January 25 2020
Archaeologists and art
Art, Archaeology and History
in St. Augustine will be presented
by The Historic St. Augustine
Research Institute on Monday,
February 3 and Tuesday February
18 in the Flagler Room at Flagler
College.
The Art of Everyday Life:
Archaeologists Look at Forms of
Artistic Expression will be
discussed by archaeologists
Kathleen Deagan, Carl Halbirt and
J.T. Milanich February 3 at 7 pm.
Paint the Picture, Tell the
Story, The Florida Paintings of
Jackson Walker will be discussed
by the painter Tuesday, February
18.
Both presentations will be 7 - 8
pm. The series is free, no
reservations, but seating is limited.
History’s Highlight
The Lost Fleet of Jean Ribault
In 2014 Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program (LAMP) Director Chuck Meide led a LAMP
team hoping to contribute to St. Augustine’s 450th anniversary the following year with the discovery of
the lost fleet.
With $50,000 grants from both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Florida
Bureau of Historic Preservation and other partners, the expedition spent three weeks searching the
ocean floor - to no avail.
Meide said the shoreline could have changed over the years; perhaps the wrecks are under what is
now sand; it could be just too deep to find.
Meide said they will continue looking for grants, so they can continue the search for the French fleet.
Following is an account by LAMP Director Meide.
Early in 1565, France's King Charles sent Jean Ribault to re-supply and assume command of Fort Caroline,
which had been established the previous year on the banks of the River of May (St. John's River) in present-
day Jacksonville.
Ribault led a powerful fleet consisting of his 32-gun flagship,
Trinité, the 29-gun royal galleon Emérillon, and four other war,
supply, and dispatch ships. One thousand French colonists and
troops came with him to bolster the fledgling French colony.
Unbeknownst to Ribault, a Spanish expedition lead by Pedro
Menéndez de Avilés arrived in Florida at virtually the same time,
with the express purpose of destroying the French enterprise.
In a preemptive strike aimed at thwarting Menéndez' plans to
found St. Augustine, Ribault sailed his fleet southwards, only to be
struck by a hurricane which scattered and wrecked his ships
between Matanzas Inlet and Cape Canaveral.
With the loss of these ships, Fort Caroline was taken, Ribault and
his men put to the sword, and Spain established a firm grip over the frontier lands of Florida.
If not for these wrecks, St. Augustine would not exist today, and Jacksonville would be celebrating over 400
years of French heritage.
When found, these ships will constitute the oldest French shipwrecks ever discovered in the New World,
and possibly the only 16th century French galleons to have been investigated by archaeologists.
Historian Dr. John de Bry of the Center for Archaeological Research has pledged to conduct documentary
research in French archives at no charge to LAMP, to help pinpoint the final resting places of these ships and
identify each when found.
Archaeological traces of survivors' beach camps, including finds of French artifacts and coins, will also help
narrow down the search area for these lost galleons.
Image: Ribault’s doomed fleet, courtesy of William Trotter
Local regulations, state
legislation 2-front battle
Meanwhile City Manager John Regan and City
Commissioner Nancy Sikes-Kline traveled to Tallahassee
Tuesday to speak at a House committee hearing on a bill that
would enable the state to regulate short term rentals.
"We are opposed to the bill," Regan told First Coast News
reporter Jessica Clark, “because every municipality is
different, and no one size fits all. "What we might need or
might be desired by our population in terms of regulation
might not be the same as Miami, Orlando or Tampa."
The City Manager says he's not against short term rentals,
but he is concerned about how they're regulated.
"Short term rentals are best regulated at the local level,"
Regan says. "This is another example of the erosion of home
rule."
The Legislature banned cities and counties from adopting
new vacation rental rules in 2011, while grandfathering in
any rental rules adopted prior to the bill’s passage.
Facing a public backlash, lawmakers revised the
preemption statute in 2014 and allowed communities to
regulate rentals, so long as they did not ban them outright or
limit their frequency or duration.
Now lawmakers want to go back to the 2011 standard and
outlaw all local vacation rental regulations, while continuing
to grandfather in rental rules adopted before then.
Putting workshops to work
Mayor Tracy Upchurch two weeks ago recommended much of the commission’s work might be better
handled in less formal workshops, where no official action can be taken but nuts and bolts of issues can be
sorted out.
City Manager John Regan will lead a “discussion regarding the scheduling of Workshop dates” at Monday’s
commission meeting.
