Published by former Mayor George Gardner November 8 2014
The Report is an independent publication serving our community
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VA clinic relocation
near Flagler Hospital?
Unofficial word is that the new Veterans Administration outpatient clinic will be located within 2-3 miles of Flagler Hospital, as is the current location in the county health complex on US 1 south.
The current clinic will close March 31 as part of the complex purchased by Lowe's, although it could continue its lease at a higher rate.
The unofficial source said the reason for the location parameter is that the clinic has no emergency unit, which Flagler Hospital currently provides. One suggestion is the Ponce de Leon Mall a bit further south on US 1.
Relocation in the same area would be good news for many of the 5,000 veterans who are accustomed to the St. Augustine clinic location and travel arrangements.
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Commission changing the guard
 Mayor Joe Boles presides over his last official City Commission meeting Monday after losing a reelection bid to Nancy Shaver.
There will be no second meeting in November due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
The commission will meet in special session Monday, December 1, to reorganize, with Boles and Commissioner Don Crichlow stepping down and Mayor-elect Nancy Shaver and Commissioners-elect Nancy Sikes-Kline and Todd Neville taking seats at the commission table.
Shaver and Neville are newcomers while Sikes-Kline is entering her second 4-year term after a previous 2-year term on the commission.
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Veterans Day
2014
A volley of sustained gun and cannon fire, to simulate the barrage that was constant throughout World War One and which ended precisely at 1100 hours on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 will open Veterans Day ceremonies at Francis Field from 11 am to noon Tuesday.
Marine Brigadier General Craig C. Crenshaw, Assistant Deputy Commandant for Installations and Logistics, Marine Corps Headquarters at the Pentagon, will be guest speaker, with a massing of colors and reenactors in uniforms of the past and Active Duty men and women recognizing defense of St. Augustine for 449 years and the nation.
Hosted by the Veterans Council of St. Johns County with assistance from the Florida National Guard and the Ancient City Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America.
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Len Weeks to face
code enforcement
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Contractor/businessman Len Weeks goes before the city Code Enforcement Board Wednesday on a series of violations after his effort to shore up the foundation of the 200-year-old Fornells house at Hypolita and Spanish streets resulted in emergency demolition of the building.
Weeks has been cited for
Removal of a coquina wall in a historic district without Historical Architectural Review Board (HARB) review and permit.
Emergency demolition of a colonial structure without HARB and City Commission approval.
Failure to obtain archaeological permit in archaeology zone.
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City preparing for marijuana
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Amendment 2 failed, but the city is preparing for the next round.
Monday's City Commission agenda includes four ordinances for the definition, growing, processing, and sale of marijuana.
There will be a public hearing on each proposed ordinance Monday and, if approved by commissioners, again for final action at the December 8 commission meeting.
Recommended by the Planning and Zoning Board last Tuesday as voters were going to the polls, the agenda package includes 115 pages of "Index" material on marijuana regulations in other states.
Growing and processing would be restricted to Industrial/Warehouse zones, and retail sale at "only those properties with direct vehicular access to US 1," Planning and Building Director David Birchim says. "Both plant and retail locations are uses by exception so PZB (Planning and Zoning Board) has to approve them," he added.
City Attorney Isabelle Lopez put urgency on moving the measures through the Planning and Zoning Board not with concerns for Amendment 2 but for "existing state law that already allows medical marijuana and becomes effective in January.
"We did not want to leave our jurisdiction open for possible preemption arguments or private property rights lawsuits," she said.
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Meet mayor-elect at benefit performance
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Mayor-elect Nancy Shaver will attend tonight's benefit performance of the prize-winning play, Clybourne Park, at Limelight Theatre's Koger-Gamache Studio.
Free wine, hors d'oeuvres and desserts provided by Lincolnville's Corner Market come first, at 6:30, with showtime 7:30.
The $50 ticket price will help Lift Up Lincolnville's fundraising effort for Eddie Vickers Park.
Call the Limelight box office 904-825-1164.
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Sister Mary Christine and three of 42 stained glass windows needing repair
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This old house needs help
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There are 42 stained glass windows, parquet floors, transoms, narrow doorways, bead board ceilings and walls, and intricate brass doorplates and handles, an above ground basement with a coquina fireplace, two main floor fireplaces, and a pine staircase.
She's served as a dormitory, novitiate and now a Renewal Center.
At 116 years old, she needs help. Those window frames are falling apart, the roof leaks, the back porch sags.
