The City of St. Augustine has filed eminent domain lawsuits against two property owners along Lake Maria Sanchez so it can move forward with a seawall it deems critical to protecting the area from flooding.
In February, St. Augustine warned it would use eminent domain to build a seawall on private property along the perimeter of Lake Maria Sanchez to mitigate flooding caused by high tides, storm surge and rising sea levels.
Historically vulnerable to flooding, hurricanes and storms exacerbated the problem with the area’s roadways and drainage systems.
Years in the making, the project had stalled because three property owners living in homes along the marsh refused to negotiate constructing the seawall on their property.
Jessica Beach, the city’s chief resilience officer, told the St. Augustine Record that after engaging with the homeowners “for quite some time” to ensure they understood the benefit the project, the city would intervene by using eminent domain.
And so it has for two of the property owners who have still refused. As of June 16, the City Attorney Isabelle Lopez filed the “Petition in Eminent Domain” lawsuit against property owners Lynn Kluger, 156 Marine St., and Gary Stehli, Darryl Baumstein and Sonya Baumstein at 8 Hedrick St., according to Melissa Wissel, the city’s communication director.
Judge Howard M. Maltz of the Seventh Judicial Circuit of Florida has been assigned to the case.
The city will schedule a hearing to present a Quick Take request, that is, an expedited hearing where land ownership is transferred to the city. In this case, it would be the required easements for the infrastructure.
“The city can then proceed to permitting, and the case continues to the valuation stage which is where the compensation is determined by a jury,” Wissel said via email. “The true next steps are actually happening with the engineering design team finalizing the project design to submit for permitting with the Chief’s Resilience Officer, Jessica Beach.”
The Seawall Project
According to city documents, the project, which stemmed from the city’s 2013 Stormwater Master Plan, will upgrade the existing stormwater infrastructure, install a stormwater pump station and tide check valves, and construct a flood wall along the marsh lining the south side of South Street.
The seven-foot, sheet-pile wall will stand hip-height, three feet out of the ground.
The project also aims to protect the 200 acres that include Lincolnville and downtown’s historic structures listed on the National Register of Historical Places, as well as homes, churches, schools and businesses. The Department of Environmental Protection’s Resilient Florida Grant Program will provide almost $20 million for the project, with the city picking up a little more than $10 million.
Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline told The St. Augustine Record that the city wasn’t planning on seizing anyone’s property or ruining anyone’s view.
“This drainage project is designed to resist flooding not only within the immediate area, but within 200 acres of St. Augustine’s most important architecture that remains irreplaceable in its value to the city,” she said. “Preserving these unique and rare buildings is our identity; it’s the core value of who we are.”
This article originally appeared on St. Augustine Record: St. Augustine pursues eminent domain against 2 homeowners for seawall on Lake Maria Sanchez
Reporting by Lucia Viti, St. Augustine Record / St. Augustine Record
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