In a rousing victory for the Matanzas River and the public interest, St. Johns County Commissioners voted 4-1 October 16th to reject 999 homes in open rural land at SR206 & I-95, a proposed "settlement" of litigation brought by the secretive LLCs with undisclosed owners and undisclosed lobbyists. Confronting corruption head-on, some 100 people turned out, with some 28 of us speaking in opposition. I've never been prouder to live in St. Johns County.
Led by George Jacunksi, the South Anastasia Communities Association, the Hamiltons, Matanzas Riverkeeper Jen Lomberk, et al., the speakers zeroed in on the law and the facts.
Government watchdog Tom Reynolds testified tongue-in-cheek, urging high-rises and the right of everyone to do anything they wanted to do with "their land," a perverse interpretation of the law long shared by the all-Republican County Commission, until very recently.
Other than Mr. Reynold's sarcastic "testimony," the undisclosed investors and secretive LLC developers' only supporting witness was an engineer emitting errors and no facts. Douglas Miller of England, Thimms and Miller civil engineering firm, whose unsworn, unreliable testimony was not scientific evidence and not worthy of belief.
Simultaneously working for governments and developers, deeply conflicted England, Thimms and Miller designed many projects in St. Johns County and Doug Miller mentioned his "40 years" of developer service on projects thought St. Johns County. ETM deserves credit (or blame) for many of the ugliest "developments" in St. Johns County and we rue the day when it got approval to kill trees, fill wetlands and build homes in swamps -- a reign of ruin that is ruining what we call God's country).
In the past, during the lifetime of Rogers Towers partner George Morris Mcclure, devious developers have had phalanxes of test-liars.
But on this occasion, Doug Miller was the only witness, and it wa junk science, that did not pass the Frye test (or the laugh test). In a major Freudean slip -- I call it a "Floridian slip" -- Doug Miller referred to the "environmental bill," correcting himself to say "environmental benefits (sic). I responded stated that it was indeed a "Butcher's bill," as the government scientist tallied in Randy Shilts' And The Band Played On (about the government's lax response to the AIDS public health crisis). I said the "Butcher's bill" in this case would be a ripple of death, as wildlife and river life is destroyed by fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, rodenticides and other poisons moving inexorably downstream to the Matanzas River.
I asked to cross-examine Mr. Miller, but got no response. (I did so after the lawyer for the developer threatened to cross-examine citizens; in the Circuit Court litigation, several members of the South Antastastia Communities Assocition had their depositions taken by developer lawyers in an effort to win reconsideration of SACA being recognized as an amicus curiae by Judge Traynor).
Chairman I. Henry Dean, Vice Chairman Paul Waldron and Commissioners, Jeb Smith and Jimmy Johns "got it," voting 4-1 to reject the proffered settlement.
An angry soon-to-be-ex-Commissioner Jay Morris barked at two speakers for showing excerpts from his 2015 analysis on the project and voted FOR the settlement. Morris is a mean old man who often interrupted me during his years as Commissioner, showing his mean-spirited sign to two speakers was in character.
Jive John "Jay: Morris is perhaps most noted for admitting that the reason he ran for public office was Sheriff DAVID SHOAR's urging. Morris is former EVP of RPM International, which paid $60 million to settle False Claims Act charges filed by an Ohio RPM whistleblower, involving overcharging governments for faulty roof products, resulting in faulty roofs nationwide, including the University of Florida Shands Hospital in Gainesville. Morris is a boring bumptious bully who will not be missed -- a corporate hack, a malevolent narcissist who resembles Pesident Donald John Trump in his massive ego and massive character flaws.
We are blessed that Jive Jay Morris leaves office next month.
One of the witnesses in support of the Matanzas River is running for County Commission -- No Party Affiliation candidate Jack Gorman, running against Republican land lawyer Jeremiah Blocker.
The victory was a total vindication of Bill and Pat Hamilton and their extended, impressive families, who have spent 40 years working for environmental protection here in God's country.
In 2008, the Hamiltons earned a sub rosa shoutout from an unsuspecting suspect, St. Johns County Sheriff DAVID SHOAR was recorded on an FBI surveillance audio tape after 9:00 PM on June 11, 2008, talking on the telephone to an FBI informant and developer lawyer George Morris McClure, insulting them as "one issue" activists (also mentioning Phil McDaniel and Cathy Brown), saying they would "get in bed with Genghis Khan"). SHOAR, who legally changed his name from "HOAR" in 1994, was not present in the room, but later got approval for a $15 million speculative law enforcement training academy. SHOAR modestly said, "I'm not a developer" -- he's previously said developers are "good people" at an LWV event and got some $250,000 in developer contributions for his 2004 and 2016 election campaigns.
(More later on this victory)
Here's Douglas Miller's bio from his 180-engineer firm website:
DOUGLAS C. MILLER, PE
CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER
Mr. Miller's 40-year public works, planning and engineering career has incorporated both private consulting and municipal engineering. For the past 36 years, Mr. Miller has been a managing principal of ETM. He manages a staff of over 180 professional surveyors, planners, engineers and technicians with expertise in: transportation, land use, water resource management, solid waste management, stormwater design, and water/wastewater planning and design.
A registered professional engineer in the state of Florida, Mr. Miller has directed the planning, engineering and permitting of more than 1,000 projects encompassing more than 100,000 residential units and more than 100 million square feet of non-residential space. Mr. Miller has directed construction management and contract administration services on construction projects valued in excess of two billion dollars, and has served as District Engineer for multiple Community Development Districts in Florida. He has been recognized as an expert in legal proceedings and administrative hearings in the following areas: Land Use Planning, Environmental Engineering, Stormwater Management, Solid Waste Management, and Water/Sewer Utility Designs.
Mr. Miller has served on the Florida Department of Environmental Protection Technical Advisory Committee on Solid Waste, University of Florida College of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Board, the JAX Chamber Board of Governors, and the JAX USA Partnership Advisory Council. In addition, he has served as Committee Chairman on Mayor Delaney’s Transition Team and the Land Use Committee Chairman for the Growth Management Task Force for Mayors Delaney and Peyton.
Here's the St. Augustine Record article on the rejection 4-1 of the 999-home "Kings' Grant" settlement:
In something of a surprise, the St. Johns County Commission voted against a proposal to settle the lawsuit by the King’s Grant developers, dealing another setback to the 999-home development.
It’s the second time the Commission has voted against the development off State Road 206 near Interstate 95. In 2015, the Commission voted 3-2 to deny rezoning for the large mixed-use project, based mainly on the belief the development was urban sprawl.
On Tuesday, the vote was 4-1 to deny the settlement agreement. What was most surprising was that Commissioner Jimmy Johns, who voted in favor of the development in 2015, voted against settling. Also, Commissioner Jay Morris was the only one in favor of the settlement even though he voted against the development in 2015.
The vote doesn’t mean the project is finished. The lawsuit is still pending, although both sides agreed to an abatement while considering the settlement offer.
Also, the developers could bring an altered proposal back to the county at a future date.
Note: This is a developing story; check Wednesday’s Record for more details.
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