Monday, December 19, 2011

STATE REP. WM. PROCTOR'S PARTING GIFT TO ST. AUGUSTINE -- A KICK IN THE TEETH TO LOCAL CONTROL OF ZONING, WITH EMINENT DOMAIN FOR UNELECTED BOARD



PROCTOR's parting gift to St. Augustine is to give eminent domain to an unelected board, and to exempt an arrogant government agency from local zoning.

It's our fault for electing Proctor. We knew he was arrogant -- they've called him "MASSA PROCTOR" at Flagler College for some 30 years.

PROCTOR is as lugubrious a goober who ever made a chair squeak -- an embarrassment to us all. When running for the seat after Democratic Rep. Doug Wiles' forced retirement due to inane term limits, WILLIAM PROCTOR gave as his reason for running the desire to keep a Democrat from holding the seat. How sad.

PROCTOR's partisan, patrician and provincial.

PROCTOR's a vindictive dictator and a narcissist, and in no way kind or benevolent. He knows not that he knows not. His experience as a right-wing college president, football coach and a school superintendent make him confuse himself with the deity.

Our next legislator needs to be someone who's sensitive, sensible and sentient.

No more turkeys!!


Eminent domain for FSDB sought

Posted: December 18, 2011 - 12:56am
State Rep. Bill Proctor
State Rep. Bill Proctor

The Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind would be granted the power to condemn and purchase private property in St. Augustine — a scary notion to residents of the adjacent Nelmar Terrace neighborhood — if a bill just filed in the Florida Legislature becomes law.

House Bill 1039, filed by state Rep. Bill Proctor, R-St. Augustine, also gives the school protection from city zoning laws by vesting all of its current projects, and it requires that local government cooperate in the restoration of school facilities.

Melinda Rakoncay, president of the Nelmar Terrace Neighborhood Association, said FSDB should not have eminent domain.

“Unlike other school districts, where School Board members are elected, the FSDB Board of Trustees are political appointees by the governor, many from outside our community,” she said. “This means there would be no accountability for their actions to the voting public. While FSDB has wanted eminent domain for as long as I can remember, it has never been granted for this reason.”

Last week, St. Augustine City Commission heard the news about Proctor’s bill with glum faces.

Vice Mayor Leanna Freeman said that the bill is Proctor’s “last hurrah” before he leaves office on term limits in 2012.

“It is a threat,” Freeman said. “I think it’s pretty clear what is going on. If anyone is opposed to this, now’s the time to be heard. We love the school and support what they do, but just like anyone else it must comply with city ordinances. It is just astounding to me that this is happening.”

The reasoning

Both Proctor and FSDB President Danny Hutto both say the school’s Five Year Plan shows no future property acquisition.

Proctor, who served as a member of FSDB’s Board of Trustees from 1984 to 2001, said, “I don’t foresee any need for more property. There’s plenty of property here for anything the school wants to do at any time.”

Hutto agreed, saying he’s retiring in four months and didn’t want to hamstring the next president by keeping the current limits on several acres of school property now restricted by city zoning regulations.

That property lies behind the dormitories off San Marco Avenue and between Alfred and Genoply streets.

It was acquired after FSDB purchased the entire block and demolished Azalea Court, a broken-down old motel filled with transients and drug users who bothered FSDB students walking past.

The dormitories are where the motel was. The property behind them is zoned residential, making it unusable if the school wanted to build a large dormitory there.

With eminent domain, FSDB could remove that restriction.

Hutto said none of the Alfred or Genoply homes were acquired via eminent domain.

From August 1998 to October 2001, the price that homeowners asked for their homes skyrocketed. For example, to buy the property at 12 Alfred St., the school paid $153,338.

That lot had been appraised for $28,665.

All in all, FSDB paid nearly $2 million to buy the entire block.

“The property owners asked us to buy their property,” Hutto said. “All eminent domain does is prevent the school from being blackmailed if they want to buy a piece of property.”

Collins House

The white, two-story Collins House house at 30 Nelmar Ave. was built in 1924 and is considered a historic structure.

