Albert Camus, the French existentialist philosopher, once said, "We must first posit denial and absurdity, because that is what our generation has encountered."
I got both "denials and absurdity" from louche St. Augustine Beach City officials when I asked about the elusive "Phase II" of the Embassy Suites Hotel, which would boost the number of rooms.
The denials were from BRIAN WILLIAM LAW, Director of Building and Zoning.
BRIAN LAW actually said to me, "Beat it," when I tried to interview him. Mayor Undine Celest se Pawlowski George had suggested I interview him, When I did, he was contumacious and did not provide any information whatever.
My questions about Phase II were based upon a cutline in a St. Augustine Record article, later "corrected" by the Record when I quoted it. The cutline was correct, it turns out.
So EMBASSY SUITES claims it was an "error" that its Phase II plans included this "multi-colored monstrosity," which PZB, City Commission and Circuit Court Judge R. Lee Smith ALL rejected?
EMBASSY SUITES and its lawyers need to tell the truth.
Our Vichy government officials should not lie and coverup for greedy developers.
When they do lie and coverup, I call them out on this blog. EMBASSY SUITES relies on people like BRIAN LAW to keep their confidences from We, the People.
Government officials like St. Augustine Beach Building and Zoning Director BRIAN LAW and predecessor GARY LARSON sort of remind me of the John Banner character "Sgt. Hans Georg Shultz" on the 1960s comedy, Hogan's Heroes, set in a World War II German prisoner of war camp, whose signature line was "I see nothink! I know nothink!"
Voila! There is an Embassy Suites Phase II, my friends, and here's the proof:
St. Augustine Beach Embassy Suites seeks approval for 42-room addition
Embassy Suites by Hilton St Augustine Beach Oceanfront Resort is seeking city approval to add 42 more rooms by building on their parking lot north of its oceanfront hotel in St. Augustine Beach. [PETER WILLOTT/THE RECORD]
By Christen Kelley
Posted Nov 20, 2019 at 4:29 PM
St. Augustine Record
Embassy Suites is seeking city approval to add 42 more rooms to its oceanfront hotel off of A1A and Pope Road in St. Augustine Beach.
The Hilton-run hotel’s parent company, Key Beach North, presented plans for Phase II of the hotel to the St. Augustine Beach Planning and Zoning Board meeting Tuesday.
Thomas Ingram, an attorney representing Key Beach North, asked board members for feedback and comments to improve plans for the project.
The addition would be built on the northern side of the hotel property, where a parking lot currently exists. It’s bordered by the Pope Road beach access parking lot and Anastasia State Park farther north.
Phase II will be a three-story building — one story shorter than the existing hotel — with parking on the bottom floor, which is required due to flooding risks. The parking level will also provide enough space for the required number of spots, Ingram said.
The additional 42 rooms will bring the total number to 217, which requires 250 parking spots. But some board members had concerns about whether that was enough.
“There’s obviously issues with parking already because every time that I have been there, the area that you have mapped out for your firetruck circle is always filled with vehicles,” board member Hester Longstreet said. “Which is probably not the greatest idea if a truck did happen to come through there or a fire inspection, that would be problematic.”
The board also questioned whether the new addition was too close to the ocean and whether the flood risk would be too great, but staff assured them the plan complied with city code for beachfront construction.
“My suggestion would to not have [the parking lot] be on our oceanfront.” PZB member Jane West. “I just don’t think having it on our beach is an appropriate aesthetic use.”
The hotel has already become a wildly popular destination, booked at 90% capacity as soon as it opened in December 2018.
But from the start, Embassy Suites faced backlash from some residents who saw it as a move away from the beach’s small-town charm. Others welcomed the hotel as a sign of a reinvigorated economy and tourist destination in St. Augustine Beach.
But shortly before opening, the PZB denied Embassy Suites’ request to build a splash park on the property. Key Beach North ended up suing the city.
A circuit judge ruled in favor of the city, saying that it was within its rights to deny the splash park request. But earlier this year, Key Beach North petitioned for an appeal of that decision. The two parties are still waiting for the latest decision on the appeal.
West pointed out that the plans for Phase II presented on Tuesday included the splash park, which would result in the application being denied.
“The court found that there was competent and substantial evidence of an adverse visual impact on the surrounding environment in violation of our code, yet the splash park remains on all of the sites plans that you submitted for this proposal,” West said. “Why is that and how exactly does that jive, the fact that you’re still suing us and moving forward with this concept review?”
Ingram said including the splash park in the site plan design was an error and that it would be removed before the final application is presented. He added that the relationship between Embassy Suites and the city has been good overall, except for the disagreement over the splash park.
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