Sister Mary Christine Zimorski made the presentation at a Thursday night reception to seek community help with a $575,000 renovation budget for Villa Flora on St. George Street.
The Sisters of St. Joseph hope for a $287,500 state grant to be matched by donations to complete the work in time for the city's 450th anniversary in September 2015.
Checks can be made payable to Sisters of St. Joseph, 234 St. George St., St. Augustine FL 32084.
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After election, incoming thoughts
I am humbled by and grateful for yesterday's election results--and want to thank everyone who helped make it happen, and to everyone who voted, no matter for whom. Democracy is a wonderful and sometimes messy process that defines who we are as a country. And now we all can move on to focus on a future that protects and preserves the City we all care about so much, a City that works for all of us.
I trust I will serve you well, with help from all of you.
Mayor-elect Nancy Shaver
I am proud of the race that Grant (Misterly) and I ran. The result speaks to my record of service to listen and respond to the citizens. Now that the election is over, I think things will fall into place nicely and the new Commission will quickly get to work on the issues people care about.
Vice Mayor/Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline
I cannot express the gratitude I have for all those who supported me and who have entrusted me with this duty. The next four years will be exciting and I look forward to serving.
Commissioner-elect Todd Neville
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Planning and Zoning Board
Ponce hotel plan tabled
While Planning and Zoning Board members agreed with member Cathy Brown that hotelier Kanti Patel "does high quality work with integrity," his plan for a 5-story hotel on the former US 1 Bozard Ford lot and loss of a major live oak in the process prompted a tabling last Tuesday to the December 2 meeting.
Patel representative Mark Knight, former city planning and zoning director, said the design team will use the time to find a compatible plan.
Despite appeal, church plans continue
Demolition of a portion of Lincolnville's historic Echo House to provide more parking for St. Paul AME Church is being appealed by local activist Ed Slavin, but that hasn't stopped the church's plan to cover existing parking alongside the church with a School of Excellence classroom addition.
The lost parking would be replaced with that additional parking across ML King Avenue.
The Planning and Zoning Board last Tuesday approved a use by exception for the plan to add five classrooms.
The appeal will be heard by the new City Commission December 8.
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History's Highlight
Our Le Puy Connection
305 days to St. Augustine's 450th anniversary
Excerpts from Elizabeth Duran Gessner's blog for the Tolomato Cemetery Preservation Association.
 Le Puy-en-Velay is a small city in south-central France, and used to be known for its lace making, although now its main industry seems to be tourism.
People come to Le Puy to ski or do some other mountain activity or just to see this pretty town with its three famous volcanic peaks. In fact, the word "puy" is an old French word meaning "peak." Nowadays, each one bears a religious shrine of some sort: the large red statue of Notre Dame de France on one, a very ancient shrine to the Archangel Michael on another and the Cathedral on the third.
The St. Augustine connection begins with Bishop Augustin Verot, born in Le Puy in 1804 and first bishop of St Augustine. He returned to Le Puy in 1866 to bring a group of women religious, the Sisters of St Joseph, to St. Augustine to teach the children of the recently emancipated African Americans.
Eight sisters accompanied him, barely able to speak English and having little more than good will and courage, and established their first little community and school in St Augustine in 1866. Over the decades they became a large order, teaching all over the state and working in hospitals. Their motherhouse on St. George Street was designed by one of the sisters.
 The order had been founded in the 17th century in Le Puy. In the aftermath of the French Revolution, religious orders were dissolved and both priests and religious women were expected to sign an oath of subjection to the State. Several of the sisters in Le Puy and Lyon were executed for refusing to take the oath or for sheltering priests who had refused to take the oath.
A peaceful tree with its plaque commemorating Le Puy's war dead from the various wars marks the spot where the guillotine stood and where two of the sisters from Le Puy were beheaded in 1793. The site faces the City Hall, where officials used to sit to watch the executions.
Almost a century later Bishop Verot was able to get 60 volunteers to go to Florida. He took only 8, and of those original sisters, two are buried at Tolomato Cemetery. The others died after Tolomato closed in 1884, and are buried either at Mission Nombre de Dios or San Lorenzo.
The peak where the St Michael Chapel is located has watched over the town for over a thousand years.
Imagine that those 8 French sisters who set out for the unseen land of Florida almost 150 years ago took one final look at the beautiful peaks of their city and then prayed that St Michael would watch over them on this journey - a very successful one, it turned out - into the unknown.
Images: Peak overlooking Le Puy and tree commemorating war dead
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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 or gardnerstaug@yahoo.com
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