City decides on hotel project, home demolitions today

City decides on hotel project, home demolitions today



By KATI BEXLEY
kati.bexley@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 04/14/08


St. Augustine City Commission will decide today whether to give final approval of a hotel whose construction would demolish seven homes on King and Oviedo streets.

But the Florida Trust Historic Preservation is against the project and added the homes to the state's 2008 list of the 11 most endangered properties, according to a letter given to the commissioners late last week.

"With the redevelopment of the historic San Sebastian area of your City, and particularly with the Florida East Coast Railway buildings coming under the stewardship of Flagler College, the retention of the Model Land Company buildings is important to this entry corridor to the City of Saint Augustine," Trust President Mark Tarmey wrote in the letter.

The city's Historic Architecture Review Board has already turned down the demolitions, and the commission also will determine today if that should be overturned.

Donna Wendler is asking the City Commission for a Planned Unit Development to build an 80-room hotel along Oviedo and King streets. The Planning and Zoning Board has denied her request, but the commission passed it on first reading.

The commission will hear the appeal of the Architecture Review Board's denial of the demolitions before the PUD request.

Members of the public will have a chance to speak at the meeting.

Many residents who own homes on Oviedo and King Street, as well as others in the nearby Flagler Model Land Company neighborhood, have objected to the hotel, saying it would ruin their community's charm and clog their streets.

Wendler has said she needs to demolish the homes because of economic hardship. She can no longer afford the rising costs of insurance and property taxes of the old homes, and she said it would take an enormous amount of money to renovate the homes, Wendler has said. She believes building a hotel would not only help her, but also revitalize King Street and bring in money for the city.


Click here to return to story:
http://staugustine.com/stories/041408/news_041408020.shtml

© The St. Augustine Record