: showing up to vote without driving into St. Augustine or across the county line.
District 4 Commissioner Krista Joseph, who chaired the Board of County Commissioners at the groundbreaking, called the project a source of pride for the county's growth. Parks and Recreation Director Ryan Kane framed the two Timberwolf Trail sites together as giving residents "a great place to get out and be active," language that fits a facility designed for public use first and neighborhood convenience second.
A Wednesday afternoon in 2027
Once this opens, the shape of an ordinary day in Shearwater gets a little wider without anyone having to leave the neighborhood's own footprint. Morning kayak run on Trout Creek. Afternoon pickup from Trout Creek Academy, then a pickleball game or a stop at the new library branch instead of a drive to a county building. During election season, an early voting stop that doesn't require leaving the immediate area at all. None of it touches the HOA budget or shows up on a Shearwater fee schedule, because none of it is Shearwater's to fund. It's the county's, sitting conveniently close.
A short FAQ
When does the Shearwater Community Park and Library actually open? The county's target is early 2027. Construction was underway as of the April 2026 update, with no revised date announced since.
Will this cost Shearwater residents anything through HOA dues? No. The project is funded through St. Johns County's regional park plan, separate from Shearwater's HOA and CDD structure. It's a public facility, not a community amenity.
Where exactly is it, relative to the existing amenity center? At 575 Timberwolf Trail, next to Trout Creek Academy, within the Ashford Mills Development of Regional Impact area that includes Shearwater.
Shearwater's daily rhythm has always run through amenities the developer built and the HOA maintains. What's coming next runs through the county instead, funded differently, governed differently, and open to more people than a gate code would ever let in. Worth knowing before the ribbon cutting, not after.
If you're weighing a move to Shearwater, or already live here and are curious what a home in this kind of amenity mix is worth today, Laura Worrell has spent years tracking exactly this kind of change across St. Johns County. Request a Consultation to talk through what's next for your street, your budget, and your weekend map.
