Last night, the St. Augustine Beach City Commission's Charter Review Committee agreed to recommend a City Charter amendment to limit building heights to 35 feet.
The "overwhelming consenus," (as facilitator Marilyn Crotty from the University of Central Florida put it), was what one committee member called "the hly grail" among beach residents -- no tall buildings here. St. Augustine Beach residents don't want tall buildings, anywhere, ever!
If approved by the City Commission next year, voters would have the opportunity to decide on this and other Charter Amendments in August or November elections.
My late mentor, Robin Nadeau, would have been proud to see this day.
Putting the 35 foot limit in the City charter preserves "our village," in the words of Henry Dean, a lawyer and former Executive Director of two of Florida's five water management districts (St. Johns River Water Management District and South Florida Water Management District).
Putting the 35 foot limit in the St. Augustine Beach Charter would tell Congress we're serious about protecitng our enviroment here at the local level, which should entice them to consdier seriously the St. Augustine Naional Historical Park and National Seashore legislation, first proposed in 1939 by then-Mayor Walter Fraser of St. Augustine. www.staugustgreen.com
Two board members were absent (St. Augustine Ciy Attorney Ronald Wayne Brown and former SAB Mayor Edward George), replaced by alternates for the key discussion on height limits.
Speaking for himself, SAB Planning and Zonding Board chazir Al Guido supported the height limits, as did I. No other citizens spoke or attended other than SAB employees.
The height limit discussion will be repeated over the next year, in countless ways, as democracy in action at St. Augustine beach, drawing a proverbial "line in the sand" that developers shall not cross.
Height limits are enforceable and constitutional, and preserve the "village" character of several other Florida towns.
The only one of seven charter board members to oppose the height limit last night was former City of St. Augustine Mayor Len Weeks. Mr. Weeks said he supported the 35 foot limit, but stated that he did not want it written in the Charter because he did not want to "tie the hands" of future commissioners in entertaining proposals from developers. He did not elaborate.
Talk about conscious parallelism: Ms. Crotty used the same tiresome trite trope ("Tie the hands") as the committee was appointed and got organized earlier this year. She said charters should not "tie the hands" of elected officials. This is errant nonsense. That's exactly what they're supposed to do!
Thus, I informed SAB City Commissioners and Charter Review Comittee members that that is exactly what charters and constitutions are supposed to do -- limit government. Ms. Crotty works for a UCF government advisory service that isn't always sensitive to public rights to open, accountable governments.
"Tie the hands," indeed. Harrumph!
Board members discussed their concerns about the future, and what future officeholders and staff might do.
As Henry Dean said, "we don't want to be Daytona Beach."
Developers and contractors (of which Weeks is a prominent one here) have a bad reputation in St. Johns County -- lower than whale poop at the bottom of the Sargasso Sea. Developers' uglifying monstrosities have killed thousands of oak and magnolia trees with clearcutting, packed our roads with poorly planned commerercial and residential entrances, and created suburban sprawl.
The real estate bubble and local activists ahve halted them in their tracks.
Preserving and protecting our history, nature and natural beauty here is the number one job of government.
The 35 foot limit will preserve what University of Florida Geography Professor Ari Lamme calls "our sense of place."
At one point, Ms. Crotty said something about not wanting to "reinvent the wheel." I responded later that the U.S. Patent and Trademark website shows there are some 500,000 patents for wheels, that we "reinvent the wheel" all the time, and that our Space Shuttles would not have been able to land without "reinventing wheels."
"Reinventing government" does not benefit from cognitive misers, or from Ms. Crotty's trite tropes like "tying the hands" and "we don't want to reinvent the wheel."
Other matters discussed last night include: (a) allowing city ordinances to be amended or abolished by initiatives and referendums by voters, and (b) requiring city commissioner candidates to run against all commission candidates in an election, rather than for a particular seat (eliminating "free rides" for candidates who draw no opponent).
Timing: St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections Vicky Oakes, an ally of controersial St. Johns County Sheriff David B. Shoar, has attempted to dictate to the St. Augustine Beach City Commission her queer notion that the Charter amendments must be on the August Primary ballot, she claims it is because of an as-yet unknown number of state constitutional amendments. St. Johns County Election Supervisor Vicky Oakes is in no position to dictate timing to municipal elected officials.
Committee members and citizens agree: turnout is too low in primaries -- abysmal -- and primaries concide with prime hurricane season. Better to let everyone vote in November, when we elect Florida's next Governor.
Loopholes: The 35 foot height limit for buildings is currently written in four city ordinances, which make exceptions for an extra five feet of concealed heating, ventilating, air conditioning and other accoutrements at the top of buildnigs, as long as there is an architectural feature concealing them across only part of the building. The Charter language would likely incorporate this exemption for commercial buildings, but not homes.
Bottom line: St. Augustine Beach voers will likely get to vote next year to retain their "village" character, by adopting the 35 foot building height limit in their City Charter --- thereby preserve and protect their environmental heritage for future generatinos, precluding tall beach homes, condos or hotels that smear, blear and tear so much of Florida's coastline.
Three cheers for the Charter Review Committee of St. Augustine Beach!
Viewing St. Johns County from Google Earth, one sees very few tall buildings anywhere along our coast. From the Volusia County line to the Duval County line (Jacksonville), Flagler and St. Johns County's coastlines are relatively unscathed. Our Matanzas River is one of the purest in the state, and was recently blessed with a new Riverkeeper organization, headed by Neil Armingeon, who was the first St. Johns River Waterkeeper.
Next steps: I predict a 35 foot limit will eventually be the rule, by charter, countywide.
In 2008, egged on by some Ponte Vedra residents, our St. Johns County Commissioners proposed a half-baked "starter charter" that would have made the 35 foot limit countywide.
Voters disapproved of the charter, but not the height limit (which required passage of the charter to become effective).
The "starter charter" did not amount to a charter of limited government, did not include an Inspector General or Ombuds, did not do anything to hold the Sheriff, Election Supervisor and other constitutional officers accountable (leaving them out), required petition signatures of 20% of voters to amend it, and, incredibly, insulted GLBT people by leaving us out of section 10.06, a putative "nondiscrimination" provision.
I helped kill that charter, and I would do it again. However, I would support a charter that is consisent with the vision of James Madison and our Founding Fathers. Charters, like constitutions, are supposed to "tie the hands" of government officials. (Sorry, Ms. Crotty, but you can look it up!)
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