Built on fill by a wealthy developer who went broke, left town and disappeared, Davis Shores flooded badly during Hurricane Matthew in September 2016.
Read the historic marker -- our City has been on notice for years that this place is susceptible of flooding; two of five Commissioners live there, along with our City Manager, all of whom were flood victims in Matthew.
Despite this, the Governor and Florida legislature initially DENIED funding for "back flow preventers" and the project by the City of St. Augustine, behind schedule and not complete yet. The City eventually won a grant and is self-funding the rest. Eleven (11) backflow preventers remain to be installed. (Corrected).
Here's the State historic marker, sponsored by the City, showing the City's actual knowledge of the swampy condition of this area, one of many Crimes Against Nature here:
Lawsuits against the City of St. Augustine and Governor, anyone?
Here's the historic marker text, annotated;
Davis Shores Marker, St. Augustine, FL
courtesy of George Lansing Taylor Jr., University of North Florida
Creation Date
7-3-2011
Description
Davis Shores Marker, St Augustine, FL.
This marker is located at the intersection of Anastasia Blvd and Alcazar St. ( on State highway A1A) in St Augustine, Florida. It was sponsored by the City of St. Augustine and the Florida Department of State.
The text on the marker reads as :
" Until the 1920s the northwest corner of Anastasia Island was a swampy lowland with occasional peaks of high ground. In 1925, wealthy Florida land developer D.P. Davis, purchased the lowlands and raised them in a massive 1,500 acre dredge and fill operation. Davis designed and subdivided the new land to provide for 50 miles of streets, 100 miles of sidewalks and curbs, parks, plazas, two 18 hole golf courses, a casino, Roman pool, yacht club, hotel, apartments, residences and business districts. Its distinctive curving street patterns, wide boulevards, unusual triangulated lots in a garden-like setting exhibit key elements of the most influential city planning movements of that time: the City Beautiful, Picturesque and Garden City movements. While many lots were sold, Florida´s Land Bust of 1926 ended Davis´ dream. Only eleven Mediterranean Revival style structures were built: six houses, four apartments, and a sales office for the Davis Corporation. By 1927, the newly completed Bridge of Lions led to a depressed area. Not until the prosperous post-World War II years did Davis Shores see revived interest and rapid growth. Today, Davis Shores still retains much of the original design and most of its 1920s structures."
Latitude, Longitude
29.89297222, -81.30439167
No comments:
Post a Comment