St. Johns County could make offer for Anastasia Mosquito Control District property

The former mosquito control HQ property is beautiful -- its highest and best use is as a public park. St. Augustine Beach Commissioners voted October 17 to make a $50,000 offer for it. SAB should get the property -- thanks to government watchdog Tom Reynolds for suggesting it.

Like a dog in a manger, supercilious St. Johns County Administrator MICHAEL DAVID WANCHICK has no imagination and is a nuisance. He is an unjust steward of our environment, as proved by his pollution of Matanzas River. See National Response Center Report No. 1163961 (above).

Our St. Johns County Administrator's contract expires next year. Let it not be renewed.

Posted November 13, 2016 07:08 am - Updated November 13, 2016 07:30 am
By JAKE MARTIN jake.martin@staugustine.com
St. Johns County could make offer for Anastasia Mosquito Control District property

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St. Johns County commissioners on Tuesday will consider submitting a proposal to the Anastasia Mosquito Control District to purchase its former headquarters at 500 Old Beach Road for $10,000.

The district issued a request for proposals to sell the vacated property (only to another government entity), setting a deadline for Nov. 18. All proposals meeting submittal requirements will be presented to the district’s commissioners at their meeting on Dec. 8.

St. Augustine Beach commissioners in October supported offering $50,000 for the property, saying they would like to see it used for purposes such as recreation, education and community gatherings. Commissioners are set to revisit and finalize the proposal at their meeting on Monday.

While the county’s potential offer would come in well under the beach’s proposal, it touts public benefits to be gained with some flexibility to move existing county operations around.

According to the county’s summary of the item, the proposal “is not intended to be competitive from a purely financial perspective, rather it is being submitted in recognition of the potential benefits and cost savings to all residents and taxpayers that could be realized by future county use of the property.”

As outlined in the draft proposal, the many pieces of the county’s bid fall like dominoes.

The county proposes moving Recreation Department operations from the Anastasia Island Wastewater Treatment Plant on Mizell Road, as well as a chunk of Beach Services and Marine Rescue operations from the county’s Pope Road facility (at Ron Parker Park), to the district’s property. Citing a need for expansion at the plant as the beaches build out and an inability to expand amenities at Ron Parker Park, the county proposes some rearranging of the proximate departments to free up access to the park.

The draft proposal also says offices and warehouses could relocate to the district’s former facilities “without major changes to the property.”

The 2.5-acre piece of property on Anastasia Island includes four metal buildings with about 17,775 square feet of space built between 1973 and 2000. The land is currently zoned open rural, government use. (According to the county’s draft proposal, the proposed uses are similar to what the district had in place and would not require rezoning or Comprehensive Plan amendments.)

Additionally, the county proposes moving Fire Station 7, adjacent to the St. Johns County Ocean Fishing Pier, back from the beach.

“The recent Hurricane Matthew, and the devastation it brought to the locale, underlined the vulnerability of the current Fire Station site and clearly illustrated the need to move the station to a location that would allow it to function as an asset, rather than a liability, in severe weather events,” the draft proposal reads.

Although it identifies the district’s property as “a much safer location,” the draft proposal says it “might be more feasible to construct a new fire station in place of the existing recreation administrative offices at Mizell Road.” The county further proposes converting the existing fire station at the pier to “less critical” office space or off-beach parking.

A draft letter from County Administrator Michael Wanchick to Gary Howell, chair of the Anastasia Mosquito Control District’s Board of Commissioners, reads: “This plan provides benefits in areas of public safety, park space, utility upgrades, protection of vulnerable public assets, and increased efficiency in government services to our taxpayers.”

According to the proposal, money to purchase the property would come from General Fund Reserves. Any necessary funds for future property improvements would be transferred from reserve funds in the current fiscal year and included in budgets for subsequent fiscal years.

The mosquito control district paid the city of St. Augustine $6,250 for the Old Beach Road property in 1972.

The Old Beach Road facility, built that same year, was only intended to provide service coverage for Anastasia Island. Coverage has since expanded to the rest of St. Johns County, which district officials said created the need for a more centralized location.

Commissioners, when they were making plans in 2014 to build the new 22,000-square-foot complex at 120 EOC Drive, said the old property could eventually be sold to help offset the $4.3 million cost. Among the board’s concerns with holding on to the property are ongoing costs, including liability insurance.

Complicating matters is a reverter clause with the city of St. Augustine stipulating the land “shall be used exclusively for public purposes by governmental agencies only, otherwise, title to said property shall revert to party of the first part (city of St. Augustine).”

Officials have said the city would have to agree to release and terminate its reverter clause in order for the property to be put up for sale to any buyer. In lieu of any such action, terms of transfer could be negotiated between interested government agencies.