I agree: the highest and best use of this property is as a public park. The County's ill-advised, last-minute poor planning and dog-in-the-manger bid should be rejected by the Anastasia Mosquito Control District of St. Johns County.
Posted November 16, 2016 12:02 am
Mosquito property: Get it together … and get real
We cannot, for the life of us, imagine why St. Augustine Beach is now in a bidding contest with St. Johns County over the former Anastasia Mosquito Control property off Pope Road — or vice-versa.
We’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again: communicate, cooperate and consolidate.
It is a beautiful piece of property, about 2.5 acres in all. It lies fallow because the Mosquito Board built a new $4.3 million complex north of town. The former site is tied up with a reverter clause, allowing the property to be sold only to a municipal entity — and used for a public purpose. The City of St. Augustine sold the land to the District in 1972 for $6,250. The property lies useless within a perfect storm of government stewards on every side. St. Johns County owns and operates the lovely Ron Parker Park directly across Pope Road from the property. The current no-man’s land abuts St. Augustine city limits to the north, St. Augustine Beach city limits to the south and, across Santander Road, it cozies up to state-owned Anastasia State Park. Those are the only four players at the table.
With some sort of cooperative effort the property has possibilities for each, in cooperation with the others. So why are the County and Beach entering competing bids? And will St. Augustine watch the process and make a bid of its own?
It seems so simple to us — bid together, not against one another, and share the bounty of that land, whatever it may end up being — whether that means moving offices out of Ron Parker Park in order to expand recreational opportunities there, or simply cleaning up the site and allowing that upland hammock to remain just that — a pretty park.
The real silliness of this apparent lack of cooperation on the property is that “we” taxpayers of St. Johns County, already own the land. “We” bought and paid for it once already. Why should “we” buy it again?
The simple truth is that the Mosquito District has to sell it to one of these four players. No other entity can purchase it. If, collectively, we offered $5 for the property, that’s $5 more than the Mosquito Board will get for it any other way.
And everyone involved needs to be aware of the potential for major environmental issues on that property. Remember, it has housed toxic chemicals for 45 years.
Mosquito Control would be wise to simply deed the property to, say, the Beach and County together, and say “thanks for the memories” and “good luck with the environmental liabilities.”
Why are fighting one another for something that’s already ours?
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