Letter: Recognizing all those who participated

Letter: Recognizing all those who participated

Melinda Rakoncay
President
Nelmar Terrace Neighborhood Association

Dear Editor and Historic City News readers:

This is to ALL THOSE PEOPLE, who believed in this fight for the last 2 and a half years, and continued to stick with it when so many people said the 7-Eleven was a done deal.  When many doubted us, WE believed the codes were on our side.

While many said they were against the 7-Eleven (city staff, politicians, and fellow residents) they said there was sadly nothing they could do to stop it. Yet, we persisted.

I’m happy to say that it was ALL of US who stopped the 7-Eleven:

• Those that sent in money to hire an attorney and pay for an expert traffic witness
• Those that believed that our Design Standards (DSEC) were enforceable and should be enforced
• Those who wrote emails
• Those who spoke at meetings
• Those who took the time to attend meetings and quietly showed their support
• Those who came out at rallies and held signs
• Those who passed on emails

Thank you.  Your input helped win our appeal.

I just want to say that the news media has been sorely remiss in not giving US credit for fighting for what we all believed was winnable.  While disappointed, I wasn’t surprised by the poor coverage from The St Augustine Record and Channel 4 WJXT.  Both failed to give credit to ALL the SOURCES that helped us get this building permit denied.

It was Nelmar Terrace, who hired an attorney and raised the money for an expensive legal fight, and in the end presented the city with an airtight case that they should be able to win in court against 7-Eleven.

It was US that gave the city commissioners a compelling case and swayed them to vote unanimously to deny the permit. It was your compelling emails about the safety issues and being trapped in your homes that got commissioner’s attention and made them realize there were safety and traffic issues.

Interestingly, the news and praise is only going to the commissioners for denying the permit.

It is here I want to give everyone the credit due to them.

First and foremost, credit to Nelmar Terrace Neighborhood Association for their long 2 1/2 year continued fight, when everyone else said it was a done deal. I am proud that we have one of the oldest neighborhood associations, organizing back in 1981 to stand up for our residential zoning when first threatened by a land grab from FSDB.

We have been one of the founding members of the Neighborhood Council and we have always been on the forefront of advocating for residents by having their residential zoning upheld.

We are the ones who made the 7-Eleven an issue before the city commission and kept the problem in the news. We are the ones who went over and got Vilano Beach and North Shore residents involved.

It was Nelmar Terrace, who gave a compelling 20 minute power point that showed the DSEC had not been followed and the importance of their intent.

Nelmar Terrace Neighborhood Association should be proud of itself. It is representative of how much residents love St. Augustine and want to preserve their unique neighborhoods.

CREDIT to our attorney, Jane West, and our research that proved to commissioners that they had a defendable case. It was Jane West, who found the Transportation Element in the Comp Plan, which showed that the city could not issue a building permit, if a development would lower the level of service.

Why did City Staff and commissioners not know about it and use it to deny the permit years ago?

It was Jane West who brilliantly argued that because of Florida’s Pending Ordinance Doctrine, the city’s Ordinance 2014-04 that prohibits gas stations on San Marco applied to the 7-Eleven.

She also showed that because of the late date in which 7-Eleven bought the property and the codes and ordinances in effect, they would have very little grounds for a “taking” under Bert Harris.

Her legal arguments have positioned the City of St. Augustine very well to defend itself from 7-Eleven.
CREDIT to our preservation witness, Marsha Chance, who did a full report showing the negative impact 7-Eleven would have on the city’s National Register properties that the project would abut (Nelmar Terrace Historic District & the City’s own water works building).

CREDIT to George Gardner, for testifying as the previous mayor and chair of PZB, who first pushed through the Design Standards for the Entry Corridor and made sure they were part of our City Code.

CREDIT to Neal White, the Jacksonville firefighter and May Street resident, who stood up and gave great testimony on the importance of response time for emergency vehicles and showed photographs of traffic backed up for 2 miles over the Vilano Beach bridge.

CREDIT to Jeanne Prickett for urging the FSDB Board of Trustees to permit her to take a stand, and then following through with letters and great testimony.

CREDIT to the Neighborhood Council, for being one of the appellants, on behalf of ALL the neighborhoods that are off the entry corridors. Upholding the DSEC is important to maintaining the quality of life for all these neighborhoods and the Neighborhood Council stepped up to the plate.

I also want to give CREDIT to George Gardner, Michael Gold, and Sasha Martin, who helped keep this story alive in their papers.

It is all in the hands of the City and the City Attorney now. They take over from this point to defend the City Commission’s decision to deny the permit. We feel that with all the evidence they were given (each received a binder full of timelines, documents, legal arguments, case law, Marsha Chance’s report on the negative impact on our historic resources, photographs, maps, and diagrams) along with Jane West’s powerful legal arguments, that we have put the city in an excellent position to defend itself.

NONE of this could have happened without your support and financial commitment to this issue. Only by US filing this appeal could the city commission even be given the chance to overrule staff’s issuance of the building permit.

Thanks to ALL who have believed in me and supported me in the belief that we had the law on our side.