Rental regulations on center stage
The battle between residents concerned about neighborhood erosion and short-term
rental property owners seeking extra money to maintain their homes takes center stage
Monday night as the City Commission conducts public hearings on a cluster of short-
term rental regulation ordinances.
The regular commission meeting begins at 5 pm in the Alcazar Room at City Hall and
is live streamed on CoSA.TV. The public hearings on three ordinances follows the
public comment period at the top of the agenda.
The regulations developed by a citizen short-term rental committee includes
registration, annual inspection, intensity of use, ancillary use, life‐safety, parking, solid
waste, effects on existing contracts and violations and penalties.
The three ordinances include:
Regulation of short-term rentals
Existing regulations for RS-1 and RS-2 zoning, requiring seven-day short-term rental periods
Existing regulations requiring monthly rentals for HP-1 zone and waterways
The city’s Planning and Zoning Board sent its recommendations to the commission earlier this month. Its
discussion reflected the community split on the matter. Some members spoke of preserving residential
neighborhoods while board chair Karen Zander, a real estate agent, described the regulations as “creating
homeowner associations.”
In a two-hour discussion at the end of a 7-hour meeting, the board recommended:
1. Maximum guests per room: Up to two children per rental be allowed in addition to the maximum two
adults that are allowed under the current ordinance.
2. Compact exit lighting: An additional life/safety requirement of “compact exit lights” to mark exits.
3. Parking requirements: “stabilized parking” should be defined. No parking requirement in Historic
Preservation zones, where parking is not otherwise required.
4. Water rates: Consider whether vacation rentals use more water than a typical residential property, and if
there should be a different rate structure for vacation rentals.
Commission shade meeting
City commissioners will hold a shade meeting at 4 pm
Monday, before their regular session at 5 pm in the Alcazar
Room at City Hall.
The subject is Case No.: CA-05-186, Craig A. Marlowe;
Plaintiff, v. City of St. Augustine, Florida, a municipal
corporation, Defendant.
“The lawsuit was filed 15 years ago regarding a dispute
over riparian rights and docks between neighbors,” City
Attorney Isabelle Lopez says. “The City was added as a party
because of its riparian rights to East San Carlos Avenue.”
Shade meetings are for discussions out of public view, and
in legal cases like this often indicate a settlement is pending.
Winery plans are part of
Inland Harbor project
SA Marina Holdings, LLC, an extension of the group that
renovated the San Marco Inn into a Doubletree, is teaming up
with Seavin, owner of the St. Augustine Winery, to develop
the San Sebastian Inland Harbor project at US 1 and King
Street.
Seavin’s Charles Cox announced several months ago plans
to develop a restaurant and retail space along King Street
adjacent to the winery and Inland Harbor project.
Names in the news
Hunter Conrad has been chosen as new permanent county administrator by St. Johns County
commissioners, bypassing a national search and without public notice. Commissioners said he’s been
doing a good job since replacing fired Michael Wanchick in November. Conrad was clerk of court and
comptroller.
Raye Brutnell, former St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office finance director, is being sued by the
sheriff’s office for more than $700,000. Brutnell is accused of stealing from the law enforcement
agency, according to a lawsuit filed in St. Johns County civil court. Brutnell faces 11 felony charges.
$499,999 grant to assess mitigate
hurricane damage to shipwreck sites
The St. Augustine Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program, Inc.
(LAMP) has been awarded a $499,999 grant “to allow museum
archaeologists to assess and mitigate damage caused by Hurricane Irma
at eight previously investigated shipwreck and shoreline sites,” says
Nicholas Budsberg, a LAMP archaeologist who helped write the grant.
The National Park Service subgrant from the Department of State’s
Division of Historical Resources is funded by the National Park Service
Hurricane Harvey, Irma, and Maria Emergency Supplemental Historic
Preservation Fund Grant Program.
The research funded by this grant will also allow archaeologists to re-
investigate at least six offshore shipwreck sites along with two additional maritime sites located in the river
bottom and tidal zone of the Tolomato River and Robinson Creek, LAMP spokespersons say.
“The sites we are interested in are from a wide range of history and pre-history,” says Museum Archaeological
Director Chuck Meide. “We will be assessing these sites to determine a plan to best protect them from this kind
of damage.”
The team will produce 3D models of the sites as they map the sites underwater. This in turn may provide
opportunities to locate and document other shipwrecks and cultural heritage. It will also aid educational
programing at the Museum.
