Letter: Ponce golf course issue brings cheers and jeers

Letter: Ponce golf course issue brings cheers and jeers

Bob Frohardt
S. Ponte Vedra Beach

July 8, 2003

Editor: One of the city's hotly debated issues, the final development plan for the Ponce de Leon property, was finally brought to a vote at last Tuesday's Planning and Zoning meeting. The pros and cons of this have been debated since the first attempt to bring it to the board for a vote in March of this year.

The Planning and Zoning Board has appeared split on this question for some time, with some members clearly supporting the developer from the start, some members with deep concerns causing them to not favor the developer's plan, and some members on the fence with concerns that were less deeply entrenched.

Having watched this with some interest, here are some CHEERS and JEERS for those involved.

CHEERS to Chester Stokes for managing this split board well by asking that the plan not be brought to a vote in June when one of his staunchest supporters on the board was not present at the meeting and by asking for a vote on Tuesday when one of the members who had expressed the deepest concerns was absent due to a medical problem.

JEERS to the process which allows only the developer to be able to ask for an item to be tabled, and to the board for allowing this to happen and not insist on having all members present for the debate and vote on an issue as important to the community as this one.

JEERS to the chairman of the Planning and Zoning Board for his lack of objectivity and obvious bias, as he alternated between bored stares and angry glares whenever an opponent of the developer's plan was addressing the board. He was all smiles whenever one of the developer's entourage was presenting.

JEERS to the board members who passed the responsibility of ensuring the safety of the citizens to the Water Management District, the Corps of Engineers and/or the Environmental Protection Agency, with the assumption that they would "do the right thing" about the arsenic contamination on the property, rather than insisting the plan be approved before they signed off.

CHEERS to all those residents who understood the historical significance of the Ponce property and the Ponce de Leon golf course, and have fought to save it.

CHEERS to all those who understood the environmental impact of losing all the open space and wildlife habitat when the golf course is plowed up to build an extra 200 houses.

CHEERS to all those that appreciate the difference between a 100-year-old live oak that is just under 20 inches in diameter which will be cut down, and the one which is one and one-half inches in diameter which will be used to replace it and count as a one-for-one replacement.

JEERS to the Planning and Zoning Board for not asking for more protection than the minimum that the laws require, which is the action called for with a Planned Unit Development such as this.

JEERS to Chester Stokes who, despite his protestations to the contrary ("It's not about the money." and "I've tried from the start to find a way to save the golf course."), obviously has no desire or intention to ever save the course by selling it to the city of St Augustine unless he can exact an exorbitant price.

CHEERS to the City Commission for trying, in the face of all this, to still find a way to buy the course without having to spend any current city dollars.