Published by former Mayor George Gardner January 9 2016
The Report is an independent publication serving our community
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Neighborhood workbook
Residents can evaluate their zoning protection
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 A Neighborhood Zoning Workbook "intended to provide a tool for neighborhoods or areas of the City that want to initiate a planning process to identify, evaluate, and develop potential solutions to development pressures" is now available.
The notice is on the City Commission consent agenda for Monday's regular meeting, beginning at 5 pm in the Alcazar Room at City Hall and broadcast live on CoSA.TV. Developed by the Planning and Building Department, it's keyed to each organized neighborhood association, but there's also a general workbook for areas not included in an organized area.
Hard copies are available for review in the Planning and Building and City Manager's offices, and will be accessible on the City's new website when it goes online.
"The workbooks are meant to be a tool for neighborhoods or areas of the city to use as a starting point for a discussion regarding possible concerns," Senior Planner Amy McClure Skinner says. "This is not required process in any way.
"Staff will attend neighborhood association meetings to continue to introduce and distribute the neighborhood workbooks; however, staff is relying on individual neighborhoods or areas regarding any desire to move forward."
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St. Augustine's Downtown Improvement District and 450th Commemoration will receive a Special Achievement Award from the Northeast Florida Regional Council - the Downtown Improvement District for Quality of Life and 450th for Culture, Historic Preservation or Adaptive Reuse.
"Both of these were excellent nominations and our board has decided to honor both achievements by awarding the City the Special Achievement Award," wrote Chief Executive Officer Brian D. Teeple to the city.
"The Special Achievement award is not given out every year and is reserved for outstanding work that deserves special recognition," wrote Teeple.
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A National Citizen Survey (NCS) to "capture the opinions of a randomly selected sample of St. Augustine residents" will be introduced at Monday's City Commission meeting.
Finance, Budget and Management Director Mark Litzinger says 3,000 households have been selected to receive the survey, which he describes as "a standardized set of questions that will assure a high quality research method with the results being directly comparable to other cities across the NCS community."
He adds the anonymous feedback "will provide a guiding document for the City's strategic planning and resource allocation for the coming year."
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An unrealized part of the city's purchase of the proposed 7-Eleven site at San Marco Avenue and May Street is a single family home on adjacent Nelmar Street.
That house will go on the market with rezoning from commercial to residential. The ordinance faces public hearing and final City Commission action Monday.
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Creating parks and
Ordinances establishing two public parks and creating a definition and designation of Undeveloped Conservation Park Lands go before the City Commission Monday for public hearing and final action.
Riberia Pointe would be designated a public park, as well as a Lighthouse Park parcel on Lew Boulevard between Santa Monica and Altadena avenues.
And three Lighthouse Park parcels would be conserved park lands "for the enjoyment of current and future city residents," says Planning and Building Director David Birchim. They're near the city's Lighthouse Park and Boat Ramp and J. Edward "Red" Cox Park.
The code definition: "Undeveloped Conservation Park Lands means a property that shall remain in a natural, undeveloped state in order to preserve and protect the natural resources of the property for the benefits of wildlife, the ecosystem and for future generations to appreciate and study."
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Resolution opposes Citizen Archaeology Permits
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WHEREAS, the proposed changes to Chapter 267 will condone theft of cultural resources from state land and lead to decreased awareness and stewardship of St. Augustine's cultural resources
City Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline will introduce a resolution at Monday's commission meeting for the city to oppose State Senate and House bills that would provide Citizen Archaeology Permits, allowing permit holders to collect artifacts on state lands.
"The City of St. Augustine passed one of the earliest municipal archaeology ordinances in the country in 1986 and is a national model for cultural resource preservation efforts," the resolution notes.
The resolution also notes past efforts to loosen cultural resources protection: "Archaeologists at the state's Division of Historical Resources demonstrated the economic, criminal, and detrimental impacts on cultural resources of citizen archaeology permits in other states as well as Florida's own Isolated Finds that was unanimously voted to be abolished by the Florida Historical Commission in 2005 with a follow up published report in 2013."
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Self-storage facilities ordinance proposed
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Commissioners Monday will consider an ordinance establishing self-storage facilities as a use by exception in medium commercial districts.
"Self-storage facility means a personal storage building (as distinguished from a mini-warehouse) which is subdivided by permanent partitions into individual spaces," says Planning and Building Director David Birchim, "and each space has an independent entrance within an enclosed building under the exclusive control of tenant. The tenant shall not use the individual space for any commercial or industrial purpose."
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 Florida PBS stations have created a website for military documentaries, and "The Veterans Council of St. Johns County has been fortunate to have our documentaries posted by WJCT TV on the PBS FL website," Council Chair Bill Dudley says. Five documentaries produced by Michael Rothfeld with assistance from students in the Flagler College Communications Department are listed.
Prisoners of War: Stolen Freedom - Four American servicemen remember their time as prisoners of war in three major 20th century conflicts: World War II, Korea and the Vietnam War.
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History's Highlight
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 The house of Juan Genopoly, a Greek carpenter from Mani, is St. Augustine's oldest wooden structure (ca 1800-1810).
Genopoly was one of the leaders of the Minorcan exodus from Andrew Turnbull's oppressive New Smyrna plantation. He converted to the Roman Catholic faith, married Antonia Rosello, a Catholic Minorcan, established a farming and dairy business, acquired three slaves, and constructed his clapboarded frame house.
After he died in 1820, the building was continuously repaired for many uses: a tearoom, a gift shop, and a photographer's studio and retail shop.
The kitchen building, with its present coquina fireplace and chimney, was added between 1860 and 1888.
A 1915 photograph shows the house with a sign that reads "Oldest Frame House." A postcard sold to tourists about then declares that it was built by the Spanish in 1565. In the 1920s, a mythmaking owner advertised it for tourists as the "Oldest School House." Today its sign declares it is "The Oldest Wood School House in the U.S.A."
However, as you take a selfie under the sign, know that Voorlezer's House in Historic Richmond Town, New York, is a 1696 wood schoolhouse, a National Historic Landmark that is owned by the Staten Island Historic Society.
From Walking St. Augustine, An Illustrated Guide and Pocket History to America's Oldest City, by Elsbeth 'Buff' Gordon
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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 a former newspaper reporter and editor. Contact the Report at gardner@aug.com or gardnerstaug@yahoo.com
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