Hearings Monday on plaza vending and parades

At the regular meeting of the St. Augustine Board of City Commissioners, the commission will tend to public hearings and final action on four ordinances (as well as the introduction of a fifth) all of which have been adjusted to comply with court rulings concerning the city’s regulations on visual arts, vending, and parades.

City Attorney Ron Brown hopes the current raft of ordinance adjustments will meet the standards of recent court rulings on activities in public areas.

Commissioners will conduct public hearings on ordinances:
1) to establish a lottery system and restrict vending to twelve spaces in the Plaza market building;
2) to prohibit vending along St. George Street and remove a previously added provision for parades on that street;
3) to rescind the so-called Plaza vending ordinance which had two conflicting court rulings, and
4) to prohibit food and beverage sales on public ways throughout the city.

A new ordinance, subject to public hearing later if advanced by commissioners, would reinstate elsewhere in the code the St. George Street parade provision removed by one of the four ordinances.

Living history reenactment groups were particularly concerned about the parade provision, as several annual events, including British Night Watch, Spanish Night Watch, and Drake’s and Searle’s raids, are played out along St. George Street.

The City Commission meeting begins at 5:00 p.m. in the Alcazar Room at City Hall.