Neighbors, boaters argue Little Beach use

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Published by former Mayor George Gardner                November 17 2013
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Little Beach, big issue

   Neighbors, boaters argue beach use

Little Beach area
Cluster of boats at Little Beach

  City Manager John Regan explained it in a five-page memo to city commissioners:

   "... Neighbors adjacent to the beach have been overwhelmed by vessels, including derelict vessels, and associated negative behaviors that were attracted to the beach.

   " ... Responsible boat owners protested that the inability to store catamarans on the beach will result in a loss of public access and use that has been a part of the neighborhood fabric for decades."

   City commissioners will tackle the Lighthouse neighborhood issue, simmering since last summer, at its only November meeting, Wednesday beginning at 5 pm in the Alcazar Room at City Hall. With regular November meeting dates taken by holidays, Wednesday was the one remaining time the county's Government TV could televise the session.

   Regan says each commissioner discussed the matter with staff and neighbors, and "The issues were also addressed at a neighborhood meeting organized by the Lighthouse Neighborhood Association on November 5."

   Regan's key policy needs and recommendations:

  • Stop intrusion of private property owners on public alleys and rights of way that lead to the water
  • Lighthouse Park management design to allow limited storage of catamarans or other appropriate sailing vessels
  • Re-evaluation of  any controlled management for boat storage on the beach after one year 
  • Dance Company unit

    Rockettes have

    nothing on us

       St. Augustine's own high-stepping Dance Company unwraps the holiday season with its Winter Spectacular Thanksgiving weekend at Lewis Auditorium, Saturday Nov. 30 at 7 pm and Sunday Dec. 1 at 2 pm.

       The holiday production follows a young girl's journey home for the holidays. Look for high-kick dancers, ballerinas, acrobats, actors, and more amidst dazzling costuming and props.

       Tickets $15-20 in advance online, $20-25 at the door by cash or local check.

       Visit the website.

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    Port headline

    Port logo Could'a been the Nation's Oldest City National Heritage Area, but a well-organized St. Augustine Lighthouse and Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve effort has gained endorsement from the St. Johns County Commission and Wednesday will seek City Commission blessing for a Nation's Oldest Port Heritage Area "to celebrate the heritage and natural resources of the region and to recognize this area as a special place in America."

       Exploratory meetings date back to 2007.  There are currently 49 national areas that qualify as "a nationally unique natural, cultural, historic, or scenic resource ... telling a unique story about the U.S."

       There have been no efforts to recognize the area for its oldest continuously occupied European settlement.

       The resolution before the commission states, "National Heritage Areas function like business enterprise zones working through coordination and promotion, and not regulation, leveraging resources and providing grants and technical support to communities interested in preserving and celebrating their heritage resources without adversely affecting those not interested."

    Certified arborist for city

       Public Works Director Martha Graham will seek to fill a foreman position in her Parks Division with a certified arborist in the latest round of concerns to protect the city's trees.

    At a meeting last week of the Street Tree Advisory Committee, Chairman Chuck Lippi, a certified arborist, urged that "every tree over 30 or 36 inch diameter (measured at DBH or breast height) require a certified arborist" to oversee any trimming.

       County Senior Forester Greg Dunn added, "Only a few cities have arborists on staff, but few cities have the volume of trees we do."

       A week earlier, Planning and Zoning Board Chair David Toner recommended a workshop early next year to discuss the tree removal application process. Ten years ago that process was shifted from the city Code Enforcement Board to PZB to more effectively consider building footprint and other adjustments to preserve trees. 

    Hearings on streetscape assessment

       Commissioners Wednesday will consider resolutions with public hearings to establish a special 

    Streetscape
    Spanish Street at Hypolita design

    assessment district and describe its use: an assessment on adjoining property owners for improving streetscapes along Spanish, Hypolita and Treasury streets.

       While the plan has been endorsed by 80 percent of the property owners along those streets, the assessment will apply to all "even without the agreement of the property owners," City Attorney Ron Brown says. "The only property in the proposed assessment area not legally required to pay is a state owned parcel."

       The assessment will cover $750,000 of the $2.7 million project for underground utilities, brick street paving and coquina concrete sidewalks with flush curbs, and landscaping. Utility Fund reserves will cover $1.2 million in underground utility work and the General Fund $750,000 of the remaining $1.5 million.