It was a residence for many years, then purchased by the school for $39,000 in 1969 for a student dormitory.

Vacated after its condition had deteriorated, it stayed empty for three years.

The school recently finished renovating the property at a total cost of $1.35 million, but the city quickly spotted a number of zoning violations.

Code enforcement said the renovation changed the historic structure, eliminated neighborhood access to the water, was overly large and covered too much of the lot, and had a non-conforming fire escape installed on the west end and a stairwell on the east end that didn’t meet city codes.

Also, a black 8-foot-tall spiked iron fence surrounding the property was set too close to the street and is twice the legal limit in height, the city and residents claimed.

The city and FSDB discussed the issue but deadlocked, so both sides requested mediation. That reached impasse.

When the City Commission heard about Proctor’s bill being filed, they suspected that the school had planned an end run around city zoning laws.

But FSDB’s attorney, Sid Ansbacher of Gray, Robinson, Jacksonville, said that wasn’t true.

“The city has known for a long time that Dr. Proctor was preparing to draft something,” Ansbacher said. “He chose to add eminent domain to the bill because every college and school in the state has eminent domain.”

He added that the school had not given up on discussion or mediation efforts.

“We’re going to continue to try very hard to negotiate with the city. I don’t think the legislation will prevent that. FSDB is different from other schools because it boards students,” he said. “We’re trying to reach a settlement with the city if possible.”

Reaction

Jessica Misterly, secretary to the Neighborhood Association, said “We’d been working in good faith with the city and school on the Collins House negotiations. I heard that the bill was (created) even before mediation began. I’m beginning to think that was part of their game plan.”

Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline — who served on the city’s mediation team for Collins House — said she’s “shocked at the boldness of the (bill). But on the other hand, I’m not shocked at all. We want to be fair. I’m in favor of proceeding, but with great caution.”

In January 2012, a dozen high school girls will begin life skill classes and live in Collins House. They have already moved in.

Hutto said the fence surrounding the entire campus has been there for 10 years and reduces the risk of outsiders coming in to prey on vulnerable students.

In a June 17 letter to Hutto, Proctor said, “The school had no compelling reason to renovate the (Collins) property for use. However, because the property was considered historic, the board realized the likelihood of opposition from the neighbors if it razed the building.”

In the letter, Proctor was adamant about one point: There should be no connection between the Collins House and what the school does on its Alfred-Genoply property.

Rakoncay said the campus is surrounded by two neighborhoods now on the National Register of Historic Places.

“The preservation of our unique history is one of the obligations that both the city and state have, especially since we’re nearing our 450th year,” she said. “Any growth of FSDB be coordinated with the city and the surrounding historic neighborhoods.”

The ‘real’ issue

City Commissioner Bill Leary said he spoke to Proctor three weeks ago and told him the city wanted a “compromise that would make things better now and in the future. The key for us is to finally do that agreement (saying) that whatever you build on the back lot would look like single-family housing.”

That is what Proctor thinks is “the real issue,” the Alfred and Genoply property and the city’s control of them.

Across the street from the back lot sits half a dozen or more older homes.

But Proctor said signing an agreement is unacceptable. FSDB administrators didn’t want to hamstring future presidents.

“The city wants us to build cottages for students, which would cost a great deal more than one building,” Proctor said.

He added that there is no statutory law requiring schools to sign agreements with municipalities.

City Attorney Ron Brown told the commission that if Proctor’s bill becomes law, “As of July 1, 2012, the zoning for whatever (structure) is on the ground is rendered moot. It clearly takes the state out of the review process.”

Proctor, however, said the question is one of fairness.

“FSDB is not a neighborhood school, nor is it a city school,” he has said frequently. “It is a state institution with a statewide mission. It’s mission cannot be compromised to appease a few strident voices.”

He hopes the city will recognize that the school is a valuable member of the community, with its $42 million annual budget plus capital projects and its employment of 600 people.

“This is the type of clean industry that many cities are pursuing at considerable cost,” he said. “A few voices will scream and holler no matter what the school does. You can make a Taj Mahal out of (the Collins House) but you’ll still get five or six people who will complain.”

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