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Published by former Mayor George Gardner June 18 2014
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Echo House Santa Maria Restaurant
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Echo House demolition;
Croce buys Santa Maria
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Demolition of historic and long vacant Echo House will be sought from the Historic Architectural Review Board tomorrow, and Pirate Museum owner Pat Croce will seek rezoning for redevelopment of the Santa Maria Restaurant in the bay at the Planning and Zoning Board meeting July 1.
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Children's
Arts Festival
Friends of the St. Augustine Amphitheatre will host a creativity event for children while showcasing the diversity of the local arts community Saturday.
The free event is 2 to 8 pm at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre.
Artists and art organizations will introduce youngsters to a variety of art forms including drumming, creating a collage, painting, playing an instrument and storytelling.
Visit the website or call 904-471-4113
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Echo House
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The demolition request could be tabled to July as the application is incomplete, according to Acting Planning and Building Director David Birchim.
St. Paul AME Church took possession of Echo House in 2010 from a nonprofit board of trustees, intending to restore the property for use as the church's School of Excellence. Two years later, a fund drive faltering, some 2,000 clay roof tiles, valued at $25,000 and carefully removed and stacked in a community project, were sold for $2,000.
While the city, the original property owner, can sue to reclaim the property if not used for education, nonprofit or benevolent work, no action is expected.
Church Pastor Ron Rawls says the best use for the property is additional parking for his congregation that's grown to 380.
The Historic Architectural Review Board meets tomorrow at 2 pm in the Alcazar Room at City Hall.
Santa Maria Restaurant
Entrepreneur Pat Croce moved his pirate museum here from Key West in 2010, successfully bid to lease and convert the former Spanish Colonial Quarter reopened in 2013 as well as managing the University of Florida First Colony exhibit in Government House.
Now he'll take on the iconic Santa Maria Restaurant that sits on piers on Matanzas Bay. He's seeking a Planned Unit Development for renovations, including dockage.
Croce has already contacted neighboring Old City South Neighborhood Association for an informational meeting June 24 from 5-7 pm at his Colonial Quarter on St. George Street.
The restaurant is built on a 1763 cargo ship landing, opened by the Connell family as a restaurant in 1949, destroyed by Hurricane Dora in 1964 and rebuilt, continuing as "a family run restaurant providing jobs for us all, grandparents, mom & dad, myself and my brothers, aunts, nieces, in-laws as well as many friends," says Cyndi Connell on the restaurant website.
It features "trap doors next to the tables for feeding the swarms of catfish and mullet that surround the building," Cyndi says.
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Sensitivity before city boards
Shade trees removal goes to plan board
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David and Sandra Corneal were a breath of hope for Lincolnville as they announced plans to restore the former M&M Market "so that it will reflect the original historic character of the period in which it was built."
Their visit to the city Planning and Zoning Board (PZB) July 1 may not be as well received.
In the process of a planned move of the building on the lot for a seven-unit apartment complex with potential future restaurant use, they'll seek approval to "remove five shade trees and two palm trees" from their lot and adjacent 41 Sanford Street, owned by William and Terri Stewart.
Tree canopy is sensitive to the PZB, and Lincolnville, in addition to having the greatest collection of Victorian homes, also prides itself on its shade tree canopy.
Car wash colors go to corridor review
 David Kfoury thought some bright colors might improve his carwash at 306 Anastasia Boulevard.
The city code inspector wasn't impressed with New York artist Jason Woodside's rendition of bright multi-colored stripes, circles and geometric shapes.
Anastasia Boulevard is an entry corridor with pre-approved colors. No one checked on that, former Planning and Building Director Mark Knight said when Kfoury was cited in March.
He's appealing tomorrow to the Historic Architectural Review Board (HARB), which oversees entry corridor disputes.
"We're really trying to make the place a lot nicer," Kfoury says of the paint effort.
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City candidates qualify quickly
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Two days into the formal filing period for elective office, eight candidates for St. Augustine's City Commission have all filed while on former candidate dropped out.
While most candidates announce their intentions early, the formal filing period - this year June 16-20 - is when their qualifications - residency and filing fee or voter petitions - are cleared through the Election Supervisor's office.
In St. Augustine, incumbent Mayor Joe Boles, in his fourth term, faces challenges from Lincolnville activist Nancy Shaver and former County Commission Chair Ken Bryan. The race will go to a primary August 26 to narrow the field to two candidates for the November 4 General Election.
For two commission seats, incumbent Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline, completing her first term, faces engineer and former Planning and Zoning Board Chair Grant Misterly.
Three candidates for the remaining seat will force a primary. This is the seat vacated by Bill Leary and filled for the balance of his term by former Commissioner Don Crichlow.
Contractor John Valdes, a former member of the city's Historic Architectural Review Board and past Chair of both the Code Enforcement and Planning & Zoning boards, faces CPA Todd Neville and Ron Berben. Lee Bicknell withdrew from the race.
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History's highlight
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Good old days not 440 years ago
448 days to St. Augustine's 450th anniversary
An account, written probably in 1574, attributed to Dr. Alonso de Cáceres , a distinguished member of the audiencia of Santo Domingo, translated by Historian Albert Manucy.
St. Augustine where the fort and people now are ... is almost an island, surrounded by water except for one part where they can pass to the mainland. ...
Each year the sea covers much of this land. It is all a forest of evergreen oaks, pines and oaks and palmetto so filled with roots that it cannot be cultivated, except a part that is sandy. There they sow maize; and of this land the governor has most of it and makes the soldiers sow there for himself.
 Each settler will have as much land as a medium-sized garden - about what one man can dig with a hoe: just enough so that he is busy half of each day grinding the maize to eat that day.
They plant only maize and squash because other garden seeds do not yield well. Neither is there anything that can be done, nor does the land have the capacity for yield even if more work and industry be put into it.
On the small island where the fort was at first, there are about fifty head of cattle. These fifty head do not increase. If they get ready to multiply, the calves die for lack of food and because of the many big horseflies and mosquitoes there, and the bears and lions. They have no fresh water for the stock to drink except when it rains.
There are about fifty hogs and these too increase little. They have been disappearing and will die due to not having food nor fresh water and the bears and lions eat them. They have not been useful except when the governor would kill one for himself sometimes.
There is no land for raising stock, so the people have to eat only what they fish. They raise few hens on account of not having (enough) maize to feed either them or themselves. These chickens eat small mollusks; consequently they taste fishy.
The fort is (built) on planks with thick timbers for supports. It lasts four or five years, by which time the timbers are rotted by the damp earth and its saltiness. The soldiers repair it; they work all year on this fort and houses for the governors and other houses.
Despite all this, many months they do not give them rations nor pay; so, beset by hunger and nakedness, they have wanted to leave. But because they have no way to go by land nor ship to go by sea, they have not gone.
St. Augustine Bedtime Stories - Dramatic accounts of famous people and events. Details here.
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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 gardner@aug.com
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