Sleepy St. Augustine woke up to wonderful news on September 8, 2018, our 453rd anniversary.
NO APPEAL was filed by D.R. HORTON, INC., FISH ISLAND DEVELOPMENT, LLC and THOMPSON BROS. REALTY of their misbegotten misguided plans to destroy iconic, historic Fish Island for yet another gated community.
The applicants' time expired on Friday, September 7, 2018. No appeal.
I have never been prouder to live in St. Augustine, Florida. Thanks to our stellar PZB for its wise decision. Thanks to Matanzas Riverkeeper Jen Lomberk everyone who attended and spoke at the July 3 and August 7, 2018 PZB meeting, and those who tried to attend and speak. (Standing room only).
What's next: St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore, first proposed by Mayor Walter Fraser in 1939, and introduced in Congress by Senators Claude Pepper and Chrles Andrews and Rep. Joseph Hendricks.
Thanks to D.R. Horton, Fish Island Development LLC, Pierre and Paul Thompson, Rogers Towers law firm and lawyer Ellen Avery Smith for NOT appealing from PZB.
For doing their jobs independently, based upon the law and facts of record, without fear or favor of vast corporate power and wealth: Thanks and praise to PZB Chair Sarah Ryan and PZB members Grant Misterly, Karen Zander, Sue Agresta, Matthew Shaffer, the five PZB members who unanimously voted down the PUD. Thanks also to PZB member Carl Blow, who bailed on voting and participating after staff stigma or pressures in retaliation for his asking questions of the applicant in one of those ex parte meetings City officials must stop holding with developers.
Three cheers for PZB members' independence, despite low-down, lousy, dirty, unseemly, undisclosed, illegal, indecent pressures brought upon them by City staff and Commissioners, some of whom expect PZB members to be lapdogs and not watchdogs, as when they adopted Ordinance 2018-11, allowing "at will" firing of PZB. members.
Why this matters: Fish Island is:
- a beautiful, pristine, 75 acre Matanzas River wildlife habitat,
- home to bald eagles and other threatened and endangered species,
- historic home of the founder of Florida's citrus agriculture industry in the 1700s, containing the archaeological remains of Jesse Fish, his mansion, his slaves' graves and some eight slave cabins;
- iconic view shed
- the last undeveloped natural parcel bordering the pristine Matanzas River, which is a prime oyster-growing waterway.
What's next? We the People are going to preserve Fish Island as a Park.
Thanks to Florida Forever and Florida Amendment 1, there is constitutionally-mandated State of Florida funding to buy parklands. Ask the City of St. Augustine Beach, which bought two parks with Amendment 1 funds.
Prediction: Fish Island will become part of the St. Augustine National Historical Park and National Seashore, first proposed by Mayor Walter Fraser, Senator Claude Pepper, et al. in 1939.
Three cheers for all of the activists and citizens who spoke, especially to Matanzas Riverkeeper Jen Lomberk, to Sierra Club and Audubon Society witnesses who showed the bald eagles' nest photos and disproved testa-liar RYAN CARTER's testimony, to former St. Augustine Beach Mayor S. Gary Snodgrass, and to former City Archaeologist Carl Halbirt.
Decisions are made by people who show up.
• Brandon Murawski
• Dr. Virginia Quelch
• Dr. Greg Smith
• Marsha Chance
• Tammy Johns
• Brian Paradise
• Susan Hill
• Jon Hodgin
• Sara Bailey
• Trey Asner
• Richard Hardy
• Erin Finney
• Patricia Scott
• S. Gary Snodgrass
• Genero Shivelli (sp?)
• Kay Lee
• Craig Williams
• Karen Carter Lewis
• Carl Halbert
• Dorothy Barrett
• Marcia Daniels
• Logan Williams
• Karen Lane
• Gina Burrell
• Carolyn Smith
• Eric Smith
• George Ellis
• Tonya Salyer
• Alex Barr
• Tim Lyman
• Tom Brinton
• Christopher Wiggin
• Lisa Mc Greevy
• Diane Lewitt
• Bob Lane
• Ed Slavin
• BJ Kalaidi
• Jen Lomberk
• Doug O’Conner
These were the speakers at the July 3, 2018 PZB meeting, who all spoke against:
- Ed Slavin
- Jen Lomberk
- Joe Blewett
- Amy Koch
- Tim Lyman
- Rhonda Lovett
- Adam Morley
- Genera Shivelli (sp?)
- Gregg Feldman
- Steve Parkin
- B.J. Kalaidi
No thanks to DAVID DOUGLAS BIRCHIM, respectively our City Planning and Building Director. Karen Zander put it best when she said that BIRCHIM was a cheerleader, "with pom-poms flying."
No thanks to the St. Augustine Record, a maladroit weak daily newspaper of general circulation founded by Henry Flagler's frontman in 1894.
The Record's one editorial and nearly nonexistent news coverage omitted key details. Shame on the Record.
Once again, The Record failed to fulfill the Founding Father's expectations of newspapers as watchdogs.
The Record remains a lapdog for developers, including PIERRE THOMPSON, grandson of the founder of the tatterdemalion St. Augustine Record, who acted for years as Henry Flagler's frontman in starting and running the newspaper. PIERRE THOMPSON destroyed a bald eagle nest tree on Fish Island in October 2001, successfully prosecuted in United States of America v. THOMPSON BROS. REALTY.
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On July 3, 2018, the day before Independence Day, ROGERS TOWERS partner ELLEN AVERY-SMITH, on behalf of Texas billionaire DONALD R. HORTON and St. Augustine landowner PIERRE THOMPSON, presented false testimony that bald eagle nest number SJ019 on Fish Island is "abandoned."
The bald eagle is our national symbol, no longer endangered but still a threatened species, legally protected by two federal criminal laws, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
In fact, during the 2017-2018 season, the "abandoned" bald eagle nest was shown to be an active bald eagle nest, with a nesting pair and babies.
Unrebutted testimony from our Matanzas Riverkeeper, Jen Lemberk, St. Johns County Audubon Society President Amy Koch, Audubon Eagle Watch expert Rhonda Lovett and eco-tour guide Adam Morley ALL verified the presence of eagles, with time-stepped photos (17MAR2018 13:15; 13:17; 13:19) admitted into evidence by PZB:![]()
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Like a proverbial "hog caught under a gate," these developers, their "expert" witness and their lawyers could face possible criminal prosecution and ethics charges. I filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission about violations of SEC Rule 10b-5, codified at 17 C.F.R. 240.10b-5.
On July 3, 2018, the day before Independence Day, ROGERS TOWERS partner ELLEN AVERY-SMITH, on behalf of Texas billionaire DONALD R. HORTON and St. Augustine landowner PIERRE THOMPSON, presented false testimony that bald eagle nest number SJ019 on Fish Island is "abandoned."
The bald eagle is our national symbol, no longer endangered but still a threatened species, legally protected by two federal criminal laws, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
In fact, during the 2017-2018 season, the "abandoned" bald eagle nest was shown to be an active bald eagle nest, with a nesting pair and babies.
Unrebutted testimony from our Matanzas Riverkeeper, Jen Lemberk, St. Johns County Audubon Society President Amy Koch, Audubon Eagle Watch expert Rhonda Lovett and eco-tour guide Adam Morley ALL verified the presence of eagles, with time-stepped photos (17MAR2018 13:15; 13:17; 13:19) admitted into evidence by PZB:
Like a proverbial "hog caught under a gate," these developers, their "expert" witness and their lawyers could face possible criminal prosecution and ethics charges. I filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission about violations of SEC Rule 10b-5, codified at 17 C.F.R. 240.10b-5.