An Inconvenient Truth, Not in The Record

St. Augustine Beach Mayor RICHARD O'BRIEN et ux want to build two McMansions. They were turned down Tuesday, March 22, 2016, by 4-2 vote of the Planning and Zoning Board.  Not a hint of this in the St. Augusitne Record's March 27, 2016 article on St. Augustine Beach:



St. Augustine Beach feels growing pains
Posted: March 26, 2016 - 11:38pm | Updated: March 27, 2016 - 12:17am

By JARED KEEVER
jared.keever@staugustine.com
With the economy recovering, some St. Augustine Beach residents have begun voicing concerns about the associated growth and development that they fear is encroaching on the quality of life they enjoy in a small beachside community.

At a special meeting Wednesday at City Hall, members of the City Commission, the Planning and Zoning Board and the Tree Board, met with two recently hired land-planning consultants to discuss some of those concerns and hear feedback from residents who attended.

Craig Thomson, who sits on the Tree Board and spoke at Wednesday’s meeting, said one of the things he is most concerned about is an ordinance adopted in 2013 that reduced setbacks on residential lots.

Thomson said in a Thursday phone interview he’s afraid the changes have allowed for the building of larger, vacation-rental homes that are “destroying the character and livability of the neighborhood.”

One of the changes reduced 10-foot side setbacks by 2 1/2 feet and reduced front and back setbacks from 25 to 20 feet, Thomson said.

That “blew the doors open for ‘McMansions,’” Beach resident Joe Foster said Thursday.

Foster also spoke at Wednesday’s meeting and invited Lindsay Haga, one of the consultants who ran the meeting, to spend some time driving the residential streets of the city to get a feel for the eclectic character of the neighborhoods.

It was something Haga said she would do.

Foster said Thursday he moved to St. Augustine Beach from California about seven years ago. He lives on C Street.

“I live in a beach cottage,” he said over the phone. “I love it.”

Beach cottages are what belong on the city's small residential lots and contribute to the character of the neighborhood he loves, he said. Attracted to the area by the prospect of warm-water surfing in his retirement, Foster said he loves that he lives on a street of affordable homes filled, mostly, with young families.

“It’s kind of like living in the ‘Wonder Years,’” he said.

He fears that can change if larger homes continue to be built.

Thomson, who he has lived on D Street for about 20 years, said he has a “philosophical issue” with the setback changes and what they mean for his own property and the property of other long-time residents.

“What we bought at the time and how we developed it hasn’t been protected by the city fathers,” he said.

Mayor Rich O’Brien said Thursday it is a concern he is well aware of and one of many issues he and the commissioners hope to address with the consultants.

The City Commission voted in February to hire the Northeast Florida Regional Council for just over $43,000. The NEFRC will help the city review its land development regulations and ensure that they are working in concert with city’s comprehensive plan, vision plan and charter, O’Brien said on the phone. He expects the advisory process to take about six months.

Haga, a consultant working for the NEFRC, and Brian Teeple, CEO of the NEFRC, listened Wednesday as city officials and residents mentioned other items they would like addressed as part of that process.

Managing growth, ensuring quality of life for residents, and creating a vibrant A1A Beach Boulevard corridor were the overall themes, but parking was a single issue that drew a lot attention.

Officials and residents both acknowledged that the addition of new businesses like the Salt Life Food Shack and the Courtyard by Marriott have put pressure on parking at the beach.

So, too, has the influx of visitors and new residents associated with that growth and the improving business environment.

David Bradfield, vice chairman of the Planning and Zoning Board, said a main source of frustration for residents is a lack of parking at the pier these days. That’s a direct result of the growth, he said.

“I think right now the parking at the pier is pretty obviously being at least a third to 50 percent used by Salt Life restaurant,” Bradfield said at the meeting.

Because the city allowed the project to be built with fewer parking spaces than would typically be required for a restaurant of its size, employees and patrons are forced to use public parking, he said.

“The parking lot lacks 56 spaces it is required to have,” Bradfield said. “So, of course, where do they park when they don’t have the ability to park there? They park at the pier.”

O’Brien acknowledged the problem Thursday but said he felt Salt Life was a good addition to A1A Beach Boulevard and credited the owners with leasing adjacent lots for parking to help relieve some of the pressure on the pier lot.

The restaurant offers free valet parking to its customers.

“The quality of life of our residents is at the top of our lists, including parking,” O’Brien said.

As for the Marriott property, he said the hotel management is still required to develop an additional parking lot to accommodate visitors using its 5,000-square-foot banquet room.

While that will keep people from parking along side streets or clogging public lots, it also introduces a new challenge for the City Commission, which is trying to keep up with the development and increased traffic.

“The last thing people want to see is our city be parking lot after parking lot,” O’Brien said.

Many also don’t want to see A1A Beach Boulevard lined with high-rise hotels.

One of the first orders of business for the NEFRC will be going over a pending height ordinance that will spell out the starting point from which to measure building heights.

In 2014, residents voted in a charter amendment that limited building heights in the city to 35 feet, with an additional 10 feet allowed for “architectural features.”

The issue came up again in June when the Planning and Zoning Board approved the building of a 53-foot Embassy Suites hotel that many felt exceeded that limit.

Officials argued then that because the building must be elevated for flood insurance purposes, measuring the 35 feet should start at the first floor of habitable space.

Since then, the City Commission has held lengthy discussions about whether insurance considerations should be used in determining building height. Earlier this year, the commissioners agreed to have City Attorney Doug Burnett draft an ordinance that would dictate that building height should be measured from established or adjacent grade.

The Commission has since postponed adopting the ordinance, opting instead to let the NEFRC weigh in on its language.

Foster, who said he has witnessed sleepy California beach towns transformed by unchecked growth, is hopeful St. Augustine Beach can make the necessary adjustments before it is too late.

While he said he is not “against development,” he also wants to be sure the growth doesn’t squeeze out the residents.

“This place is on the threshold of losing what brought everybody here,” Foster said.