This is your friendly reminder that tomorrow, October 17th from 4-7:30 p.m at the Vilano Beach oceanfront pavilion will be a celebration of the completion of the streetscape. Please come and invite your friends as the public is invited. Dignitaries include Congressman Mica, St. Johns County commissioners and commissioners-elect, representatives from Callaway Contracting, RS&H Engineering, and others.

At the intersection of Coastal Highway and Vilano Road a new Sea Turtle/Dolphin "roundabout" has been installed. I use the term "roundabout" as it is actually a driveover roundabout to enable emergency vehicles to get into the community. However, let's drive around it, okay? Let me know what you think. I think it's lovely.

 June 27^th a.m. picture

 June 27^th p.m. picture (cones removed):

5/6/07 Fiddler's Green held a great Farewell Party on May 6th. Here are some pictures I took that I made into a DVD. Let me know if you'd like a copy of it and I can mail you one. Click here to view video.

3/6/07 The St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners voted 5-0 for agree to accept the FCT grant and move forward towards the purchase of Fiddler's Green for an oceanfront park. There was a tremendous turnout. Thanks to all that came and e-mailed and called the commissioners. Your support made the difference!

 3/4/07 Here's a copy of the letter of support that was sent from the Friends of A1A to all the County Commissioners

Click Here to View Letter of Support

Please come one, come all this Tuesday, March 6, 2007 to help preserve Fiddler's Green as an oceanfront park. The current commissioners want to slow growth, well here is a great opportunity for them to do just that. If they don't buy the property at 25% of its value as being offered to them (the state pays the other 75%), it will become condos. It is agenda item #4 so it should be heard in the morning. I'm guessing around 9:45 or 10 a.m. Please speak out. Here's more info that has been circulating:

The St. Johns County Board of County Commissioners will vote on a key land acquisition grant on MARCH 6, 2007:

Issue – Should the County accept a land acquisition grant in the amount of up to $4.16 million from the Florida Communities Trust for 75% of the purchase price for the Fiddlers Green Restaurant Property to make it a Park – or lose the property to Condo developers.

§        This is a one time opportunity with a final decision date of 3/6/2007

§        Three quarters of the funding has been committed by the State of Florida and will not impact taxes

§        A yes on the vote will allow the county to have the legacy of a high quality park for the public and area visitors forever

Email County Commissioners – www.co.st-johns.fl.us > County Commission

Show up and be heard:

Where: St Johns County Commission Auditorium

When: Tuesday - March 6, 2007

Who:  Public invited in full force to show the need for a Park NOT Condos

• 75% of Purchase Price of this 1.7 acre parcel will be paid for by a Florida Communities Trust (FCT) Florida Forever Program Grant. Up to $4.16 million.  If purchase is not made by St. Johns County, this funding will default to another Florida County.
• Ask Commissioners AT LEAST  to do the Due Diligence  – Appraisals and Environmental Study – to determine the actual purchase price -- and then to investigate any and all creative means to finance 25% of the purchase price.
• This Project received a maximum Ten Excellence Points at the FCT presentation by a group of citizens, county staff and property owners in Tallahassee.
• County 2006 Contract to Purchase and FCT Grant expires shortly.
• This is a Florida Heritage Site.  The historical marker tells the story of the Vilano Beach Casino on this site from 1926 to 1939.   It has an historic building with unique architecture that has been there for 39 years.
• Management Plan for this site includes use as a community center, museum, cultural and educational programs, sea turtle patrol, use as a lifeguard HQ, experimental natural seaside garden, sports venue, special events.
• If this grant is refused and new condos are built, the County would lose beach parking to the high tide line along the oceanfront for DEP required re-vegetation, blocking current beach parking roadway and restricting vehicle access to lifeguard stations.
• As condos, these buildings would tower over adjacent county park and public pavilion and block river to sea view of the ocean.
• This beach concerns everyone in our County ,  And it is adjacent to the State and Federally designated A1A Scenic Byway.
• Near the St. Augustine Inlet, It now provides the site for National Skim Boarding Championships, Easter Sunrise Service, sea turtle nesting.
• Don’t let this go the way of the lost  oceanfront Fleeman and London Tracts.

Board of County Commission mailing address  4020 Lewis Speedway, St. Augustine, FL 32084,

Phone: 209-0300, Fax:  209-0310.  Go to County web page:  www.co.st-johns.fl.us, then Board of County Commission for a send-to link or individually to bccd1@co.st-johns.fl.us, and bccd2@, bccd3@, bccd4@, bccd5@.  Check the BCC Agenda for March 6 on March 5 for item number, check Government Channel 3, bring a book to read until item addressed..

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”  – Theodore Roosevelt

2/13/07: Scott Singleton reported last night at the North Shores Improvement Association's meeting that there is not a need for a meeting on February 20th as reported below. The DEP is in the process of approving the permit which should be done by March 13th. The county's due diligence ends April 19th and closing should be May 19, 2007. The contract will be extended as necessary based on the status of receiving an appraisal. It was reiterated last night that the state of Florida will pay 75% of the purchase price based on a purchase price of $5,500,000.

