Commission Omission -- SAR Story Omits Four Ordinances That May Be Roadblocks for Appeals from PZB and HARB

Thanks to two maladroit lawyers, one of them a Commissioner, there may be huge roadblocks and privacy violations in the way of citizens deserving to apparel from Planning and Zoning Board and Historic Architectural Review Board determinations. No other Florida city requires transcripts according to the Florida League of Cities. No research was done on the practical effects or privacy implications.

City Attorney ISABELLE CHRISTINE LOPEZ ruthlessly wrote four (4) bizarre ordinances satisfying the whim of iron of Commissioner LEANNA SOPHIA AMARU FREEMAN (R-LEN WEEKSVILLE), which require appellants pay for transcripts, unless they're "indigent," defined as 200% of poverty line, and prove it with extensive financial documents to be handed over to the City. You're not indigent if you own a home or a car. LOPEZ aped indigency paperwork for criminal courts, not recognizing the personal privacy implications -- there is apparently no F.S. 119 exemption.

Commissioners FREEMAN, NANCY SIKES-KLINE and NANCY SHAVER voted without serious discussion to adopt these dumb 'ole ordinances on February 13th. They did so without resolving privacy and policy concerns that I raised, which were treated hamhandedly by hick hack sad sack LOPEZ, the louche lawyer who had crush on the late GEORGE MORRIS McCLURE and who hugged ex-Mayor LEN WEEKS after he was fined only $3600 by the Code Enforcement Board for working without permits and destroying 211-year old DON PEDRO FORNELLS HOUSE at 62A Spanish Street on September 25, 2014, a date that will live in infamy forever in St. Augustine. Six weeks later, WEEKS' alter ego, then-Mayor JOSEPH LESTER BOLES, JR., was defeated for re-election.

The enactment of these ordinances is a stench in the nostrils of our Nation's Oldest City and may violate First and Ninth Amendment rights. What do you reckon?

Two absent Commissioner TODD NEVILLE and ROXANNE HORVATH could weigh in to amend the ordinances in the future, making this right.

Here's the sad little St. Augustine Record's uninformative story on the meeting, which entirely omits this issue (Wonder why?):

Posted February 14, 2017 12:25 am - Updated February 14, 2017 12:45 am
By SHELDON GARDNER sheldon.gardner@staugustine.com
City approves seeking $750K for Lincolnville infrastructure upgrades

St. Augustine commissioners approved seeking a $750,000 grant for Lincolnville infrastructure upgrades, a project that is now expected to cost less than first proposed.

The estimate had been $1,075,408 for replacing sewer, stormwater and water infrastructure and repaving parts of close to 10 streets in the neighborhood. The city expected to pay about $325,000 of the cost.

By Monday’s City Commission meeting, the city’s cost estimate changed to $800,000 for the entire project, said Tim Fleming, deputy director of general services. The city is still required to provide $50,000 of that amount, an expense commissioners approved at the meeting.

The deadline to apply for the Small Cities Community Development Block Grant is Thursday. The grant is through the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity,

A 3-0 vote pushed the project forward on Monday. Vice Mayor Todd Neville and Commissioner Roxanne Horvath were absent.

If the city gets the grant, the project would upgrade sewer and stormwater and water infrastructure on parts of of DeHaven and South streets, according to city documents. The project would also provide about two miles of repaving on other streets in Lincolnville, said Public Works Director Martha Graham.

The project would ease storm-related flooding, according to the city.

Fleming had said the city chose the project because it’s “shovel ready” — the city unsuccessfully submitted the project for grant funding in 2015. Also, the city needed to meet a deadline after an unexpected opportunity arose to apply for the funds, he said Monday.

Resident B.J. Kalaidi opposed the project, saying she doesn’t believe the money should be spent in Lincolnville and that it would be better used on South Dixie Highway.

“I’m concerned that the city is not looking into the needs of the entire city,” she said.

Graham said the city is already planning South Dixie Highway improvements. One phase would provide a box culvert at Oyster Creek and new paving from the culvert to Anderson Street, she said. That could be under construction in the summer, she said.

The other part of the project is a larger revamp of South Dixie Highway that the city wants state funding for, she said. A public meeting on the design will be one of the next steps, as well as figuring out what right-of-way the city needs for the project.

In other business

Commissioners unanimously voted to allow athletic events to be held on city rights-of-way, with a permit, on Sundays between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. The events would be limited to two per year on Sundays, and athletic events are already allowed on Saturdays.

Also, Mayor Nancy Shaver said the city knows it needs to “start rethinking” what its archaeology program looks like, citing recent work by the city’s archaeology team.

Human bones that were found underneath a business at Charlotte and King streets are believed to be centuries old and connected to a historically important church. The state is involved in the project, and officials have been investigating the remains for more information.

“We know we had some extraordinary discoveries between commission meetings,” Shaver said. “And I just wanted to ask staff to bring some focus to that program … we know that, for example, our ordinance asks us to do things that aren’t funded, that we don’t have positions for.”

She asked for city officials to bring the commission recommendations and ideas, including funding possibilities for the program.

“I’d just like to ask you to take a blank slate to that so that we can up our game there,” she said.



SHELDON GARDNER, Record reporter who often refuses to write about citizen concerns

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