The Anastasia Mosquito Control District provides residents with service-driven programs to reduce populations of mosquitoes.
The Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County provides residents with service-driven programs to reduce nuisance and vector mosquitoes.
We serve all people within the 609 square miles of St. Johns County.
AMCD follows the “Florida Commission on Ethics” Code of Ethics for the public officers and employees.
AMCD’s Mission
History
The Anastasia Mosquito Control District (AMCD) started its humble beginnings in 1948. The District was formed from the desire of the people of Anastasia Island to live mosquito free deciding to tax themselves to provide funds for a mosquito control program. In 1949, AMCD began to take action against the mosquitoes that inhabited the Anastasia Island. In the beginning, AMCD controlled mosquitoes only on a small portion of Anastasia Island (17 square miles.), and now AMCD provides services to the entire 609 square miles of St. Johns County. How did our District get here?
When AMCD first started controlling mosquitoes in 1949, operations took place out of a leased facility near the lighthouse under the guidance of three elected Board members. Eleven years passed and AMCD expanded its District borders south to the county line. It also started providing services to Vilano Beach, Palm Valley, Ponte Vedra. Other areas included a small section of the intercoastal waterway, to the State Road 210 west county line at Snowden Bay, and up to the north Duval County line, making the total area covered approximately 91 square miles.
In response to the growth of County land served by AMCD, it became necessary to expand the leadership, so in 1961 two more seats were added to the Board of Commissioners making the total number of Board members five. In 1964, 3 acres of land in Ponte Vedra was purchased to build an AMCD substation, which was finished in 1968. In the same year, the City of St. Augustine joined the District making the total square miles covered 106.
In 1974, AMCD built a base station on Anastasia Island and vacated the leased facility near the lighthouse. Fourteen years passed, and by the end of 1988, AMCD had added more land to the District including St. Augustine South, St. Augustine Shores, North U.S. 1 to Nine Mile Road, west to I-95, north to State Road 210, and west to the new Shands Bridge, making the total area of land covered 311 square miles. Then in 1989, AMCD built a North West substation on Cartwheel Bay Avenue. For the next 14 years, AMCD continued to expand until 2003, when the whole county was included in AMCD’s District for a total of 609 square miles.
From 1989 to 2005, AMCD worked out of four stations spaced throughout the county. In 2005, the decision was made to centralize operations. AMCD bought a large plot of land (25 acres) off of Agricultural Center Drive located in the center of the county with easy access to I-95. A parcel of 7 acres of this plot of land was given to the County for building the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in 2008 and the rest of 18 acres was to be the sole station for all of the District’s operations. The first step was taken to centralize AMCD in 2006 when the Ponte Vedra substation was merged into the Northwest station at Cartwheel bay. Construction of the new facility off of Agricultural Center Drive started in 2013. In 2015, the South Station merged into the Base Station on Anastasia Island, continuing the centralization of the District’s facilities. Finally, in 2016, all operations moved to the current facility on EOC Drive off of Agricultural Center Drive.
Over the last seventy plus years, AMCD has gone from servicing only 17 square miles of Anastasia Island, out of a small leased building using basic mosquito control methods, to servicing the whole 609 square miles of St. Johns County on an 18-acre plot of land utilizing the most modern technology including an aerial program, applied research, and a whole team of technicians and staff ready to serve the people of this county. In 2018 the District approved to build an Education Center to teach people about mosquito control and vector-borne diseases.