Whetstone chocolate factory returning
PETER GUINTA
peter.guinta@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 06/30/09
A 10,080-square-foot Whetstone chocolate factory and retail store might soon sweeten up the former Cooper Tires property at 149 King St., according to zoning documents filed Monday with St. Augustine Planning and Building Department.
The applicant, Henry "Hank" Whetstone Jr., is asking for a "use by exception" to build a candy factory on that site.
The board meets at 2 p.m. July 7 in the Alcazar Room at City Hall.
Whetstone declined to be interviewed for this story, but the city's Planning Department recommended "that the Planning & Zoning Board can approve (that request)."
Mark Knight, director of planning and building, said he saw only one hurdle that this applicant must conquer -- meeting Federal Emergency Management Agency flood guidelines.
"Those must be addressed," Knight said. "A change in use from motor vehicles to a manufacturing plant means they will have to flood-proof the building."
The federal flood height is nine feet, but the building must be sealed to 10 feet, Knight said.
"The only problem is at the openings," he said.
With normal doors, drop-down plates can be installed to create a flood seal, he said. But the building also has four service bays that could be difficult to seal unless bricked over.
At one time, the property was owned by the Florida East Coast Railway. Now, it has 30 striped parking spaces.
City records indicate that India Pezzi of DeLand owns the $480,000 property, and $193,960 building. She did not return phone calls asking if she sold or leased the property to the Whetstones.
The family's business began in the kitchen of Esther and Henry Whetstone Sr., in the 1960s. In the 1970s, they moved the business to Cordova Street. It moved to a 10,000-square-foot facility on State Road 312 in 1984 but closed a few years ago to make room for their state-of-the-art office building, Whetstone Place.
The public believed for the past years that the old Hardees property at King Street and U.S. 1 was to be the future site of the Whetstones' new two-story factory. But that was not to be.
Knight said he'd heard those plans.
"But (the Whetstones) haven't included any reference to us about that (property) at this point," he said.
Knight said the old Cooper Tires garage had "passed its time" in that location and "this (new site) is much more conducive to tourists than their (Whetstone's) location (off S.R. 312)."
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Use by exception
According to St. Augustine City Code, a "use by exception" means "a use that would not be appropriate generally through the zoning district, but which if controlled as to the number, area, location or relation to the neighborhood, would promote the public health, safety, morals, order, comfort, convenience, appearance, prosperity or general welfare."
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