Excellent St. Augustine Record editorial -- I couldn't agree more. Kudos to citizen Thomas Francis Reynolds for speaking out and pointing us in the right direction. Thank you.
Editorial: Mosquito land belongs to us, not the district
Posted: July 29, 2016 - 12:10am | Updated: July 30, 2016 - 7:47am
St. Augustine Record
The Anastasia Mosquito Control District is meeting in mid-August to hash out the future of its former property on Old Beach Road. Board members are talking about a sale of the 2.6-acre parcel. They’re 180 degrees off on that one. More about that in a moment.
The piece of property is unique. There’s a run-down shed-like structure which would go away no matter what the future use might be. But surrounding the structure the lot is a rare chunk of maritime hardwood hammock, or maritime forest. In case you were wondering, they just don’t make that stuff anywhere — anymore.
The deed is held by the mosquito board, but includes a reverter clause. The city sold it to the district in 1970. But the district agreed that if it ever vacated, the land would be deeded to a public entity for public use. It can’t be sold to a private buyer/developer. Kudos to the city fathers for the foresight 40-odd years ago.
There’s an appraisal we haven’t seen, but heard of. Most agree the value is around $700,000. The mosquito board seems determined to sell it. That’s probably because members used the resale of the land as an argument for doubling the district taxes in 2014 in order to build a new facility which it moved into this year.
The sale of the land was to draw down the price tag of the new digs. We’ve heard rumblings that some mosquito board members might be asking St. Augustine to eat the reverter clause so the land can go on the open market for private development.
That could happen ... in their dreams.
The piece of land is uniquely situated. It borders on county-owned land (but within St. Augustine Beach city limits) in the pretty Ron Parker Park. The beach owns the land to the south. Anastasia State Park is state-owned and abuts the mosquito parcel to the east ... but that portion of the state park is within St. Augustine city limits.
So the mosquito land represents kind of a hub in a municipal wheel. And that would seem to open up many different scenarios of opportunity for a cooperative effort there in restoring the property for viable public use.
That could actually be the easy part. The devil, as always, would be in the details. There are already whispers of a skate park, off-beach parking, expansion of Ron Parker, and more. But, from where we sit, the unique environmental aspects of the property demand it inherits a mellower afterlife, nestled in those coastal hardwoods.
But first things first.
The Anastasia Mosquito Control District needs to give the land back, plain and simple. No sale. No charge. It is not the district’s land. It was bought and paid for by taxpayers — you and me.
It should be returned to the public.
The district spent $1.5 million of our money buying the new land and $4-plus million building its new facility. Give us some return on investment, how about it?
But ... let’s be fair about this. Taxpayers did buy the land and, perhaps, shouldn’t be on the hook for that initial investment. So the district can charge the $6,250 original sales price to the City/County/Beach for the land.
But the hard truth is, the mosquito district has no option but to sell the land to one — or all — of them. It can sell to no one else. So, with a mutual agreement /understanding between the State, County, Beach and City, an offer of $1 for the property is $1 more than the mosquito board will receive by any other means. Something about that scenario just feels right.
COMMENTS
sponger2 07/30/16 - 08:55 am 20Hope that happens, but I doubt it.
It makes too much sense and lacks the corruption we have grown so accustomed to. A hotel will probably end up on the property.
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