       The project has been fast-tracked since initial discussions in July and commission approval in September, with a timeline for bidding this fall, construction start in January and completion before the city's 450th anniversary in 2015.

    Fee waivers on Consent Agenda

       On the Consent Agenda for Wednesday's City Commission meeting, usually approved without discussion:

  • A lease amendment with Ripley Entertainment, Inc. for operation of the city-owned bayfront mini golf course, providing rent of $23,198.12 a year for five years plus ten percent of miniature golf and Red Train tickets sold at the facility, which Assistant City Manager Tim Burchfield estimates will bring an additional $20,000 annually.
  • Fee waivers for the Christmas, St. Patrick's Day and Easter Parades, British Nightwatch Grand Illumination, Colonial (Spanish) Muster and Regatta of Lights, fees estimated at $18,000.00. The Easter Festival Committee meets Tuesday to consider a commission request to move its parade date from Easter Sunday afternoon to Saturday morning.
  • A recommendation to the Florida Legislature to extend for two years a pilot harbor management program, including mooring fields. St. Augustine was one of five cities selected two years ago for the pilot program.
  • Quotable

       "It occurs to me that while the City of St. Augustine has much to offer in the visioning process, the effort might be better served if it were a community driven effort supported by the City. ... managed by leaders in residents, businesses and institutions in the community with assistance by the City."

       Vice Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline memo to City Manager John Regan following City Commission workshops on a visioning process. 

    Not national publicity we want

      Public Broadcast System November 26 will televise a FRONTLINE/New York Times investigation into the death of Michelle O'Connell on the night she broke up with her boyfriend, St. Johns Sheriff's Deputy Jeremy Banks, September 2, 2010.

       "On the night she broke up with her police officer boyfriend, Michelle O'Connell was found dead from a gunshot in the mouth," says the report promo. "Next to her was her boyfriend's semi-automatic service pistol. The sheriff's office ruled it suicide - but was it?" 

    History's highlight
    Lighthouse - St. Augustine's beacon 

    1 year, 9 months, 24 days  to St. Augustine's 450th anniversary

         

       June 7, 1586, in the pre-dawn hours, a lookout spies a fire along the shore.  Sir Francis Drake, returning to England after raiding Spanish ports in the Caribbean, orders his fleet of 23 warships and nineteen smaller ships toward the light.  
       Historian Michael Gannon says that first public works project in today's America - a lighted watchtower to guide Spanish supply ships into St. Augustine - was a dismal failure.Historic lighthouse

       But the beacon for America's oldest port city would continue to guide ships along St. Augustine's shore through more than four centuries to the present day, its tower transforming over the years from wood, to coquina, to brick, granite, cast iron, and bronze; its beacon from torch, to whale oil, to lard oil, to electric light projected through a Fresnel lens; its height from 35, to 85, to 165 feet.

       St. Augustine founder Pedro Menendez ordered the first, a 35-foot wooden structure to guide Spanish ships from established ports in the Caribbean. In 1994, a determined volunteer organization, the Junior Service League, completed restoration of its last transformation, making it one of America's most historically correct, active maritime aids.

       During the British occupation of 1763-1784, a 50-foot wooden lookout was added. That tower would survive until 1880 before crumbling into the waters of Salt Run, where its remains can still be seen today.

       In 1823, the watchtower's location became part of a network of lighthouses to protect the nation's commerce.

       In 1871, with tides and storms eating into the land beneath the tower, Congress appropriated $60,000 for the construction of a new lighthouse. October 15, 1874, a new, 165-foot lighthouse was completed, and the light atop the old Spanish watchtower was permanently extinguished.

       Lighthouses are identified by mariners through two visual means unique to each lighthouse - one for day and one for night. St. Augustine's daymark is its black and white spiral with a red lantern atop. The tower's nightmark is in its light. From 1874 to 1936, St. Augustine's nightmark was one bright flash every three minutes. When electricity was installed in 1936, the speed of rotation increased to one fixed flash every thirty seconds.   

     

      Excerpts from The Lighthouse in St. Augustine Bedtime Stories. Click for further information on this fascinating historic series.

     

       The St. Augustine Report is published weekly, with additional Reports previewing City Commission meetings as well as Special Reports. The Report is written and distributed by George Gardner, St. Augustine Mayor (2002-2006) and Commissioner (2006-2008) and a former newspaper reporter and editor.  Contact the Report at [email protected]