December 11 2019
Sustainable Goals
speakers Dec. 12
Nancy and David O’Byrne,
delegates to the recent UN
conference on Sustainable Goals,
will be Human Rights Week
speakers at a Candlelight
Community Reading Thursday,
December 12 at 7 pm at the
United Church UCC-DOC, 5880
US 1 South.
They’ll present how human
rights are essential to achieve the
U.N. Sustainable Development
Goals for 2030.
The Community Candlelight
Reading of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights is
sponsored by The United Church
UCC-DOC, Compassionate St.
Augustine and Indivisible St.
Johns.
History’s Highlight
December 28 1835
The holidays were not a happy time for Florida settlers in 1835, in the midst of rising tension with the
Seminole tribe seeking to stay in its lands as assured by treaty while pressure mounted to move them to
western reservations.
Uneasy peace was broken December 28, 1835 as Osceola’s ambush of the Indian Agent Wiley
Thompson at Fort King in Ocala and Micanopy’s ambush of a relief column making its way to Fort
King ignited the Second Seminole War.
It would be the longest and costliest Indian war in US history.
Army Major Francis L. Dade was a last-minute replacement for another who was to lead reinforcements
from Fort Brooke, near Tampa, to Fort King at Ocala 100 miles
distant. It was December 28, 1835.
Major Dade's column had been making its way north from Fort
Brooke along the slit of a trail in the dense wilderness. There were
several opportunities for the Indians to ambush the troops, but
they continued stalking.
The trail broke into a clearing near an area called Wahoo
Swamp. The Indians, a force of 180 in command of Micanopy,
planned their attack as they had at several earlier points: They
would position themselves to retreat into the swamp if necessary.
Lined along the west edge of the trail, hidden in heavy foliage, they readied their weapons, mostly Spanish
rifles gained from trading with Cuban merchant ships.
The Army column was made up of "redlegged" infantrymen, artillery regulars also trained to fight as
infantry. With them they hauled a six-pounder cannon as they moved into the clearing. It was a chilly day,
and the column had their heavy coats over their ammunition kits.
Half the column was dropped with the first deadly spray of shot, with them Major Dade. The remainder,
their sky blue uniforms making easy targets, dove for the cover of trees. The six-pounder was quickly
readied, and its roar so shocked the Indians that they retreated for the better part of an hour. In this time, the
surviving troops hurriedly put together a triangular defense work of logs.
The Indians soon reorganized and continued the attack, shredding men and logs in deadly gunfire.
Three survived Dade's Massacre. Ransome Clarke, left for dead in the heap of carnage, managed to crawl
and stagger to Fort Brooke, where he gave his account of the incident. Two others dragged themselves from
the scene, one to be caught and killed by Indians, the other to reach the fort but die shortly after of his
wounds.
The remains of those who fell were buried at the fatal site; in 1842, when that area was considered safe, the
remains were moved to their final rest at St. Augustine’s National Cemetery, beneath the three pyramids,
among 1,468 brothers-at-arms who fell in the Seminole War.
Excerpt from The Dade Massacre in St. Augustine Bedtime Stories.
For holiday gift-giving, Click for further information on this fascinating historic series.
921 housing units
in US 1 north future
Only misunderstanding of the city code prevented a developer from
requesting a tripling of housing units off US 1 north - until the January 7
meeting of the city Planning and Zoning Board.
The developer of 134 acres near the State Road 16 bridge seeks
rezoning from a previously approved 107-unit planned unit development
to allow 336 multi-family units.
The site is adjacent to a 585-unit approved development.
He got a continuance to the board’s January 7 meeting to change the
request from Residential General zoning to Residential Low-One zoning,
which would be consistent with the site’s land use, according to city staff.
The property is across the railroad tracks from The Landing Apartments
off US 1 north. It has 585 permitted units, 273 units currently built and a
second phase under construction now for 312 units.
Both properties were originally Florida East Coast Railway holdings
transferred by governments in the earliest days of rail development to
encourage rail service.
The City Commission a decade ago granted development zoning in exchange for removal of billboards on
railroad land along US 1 and SR 16.
Short-term rental rules
go to public hearings
at January 13 session
City commissioners Monday passed to second reading and
public hearings at their January 13 2020 meeting three
ordinances regulating short-term rentals.
The advancement followed an hourlong public comment
period dominated by speakers concerned primarily with a
seven-day minimum requirement in RS-1 and RS-2
residential zoned districts.
Resident Michael Gallagher of 63 Carrera Street summed up
much of the sentiment: “Twenty-five years ago my homestead
exemption was about 40 percent of the value of my home.
Now it’s somewhere around 11 percent.
“To live in my own home and pay the insurance and the
taxes cost me about $800 a month on the house that I own. I
don’t know if somebody lived just on social security how they
could afford to stay here in town.
“I think the 7-day minimum stay will close down most of
those Airbnbs which will put a glut of real estate on the
market which will affect the value of every house.”
The ordinances were developed on recommendations by a
citizen committee. The main ordinance provides for
registration, annual inspection, intensity of use, ancillary use,
life‐safety, parking, and solid waste.
The other two ordinances confirm established regulations
for seven-day minimums for short‐term rentals in RS‐1 and
RS‐2 residential categories and confirm regulations requiring
monthly rentals for Historic Preservation District One south
of the Plaza de las Constitución.
Names in the News
Melissa Wissel, previously Public Information Coordinator, has been named to succeed
former Public Affairs Director Paul Williamson, and carries to the office a new title: Manager of
the Communication Division.
Wissel started with the city in 2014 as a part-time St. Augustine Municipal Marina Attendant
and transferred to the Public Affairs Department in 2015.
“Wissel has been an essential part in the launch of two websites in four years, establishing a
presence on social media, overall improving public outreach and expanding the use of video
messages for increased public engagement,” City Manager John Regan says.
Albert Syeles, president and driving force behind the development of the Romanza
alliance of arts in St. Augustine, has been named president of The St. Augustine EpiCentre
Alliance, a coalition of performing arts groups working to “promote, build, and sustain a visual
and performing arts center in the St. Augustine area.”
Derek May, former publisher of the St. Augustine Record and Chief Operating Officer at
Morris Communications before it’s sale to Gatehouse Publications, is now President at Azalea
Investments, LLC in Augusta GA.
“I miss the newspaper industry, but unfortunately, print is a tough business these days,” says
Derek. “I am hopeful that local journalism will survive in a different model. I also miss so many
great friends like you in St Augustine. … I feel very fortunate to have landed in a new career
path. I’ve got a lot to learn, but I’m having a blast.
Committee will study
slab construction perils
Right now I’m seeing building after building being
constructed doing what we don’t need.
Commissioner John Valdes, a contractor, won City
Commission approval Monday for formation of a committee
“of people who are in the business - architects, builders,
Realtors, to look at how we might want to modify our
building code and our zoning code to address, basically,
flooding, handling water that has no place to go because
we’ve paved over paradise.”
Valdes told fellow commissioners he’s seeing every day,
“Infill construction on slab, removing the ability to absorb
water.”
He has in the past suggested crawl space construction,
building on piers or foundations that allow water to percolate
into the soil under buildings.
The city will advertise for committee volunteers. As to the
makeup of that committee, Valdes said, “Let’s see who we
have (applying).”
