Report questions 7-Eleven threat to Water Works building

In the current issue of The St Augustine Report, former mayor George Gardner has questioned if the city’s plan to collect a $350,000 state grant to restore, to a condition of usability, the former San Marco Avenue Water Works building will hit a snag when the required “Assessment of Effect” document is prepared.

The aging structure has been vacant for years. It is dilapidated and unsafe to occupy. It is owned by the City of St Augustine and has recently been placed on the National Register of Historic Places, within the Nelmar Terrace National Register District.

“When state or federal funds are used for a project, like for example if the Florida Department of Transportation is doing something adjacent to a historic structure or district, an Assessment of Effect document is required,” Archaeologist and Preservationist Marsha A. Chance is quoted in The Report.

Chance wrote such a document for the downtown neighborhood association in 2002 when a parking garage was proposed behind the Lightner Museum. She told Gardner that it was a 50 page document with 6 appendices.

“Once any effects are defined, then it has to be determined whether they are adverse or not,” Chance reported. “Too many adverse effects can stop a project.”

Chance defined “adverse effects” to include things like view shed, mass and scale, shadow, proximity, landscape, vehicular increase, traffic problems, pedestrian increase, lighting, and security.

How the 7-Eleven construction and intended use will directly impact the historic building is not yet known; the “Assessment of Effect” document has not yet been released.

“I was formerly the FDOT District 2 archaeologist, and I know that the District did originally plan to construct a roundabout at the corner of May Street and San Marco Avenue,” Chance added. “The local citizens who attended the public meetings hated the idea; even though it was the only thing that made sense in terms of future traffic predictions. The plan was shelved because of citizen outcry.”