St. Augustine City Commissioners April 11, 2016 rejected ROGERS TOWERS partner ELLEN AVERY-SMITH's meritless appeal on SR 312 & U.S. Route A1A mini-warehouses -- 78,000 square feet of them, in a three-story building. The vote was 4-0.
The CYA CPA, City Commissioner ODD TODD NEVILLE (R-PROCTORVILLE) recused himself, stepping out of the room. He did not identify the conflict of interest that led to his recusal, either verbally or on the state-mandated form.
ELLEN AVERY-SMITH, tedious tendentious tricky developer mouthpiece, repeatedly tried mentor GEORGE MORRIS McCLURE's usual slimy tactics, which failed. AVERY-SMITH brought her wheel barrow.
AVERY-SMITH dumped a transcript on the Commissioners at 6 PM -- sandbagging. She cherry picked a few stray comments from the Planning and Zoning Board's consideration, trying to claim "bias." The transcript was not provided to the City in time for it to be placed upon the City's website with the agenda packet, depriving citizens of their right to respond.
This is typical of the unethical way that corporations and their attorneys present things to our local governments.
The robotic AVERY-SMITH's ridiculous presentation was unadorned by a single citation to a single case. She did not file a brief. She took her client's money under false pretenses. Shameful waste of time.
PZB correctly found large trucks delivering and picking up from the warehouses was a safety issue in light of the U-turn lane they often use, blocking traffic, including police, fire and ambulance vehicles.
Mayor Len Weeks and Commissioner Susan Burk voted against the existing mini-warehouses in 1999. They were right and their colleagues were wrong.
It was another victory for vigilant neighbors against the forces of greed in our town. Congratulations to the 61 Lion's Gate neighbors who organized and made effective presentations to PZB and the City Commission, pro se, without a lawyer. Carol Lederman (Karen Zander's mom) was the lead speaker. Who needs a lawyer when you've got effective, earnest, well-researched community leaders, who do their homework, and, like any good diplomats, won't take "no" for an answer when it comes to protecting public safety and neighborhood rights.
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