My rendition of the 2008 Overview will not duplicate, in detail, information that will be covered by others. However, I will mention certain areas that will be discussed later on because of their importance.

Let’s start with the most visible items for those of us who reside or do business on South Beach.

Number one has to be our beach parks – in particular the spectacular job done, and near completion of South Causeway Beach Park. Arden Peck will report on the history at Causeway and all our other parks but I must bring to your attention that it is the City and its Public Works Department that has transformed this long neglected beach park. Your Association, both collectively and individually, has long pushed, cajoled and yes, even begged the County to do something as they had never completed their 1995 plan for that beach park. We feel that we should take some credit for supporting the City in their efforts to take over the maintenance and improvements for this beach park. Even some County people are now amazed at what the City has done for less than 1/10th the cost projected by the County that they could not and would not fund. We should all be very proud of our City’s performance in rebuilding and maintaining the parks on the Island.

Number two of the most visible is the A1A project – not to all of you so far – but cheer up, it will move forward along its entire length. Yes, we are and will be inconvenienced, but drive down South Ocean and you will get a feel for what it will look like. We are very fortunate tonight to have Tracy Telle, the A1A Project Manager and Peg Norton, the SBA A1A Chair to give you all the intimate details on the project finally underway about three years behind the original schedule.

And Chuck’s finally has a structure and not an illegal tent. The primary problem in getting the permits to build was the lack of required parking spaces. We were absolutely adamant with both the City and the County that no part of South Causeway Beach be taken for this purpose. That public areas should not be used for private profit. In the end, the building plan was amended and the County granted some property to the East. However, we still have some parking problems at this site. Just meeting the parking requirement still leaves the restaurant woefully lacking. Each night, people are parking along Seaway Drive in the right-of-way, which is soon to disappear, on the grass outside South Causeway Beach Park and in the East end of Park itself. The Park officially closes at dusk. We are working with the City on finding a solution.

Now this brings me to what I consider a very curious situation on another front in the same area. The property from South Causeway, including the Beach Park through the old firehouse is owned by the County. This, of course, includes Chuck’s – the building itself and the old firehouse building. The beach park is maintained by the City. All permits for buildings on these properties must go through the City. Code violations are the domain of the City. Chuck’s has a long-term lease with the County for the use of the property and, when the old firehouse is finally no longer necessary for fire department use, the building will revert to the County. It would appear logical, to my naive eyes, that citizens of St. Lucie County, Fort Pierce and visitors to and residents of South Beach would best be served if those properties belonged to the City. Could the firehouse building become the long promised Community Center for the Beach? While we appreciate the use of the Chapel for Beach meetings, how appropriate it would be to have our own public place to meet and provide services and programs. If you agree, you might tell the County and City Officials here tonight at the end of the meeting.

Last March, the City conducted a Charrette for Downtown Waterfront properties. The Association was represented on the Steering Committee and many of you participated in the Charrette itself. While these properties are not directly on the Beach, certainly we have an interest in how waterfront properties directly across are developed. The resulting public driven plan is a good one and is already being used as a guide for potential development.

Your Association was responsible for the refining and revising of two City Ordinances this year.
Arden Peck provided the impetus for a revised and expanded “Lighting on the Beach” ordinance to further protect our sea turtles during nesting season.

We also recognized a problem with parking requirements for developers of motels, hotels and resort hotels that came about as a result of the South Beach Overlay. Without going into all the details – the parking requirement as written required a subjective evaluation dealing with the number of sleeping areas within sleeping units. We suggested a quantitative measure based on square footage. We submitted a proposal to the Planning Department, it went through the Planning Board and, subsequently, the City Commission. It was approved and now applies throughout the City. Thank you David Recor and David Carlin.

We tried something new this year. We thought that we should celebrate our new and almost new parks on the Beach. So we sponsored a Pops in the Park concert at Jaycee Park in late October. You all should have received postcards and emails for the event. The band was great, the weather not so. While it did not actively rain during the event, by all reports, it was pouring elsewhere and the turnout was not as great as we expected. Perhaps you didn’t believe that the staid and serious South Beach Association could do something just for fun! We had funding from the City Commission, the Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency and Oculina Bank for which we are thankful. The SBA Committee, Kathy McClure, Christine Coke, Walter Fauth and chaired by Arden Peck did a bang up job. Thank you all.

Once again we sponsored our annual Flu shots, administered by the VNA which were open to the public, and held at Ocean Village. Thanks to Eileen Emery for chairing the event. Approximately 100 people took advantage.

Hopefully, the issue of wind turbines on South Hutchinson Island is a “dead deal”. At last years Annual Meeting, you made it loud and clear that you were opposed to wind turbines on any part of the Island. We took your position publicly and, as you know, nothing has happened in a while. However, just this last Tuesday we learned that FPL is continuing to pursue rezoning, conditional use and a code amendment to construct wind turbines on the barrier island as a DEMONSTRATION project for future use of onshore wind generated power. The County has sent a six page letter that requests a myriad of information and justification. We will continue to keep you informed but you can express your concerns to the County Commissioners and Staff here tonight at the end of the meeting.

And, finally, we communicated with you via our website and email Newsletters and you communicated with us via email and telephone. Those of you who don’t do email, or choose not to give us your email address, do miss out. I do hope that you check in with us at the website, fpsba.org, to get the latest reports on what is happening. It has been upgraded and looks very professional thanks to our webmaster Mike Monti.