JENNIFER EDWARDS
Staff Writer
Publication Date: 11/06/09
A simple repair to a rusty fence post along the bayfront has revealed a bigger question: Whose responsibility is it to pay for repairs to the aging seawall?
City Attorney Ron Brown said it's the state Department of Transportation's responsibility. The state is not sure.
For now, the city has reinstalled the post atop the portion of the seawall that runs from the Castillo de San Marcos to the Bridge of Lions. But, Brown said, the state Department of Transportation needs to pay for the work.
The city fixed the post because, "We don't want people to fall in the bay," Brown said. But "The state had to reluctantly admit (the wall) was theirs."
Brown said deeds from 1991 show that DOT is responsible for the seawall, and he sent a letter to the state about two weeks ago telling them that.
But state officials are not convinced the seawall is their responsibility, and have ignored two other maintenance bills Brown sent for repairs the city made over the past year to the seawall, including one for $104.47 for repairs to some of the chain between the posts. Ê
Over time, maintaining the wall could become quite expensive, Brown said.
Gina Busscher, public information director for FDOT District 2, speaking for the state's legal department, said, "We are investigation the issue."
She provided documents that indicates that the state considers the city responsible for the wall, and thus its repairs. The state Department of Transportation general counsel, Alexis Yarbrough, could not be reached for comment.
The post-and-chain fence is sprouting rust in several places and some posts are now brown rather than the original black.
"They've been there for years and I can see that the condition of them has become critical," said Greg Moore, St. Augustine Historical Society board member.
Brown said the deteriorating railing creates unsafe conditions.
"The condition of the seawall and the stanchions (posts) and chain railing on the seawall have deteriorated over time and have not received recent maintenance or repair except for emergency repairs ...," he wrote in the letter to the state. "The chains and stanchions ... serve as the only barrier between crowds on the seawall and the easterly edge of the wall."
There's also the condition of the wall itself, which is showing deep cracks.
The area beneath the post the city reinstalled, for instance, has deteriorated, another city official said.
"The concrete broke loose where it was bolted," said Tim Shields, facilities manager. "I am sure that the age of it and the salt and the environment has taken its toll."
The city will have to wait for the state's response. In the meantime, it will keep making emergency repairs.
"We're going to keep doing that, and we're going to keep billing the state for it," he said.
About the wall:
* The portion of the seawall that runs from just south of the Castillo de San Marcos to the Bridge of Lions is about 50 years old.
* The original seawall was constructed from 1833-1844, said Greg Moore, St. Augustine Historical Society board member. Jason Sheffield, city administrative service manager, has said 675 feet of the original wall remain south of the bridge.
* The original portion north of the bridge, however, is located beneath the median that divides the north- and south-bound lanes of Avenida Menendez. It was replaced with a new sea wall when Avenida Menendez was widened as part of the remodeling of the bayfront that took place at the end of the 1950s, said Charles Tingley, senior research librarian for the Historical Society Research Library.
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