Here's the text of the referendum vote that added a tax increase of one mill for one year and rebuilt our 75 year old pier, which opened in 1984 and was half-destroyed by storm that same year:
"Shall St. Johns County levy and collect an additional ad valorem tax of only one mill for one year upon the assessed value of all taxable real estate in St. Johns County for the sole purpose of financing the acquisition, design, construction, maintenance and operation of a county-owned ocean pier in St. Johns County substantially provided in County Resolution No. 82-117."
Enacted by 39 vote margin of 5537 to 5498 on November 2, 1982 that's a squeaker of a voting margin -- 50.17671047% to be exact. (Thanks to St. Johns County Supervisor of Elections for documentation).
Here's a St. Augustine Record article from 2014:
Posted December 28, 2014 10:01 pm - Updated December 29, 2014 10:02 am
By Sue Bjorkman sue.bjorkman@staugustine.com
St. Johns County Ocean Pier has weathered 75 years
On New Year’s Eve, as fireworks are shot into the air from the St. Johns County Ocean and Fishing Pier, the wooden landmark will have seen 75 years of history.
Through the years, the pier has been the center of a constant tug-of-war with erosion and storms and keeping the fishermen and beachgoers happy. It has been torn apart by numerous nor’easters and rebuilt again, all while bearing witness to the constant ebb and flow of the tides.
Administered by the St. Johns County Recreation and Parks Department, the pier is part of a 4-acre beachfront park that includes a pavilion, volleyball courts, playground and Splash Park. Some of the activities there include the Wednesday St. Augustine Beach Farmers Market, a Summer Concert Series and the popular New Year’s Eve Beach Blast-Off.
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Compared to famous piers with amusement rides and restaurants, such as California’s Santa Monica pier or Maryland’s Ocean City Pier, St. Augustine’s pier is plain and simple. It lacks any permanent structures, except for the benches and the fish-cleaning station. Still, it has that nostalgic feel, with the compelling soundtrack and slight sway of the ocean waves beneath. In the Visitors Information Center located in the pier gift shop, the guest registry shows visitors from 12 different states and two countries in just one day. Simple as it may be, it’s a popular attraction year-round.
Some visitors come for the distant lighthouse view, the chance to watch birds diving for fish or surfers catching a wave. Others hope for a wildlife sighting — a dolphin, a sea turtle or just maybe a North Atlantic Right Whale this time of year. The fishermen come for the advantage of dropping a line deep into the ocean without needing a boat. And for the camaraderie of those doing the same.
A New Deal for St. Augustine
In the 1800s, Anastasia Island were called South Beach. From St. Augustine, beachgoers took a ferry over the Matanzas River at King Street, then rode a donkey cart on dirt roads to the lighthouse. Later a wooden bridge was built and visitors took the South Beach Railroad from the bridge to the beach.
The beach was always a popular recreational area, but it lacked a fishing pier. When Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal economic recovery program came about in the late 1930s, county leaders saw their opportunity.
In 1937, they applied to the federal Works Progress Administration for funds to construct a recreation complex that would include a seawall, boardwalk and fishing pier, flanked by a pair of hotel buildings.
St. Augustine Historical Society documents show the county received about $66,000 to construct a 1,344-foot pier and 840 feet of concrete seawall. The next year they asked for another $68,000 to construct two coquina rock buildings to house a life-saving station and recreational rooms.
Susan Parker, executive director of the St. Augustine Historical Society, wrote in her article, “The St. Augustine Beach Hotel; A New Deal Project,” that these projects were “conceived as an impetus for beach development.”
Completed in July 1939, the 1,300-foot wooden pier was believed to extend further into the ocean than any other pier along the Atlantic Coast.
This boast was very short-lived, though. The first of many damaging tropical storms hit in October 1939, wiping out 500 feet of the pier and demolishing the rest room pavilion. Another 500 feet were heavily damaged. The county applied for WPA funds to rebuild the pier, adding a T-shape at the end. It had to be shortened to just 800 feet.
During St. Augustine’s 375th anniversary celebration in 1940, they held a “gala opening” for the official St. Augustine Beach Recreation Project.
All too soon World War II “dampened the leisurely, carefree character of the beach front complex,” Parker wrote.
In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, the Coast Guard controlled all access to the beach during WWII. Civil defense volunteers searched the sea for submarines and the skies for enemy airplanes. No one was allowed on Anastasia Island after dark without identification and those few allowed through had to drive with their headlights off.
Turbulent times
St. Augustine Beach was incorporated in 1959. The pier was holding its own until the fall of 1962 when a nor’easter rendered the original pier structurally unsound. The beach suffered terrible erosion.
In the summer of 1964, the beach around the pier made international news when the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) held civil rights demonstrations, known as “swim-ins” or “wade-ins,” in an attempt to integrate all-white beach areas. Historians said this particular tactic was unique to St. Augustine Beach.
In fall of 1964, Hurricane Dora, the first hurricane in 50 years to strike St. Augustine directly, tore off the end of the pier and sent waves crashing over the seawall into the coquina buildings.
The pier stayed open for fishing but the beach erosion and the damaged buildings made the area unattractive to visitors. The hotel and restaurants closed. Erosion continued to threaten the seawall, especially during a northeaster in Feb. 1973.
A nor’easter in 1978 took another piece off the end and caused extensive damage to the pilings. Concrete shields were placed around them, but they were damaged when Hurricane David blew through.
A concrete-bolstered pier opened in 1984 to replace the wooden New Deal pier. It was now 1,000 feet long.
Recreation and renourishment
The pavilion, which hosts concert and events, was built in 1998. After this, the era of sand renourishment officially began. Between 2001 and 2012, millions of yards of sand were added to the beach in three big installment projects, according to The Record archives. These projects were done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as part of a 50-year commitment to keep the beach renourished.
The pier was again rebuilt in 2002, with the help of a $17 million U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project to restore the coastline. In 2011, the county approved $300,000 for repair work hoping to extend the life of the pier for another 10 years.
Barring another hurricane or mean nor’easter, the pier as it appears as 2014 comes to a close this week, is how it is likely to stay until around 2021. Plain and simple.
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