Sunday, September 24, 2006

Canals drying up

Two adjacent communities on Anastasia Island that border the Intracoastal Waterway are finding their canal connections drying up.

Both Treasure Beach and Matanzas Cut are built on canals intended to provide direct passage from docks to the Intracoastal. But their canals need dredging to bring the water line higher than the current 2.5 feet it reaches at high tide.

Residents with small flat boats can still make way to the Intracoastal. Larger boats scrape the bottom.

Treasure Beach Homeowners Property Association president Charlie Novak said their canal system is owned by St. Johns County, and the association expects the county to pay for the dredging.

Mike Rubin, county director of construction, said the county took ownership of the canal about 11 years ago when it paid to dredge a 30-foot-wide channel in the 7.5 mile canal. He said homeowners knew it was a one-time deal. Homeowners were also aware that it was likely the canal would eventually need more dredging, Rubin said.

When residents requested the dredging 11 years ago, the county discovered that a developer owned the canal, Rubin said. The county is not allowed to build projects on private property, so it bought the canal for a small fee from the developer.

Residents feel the county is bound by an ordinance that says it will maintain the waterway. The property owners pay higher taxes to support canal maintenance.

The Treasure Beach Homewner's Association is circulating a petition to the St. Johns County Commission about the issue.

Commissioner Ben Rich, whose district includes the Treasure Beach area, said Friday he had not heard of the petition and did not know about the problem.

The petition also demands enforcement of an ordinance concerning bulkheads.

"At low tide, the ends of most canals, currently, are completely dry and the center of the main canals have only one to two feet of water," the petition states.

Novak said more than half of the Treasure Beach homeowners have already signed the petition.

Matanzas Cut is a newer and smaller community than Treasure Beach, and the homeowners association owns its canal, which is 900 feet long and 80 feet wide.

Tom Odendahl, president of the Matanzas Cut Homeowners Association, is one of those affected. Odendahl recently sold his 28-foot cabin cruiser since it was impossible for him to maneuver it through the canal to the Intracoastal entry.

Odendahl and other board members are about to begin the bidding process for the dredging. The cost will be presented to association members for consideration of a special assessment at its January 2007 meeting.

http://staugustine.com/stories/092406/news_4069863.shtml

Wednesday, September 6, 2006

From the President's Dock, August 2006

Our Street and Front Entrance Beautification Chairperson Nancy Gaj has been busy. She has been relentlessly complaining to our cable company to come and remove their dead brush left hanging from cable wires on Costanero Road. It is a real eyesore. Keep it up on them Nancy!!!

If you saw a woman cutting grass at the front entrance last month, it was our Treasurer Peggy Berrier. The area was getting a little shabby and she decided to do something about it. Peggy you are great!!!!! And Thank You. Your efforts are really appreciated.

Have you noticed the four (4) Pedestrian Signs placed up on A1A for the beach walk crossing?




Well, I think that this just may be the beginning of being noticed by the State/ County Roads people. Thanks to Lou and Nancy Gaj for attending the Traffic Safety Council meetings and representing Treasure Beach. I think it made a difference. I would really like to have the State place a traffic light at A1A and Treasure Beach Road before 2007 (End of my term). I am told that the cost would run anywhere from $ 50,000 to $150,000 to install plus 1,500/yr for maintenance. Well that's why we all pay taxes.

I want to acknowledge and thank the following- to Bill and Marion Libby for their time and talent in painting the school bench at Costanero and Treasure Beach. They did a wonderful job like last year. It's a shame the bench no longer exists. We have had a lot of vandalism this summer but many wonderful people in our neighborhood are quietly making improvements.

Our Neighborhood Watch our Chairperson Doug Berndt resides on Costanero Road and his phone number is 461-6943. Doug's email address is: BERNDTD@BELLSOUTH.NET. If you have situations or concerns please direct your inquiries to him.

I will assist Doug at the on-set however he will be guiding the ship. He will be building his file of email for notification so I may have to send out the request for volunteers for the last period of this year (September thru December). Please volunteer early. Pick a week and just volunteer. We need your help.

I wanted to thank our Seychelles partners for the new and bright light at the beach walkway entrance however before I could get it in print vandals broke it.

I receive many phone calls from our neighbors with problems. One sticks in my mind. The lady was extremely distraught. Her dog had been hit by a man in a pick up truck pulling a trailer and exceeding the posted speed limit. The lady went to the house of the driver of the pick up to tell him he hit her dog and to ask him to slow down because she has two young children. It could have been one of them. Words ensued -no resolution- no apology.

Now for my side of the story - I personally witnessed the same person driving too fast in our neighborhood just a few days ago.

So Please Slow Down and by all means try to be a kind person. Be a neighbor. Show a little compassion.

Respectfully,

Charlie Novak
President
TBPOA