CHIEF, Future Utility and Conservation: home
CHIEF, Future Utility and Conservation: home

The Owner & His Vision

A Legacy of Service. A Vision for the Land.

For Dr. “Doc” Hinman, the future of Indianhead is about more than determining what can be developed on approximately 1,800 acres. It is about deciding what the land should contribute to St. Johns County for generations to come.

His vision begins with stewardship: preserve as much open and productive land as possible, continue the property's agricultural and silvicultural traditions, thoughtfully locate employment and industrial opportunities, and create a long-term plan that serves both the property and the community around it.

Doc's guiding priorities are straightforward:

  • Preserve open space and protect significant portions of the property from development.
  • Maintain agriculture and silviculture as part of a working landscape.
  • Create jobs and opportunities for local businesses and employers.
  • Provide appropriate locations for industrial and essential-service uses away from residential areas and supported by substantial buffers.
  • Generate economic value and revenue for St. Johns County.
  • Plan comprehensively, rather than allowing 1,800 acres to become fragmented through unrelated projects.
  • Leave a meaningful legacy for his children, the land, and the community he has called home.

Why “Indianhead”

The name Indianhead has personal significance to Doc and reflects an important chapter in his military service.

The Indianhead insignia is associated with the U.S. Army's historic 2nd Infantry Division, organized during World War I and subsequently serving in major conflicts and military operations, including World War II and the Korean War.

Doc served with the 2nd Infantry Division and was deployed along the Korean Demilitarized Zone during a period of heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The name Indianhead Explorations was chosen in recognition of that military connection and has remained an important part of the property's identity.

Why CHIEF

The name CHIEF is a reflection of Colonel “Doc” Hinman’s personal history and was selected by his staff as a way to honor the man behind the land and the vision.

Read the story behind the name

A Lifetime of Service

Raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Doc's career has crossed military service, medicine, business, agriculture, and land management.

His education includes Oklahoma Military Academy, the University of Tulsa, Pepperdine University, and medical school at Universidad Tecnológica de Santiago. He later completed family-practice residency training through the University of Florida Medical Program in Jacksonville and practiced emergency medicine in Northeast Florida.

His military career ultimately spanned 37 years, retiring from the U.S. Army Reserve as a Medical Corps officer in 2014. His service took him throughout the United States and overseas, including assignments and deployments in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and Korea, as well as combat deployments to Iraq.

That background has influenced a simple philosophy toward Indianhead:

Land, like service, should have a purpose.

Looking Beyond More Residential Development

Beginning around 2020, Doc began looking more closely at the long-term future of the property.

Rather than simply pursuing the residential development that existing land-use designations could accommodate, he began asking whether a property of this scale could accomplish something broader.

Could portions remain agricultural and forested? Could substantial acreage become conservation or open space? Could the property provide jobs? Could appropriate areas accommodate businesses, innovation, infrastructure, or industrial uses that a growing county needs? Could recreation and environmental stewardship become part of the plan? Could those uses be organized so that more active activities are separated from neighboring communities by meaningful buffers?

Most importantly:

Could private property be planned in a way that creates meaningful public benefit while remaining economically sustainable for the owner and his family?

CONCEPTUAL: FOR COMMUNITY DISCUSSION

One Property. A Long-Term Vision.

That question is at the heart of the 1,800-Acre Vision.

The goal is not to develop every available acre. It is to explore how different parts of one large, contiguous property can work together:

The opportunity is to consider these elements together, before the property is divided into disconnected pieces.

For Doc, success would mean leaving behind more than an entitlement or development project. It would mean leaving a landscape that remains productive, preserves meaningful open space, supports the local economy, responds to the needs of a growing county, and demonstrates that private ownership and public benefit can coexist.

His vision is ultimately about legacy.

Protect what should be protected. Keep working lands working. Create opportunity where it belongs. Serve the community. And leave the land better positioned for the next generation.