Friday, October 11, 2013

No parking garage for St. Augustine Amphitheater

Ten days ago, County Commissioner RONALD F. SANCHEZ raised a "trial balloon" during Commissioners' comments, proposing a "parking garage, which would inevitably destroy the beautiful old oak trees at the St. Augustine Amphitheater.

In Joni Mitchell's words, RONALD SANCHEZ would "Take Paradise and Put Up a Parking [Garage].

No one I've talked to wants a parking garage there, where our Saturday Farmer's Market is located. Not one. Typical reactions: "No way!" and "Yuck!"

Our St. Johns County could not legally build it there without permission from the Governor and his Cabinet, elected officials who comprise the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund of the State of Florida.

Under the lease agreement, not a single tree can be cut without the Board's approval. Not a single structure can be built without the Board's approva.

Why?

Our St. Johns County Tourist Development Council leases from the State of Florida the land where the St. Augusitne Amphieater is located. The State of Florida owns the land, bordering Anastasia State Park.

The terms of the thirty-year lease (through 2030) require a "management plan," and forbid building structures or killing trees on the State land without permission of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund. The Governor and Cabinet would have to meet, with public comment, before any orgy of tree killing or promiscuous waste of money on a parking garage could ever happen.

TDC minutes show SANCHEZ' notion has apparently never discussed building a parking garage there.

There is no customer demand to kill trees and put up a parking garage. Overflow parking is available at several locations, including the Elks Lodge and a county elementary school. Commissioner RONALD SANCHEZ evidently wants the County to steal their business while destroying our beautiful old oak trees. There is no antitrust immunity for the County attempting to monopolize the parking business for the Amphiteater. The Elks Lodge could sue in federal court to halt such a move. So could anyone else who rent parking spaces during concerts, including churches and other businesses. All of these competitors could sue the county under section 1 and 2 of the sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. They might win triple damages and attorney fees from a jury in United States District Court.

Likewise, citizens could speak to the Governor and Cabinet and stop it. No parking garage has ever been approved for a state park or adjoining land, DEP reveals.

RONALD F. SANCHEZ never bothered asked the St. Augustine Ciy Manager or the Anastasia State Park Superintendent about building a parking garage there. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has no records of anyone from St. Johns County ever asking about building a parking garage there.

RONALD F. SANCHEZ has in the past vigorously defended construction of the $20 million St. Johns County Administation Building, saying "It only cost $125 a square foot."

Everyone else in the County calls the extrvagant building the "Taj Mahal" or the "St. Johns County Administration Palace," complete with rotunda suitable for a state capitol building.

RONALD SANCHEZ must have an "Edifice Complex."

I expect that our community will unite behind preservation of the trees at the St. Augustine Amphitheater, and against RONALD SANCHEZ' desire to wsate more County money on expensve building projects. Promiscuous spending on such projects under one-party misrule has already "maxed out" our County's bonded indebtedness to the tune of nearly $200,000,000.00.

It's our money. They're our trees. RONALD SANCHEZ must be stopped. In the immortal words of Barney Fife: "Let's nip it in the bud."

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