http://staugustine.com/opinions/2014-02-02/guest
Slavin guest column: Resort site deserves more than a hotel
Posted: February 2, 2014 - 12:20 am
By ED SLAVIN
ST. AUGUSTINE
Developer Key International purchased the St. Augustine Beach Resort, which is run-down with lousy reviews. It is now closed, locked and has “No Trespassing” signs.
The Beach Resort adjoins our beautiful Anastasia State Park, with its endangered species, including turtles, birds and the Anastasia Island beach mouse.
The Resort would never have been permitted under today’s environmental laws.
The property likely contains the archaeological remains of St. Augustine’s founding.
In 1566, our Nation’s Oldest City moved to Anastasia Island after Selawa Indians burned down the original site at the Indian village of Seloy.
St. Augustine City Archaeologist Carl Halbirt told The Record (Jan. 11, 2014) that “circumstantial” evidence points to the likelihood that the second site of our city was where the Resort and county pier are located. Evidence includes an artesian well, colonial pottery and colonial roads converging in the vicinity. “It is my hypothesis that this is the second settlement of St. Augustine” in 1566, before St. Augustine moved to its current location, where the first town plan was developed in 1571.
Hence for the 450th anniversary of St. Augustine, what can contribute more to advancing historic preservation and scholarship than finding out the truth about St. Augustine’s second settlement?
We must insist upon an archaeological investigation before the site can be developed, with what St. Augustine Beach’s planning and zoning director predicts will be a “teardown.”
If the Beach Resort is indeed the location of St. Augustine’s second settlement, we need to explore government purchase of the St. Augustine Beach Resort as part of a park.
St. Augustine Beach City Planning and Zoning Director Gary Larson told The Record on Jan. 11 that this is the most beautiful location on the beach between Daytona and Jacksonville, with a “fantastic ocean view.” That’s all the more reason for it to be part of Anastasia State Park, and not another resort.
Florida is already blessed with resorts and condos (500,000 condos are unoccupied).
The site of St. Augustine’s first settlement has been identified by University of Florida Archaeologist Dr. Kathy Deegan and is preserved by the Fraser Family (Fountain of Youth park) and Roman Catholic Church (Lady of La Leche Shrine and Mission Nombre de Dios).
The site of St. Augustine’s second settlement — on the beach — must be preserved forever as park land.
The St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore was proposed 75 years ago, in 1939, by St. Augustine Mayor Walter Fraser, then-Senators Claude Pepper and Charles Andrews and then-Rep. Joseph Hendricks. The time for action is now.
Our St. Johns County Sheriff, David Shoar, told me in 2011 that the idea of the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore is a “no-brainer.” We can preserve forever current state parks, forests and water management district lands. See staugustgreen.com.
Today, the hope still lives that we can preserve our history and nature forever inviolate, protected from developer designs and giveaways.
Our county-owned St. Augustine Beach Pier will soon require replacement. To do it properly could cost $20 million.
Let the new pier be a centerpiece of the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore, perhaps through public-private partnership.
Let the new pier be longer, fishermen-friendly, enjoyable and fun, with a history and civil rights museum and restaurants.
At the Seal Beach Pier in Orange County, Calif., there’s a statue of a seal (his name is “Slick”). At the new St. Augustine Beach Pier, I suggest a statue of the Anastasia Island beach mouse (“Ponce de Raton”).
This is for your grandchildren, and their grandchildren. It is up to us.
Yes we can!
http://staugustine.com/opinions/2014-02-02/guest
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