1/26/07: Meeting with Board of County Commissioners on February 20th to ask for an extension of the due diligence period in order to get DEP permit to get true value of property for appraisal purposes.

12/18/06: I spoke with the owners of Fiddlers Green. Things are still moving along nicely awaiting the DEP permit. There will be an update from the county on 1/23/07.

My previous notes were:

Fiddler's pulled the request for variances from the Board of County Commissioners (BCC) meeting. The county is hiring an appraiser once the DEP permit gets issued. Then this will be presented to the BCC and a vote taken. The contract is through March 2007.

Florida Communities Trust (FCT) has funded 75% of the purchase price of Fiddler's Green for an oceanfront park. A group of citizens went to Tallahassee on September 14th to support this request. It ranked 15th on the list for the entire state! Great job!

It's called Vilano Beach Oceanfront Park #15 on the attached list.

http://www.floridacommunitydevelopment.org/fct/documents/Cycle06FundingStatusReport.pdf

A DEP permit is still needed before the appraisal can be completed. The appraisal must be completed before it gets put on the BCC agenda for the BCC to approve the contract to purchase.  As I understand it, the purchase price is $5,550,000 with FCT paying $4,162,500 and St. Johns County paying $1,387,500. I think this is a wonderful opportunity for the county to acquire 1.7 acres of oceanfront to be protected and provided for the public.

5/11/07 Coastal Highway is open again! Now Poplar is closed.

3/4/07 Loja was paved last Wednesday and should open any day now. Once Poplar has been paved and opened, it will be our new way into the Town Center as Coastal Highway will be closed to allow for the installation of an additional filtration system.

1/26/07 Vilano Road was paved in mid-December 2006 as planned. The water filtration system is being installed in front of Fiddler's Green and at the intersection of Loja and Ferrol. Loja and Ferrol will be a 5-point intersection (Loja, Ferrol, Palencia) and is scheduled to be finished at the end of February. At that time Ferrol Road east bound from Loja to Anahma will be closed to through traffic and work is finished on the filtration system by Fiddler's. Ferrol/Anahma intersection will be closed until the end of May 2007.

Greg Caldwell, project engineer with St. Johns county, recently reported to the Vilano Beach Main Street group that paving of Vilano Road from Coastal Highway west to the Intracoastal will occur in mid-December.

I am happy to report that the paving of Vilano Road did happen right on schedule on Dec. 14th and 15, 2006. It was a thrill, truly, to ride down Vilano Road recently and see the angled on-street parking. Loja Road with our drainage system is moving along well, too.

The entire project will be completed ("last plant in place") in July 2007. The project is ahead of schedule according to Mr. Caldwell. The entire project included streetscaping items such as landscaping, benches, lights, crosswalks, and parks.

We finally got our Bluebird of Happiness back. On Friday, April 20th, Callaway Contracting (the company doing the Vilano Beach Town Center road and streetscape improvements) went across the Vilano Beach to the William Porter, Sr. residence off of San Marco in North City and picked up our bird. It is so great to have him back home in the Vilano Beach Town Center.

I would like to see him restored by local students in the area and decorated for each season. You know, the Easter Bunny, Cupid, Santa Claus, St Patrick, things like that. What do you think?

We hope to have him be located centrally to provide great photo opportunities for locals and visitors.

4/21/07 According to the Times Union:

Publix Supermarkets will anchor the Vilano Town Center, according to a statement from Regency Centers, a Jacksonville-based shopping center developer.

The Vilano Town center, located on AIA in Vilano Beach, is slated to open in 2009. The store will total 29,000 square feet. Vilano Beach Town Center will be a mixed-use, 4.4-acre property with retail, condos and parking situated above the stores, according to the statement.

According to the St. Augustine Record:

A Publix Supermarket will anchor the retail portion of the Vilano Beach Town Center, the developer, Regency Centers, announced Friday.

The store will have 29,000 square feet and is scheduled to open in spring 2009.

Vilano Beach Town Center is the first mixed-use retail and residential property along the coastline of northeast Florida, according to the developer.

3/4/07 We are still waiting for the grocery store to announce. I'll keep you posted when there's something to say.

1/26/07 The grocery store should sign the lease on Wednesday, January 31, 2007 and announce their plans to the public at that time. Construction is scheduled to begin July 9, 2007 and end 15 months later in the fall of 2008.

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On October 3, 2006, the St. Johns County Commissioners approved Vilano Beach Development LLC and JM Vilano LLC 6 non-zoning variances enabling the construction of a grocery store, 36 condos, professional offices and retail in the area bordered by Coastal Highway, Vilano Road and Poplar. Angled parking along Coastal Highway from Poplar to Vilano was also approved.

Hopefully, we will get a formal announcement from the grocery store soon and construction can begin.

At the last Main Street meeting on October 26, 2006, Vilano Beach Development LLC announced that construction of the condos would probably begin summer 2007. The grocery store is not ready to announce.

Here's the Board of County Commissioner's order:

http://www.clk.co.st-johns.fl.us/PDF/Orders/2006/Vilano%20Town%20Center%20Grocery%20Store.pdf