Vilano Beach Main Street was designated by Florida's Secretary of State Kurt S. Browning as the Florida Main Street Program of the Month for March 2009. Vilano Beach was designated a Florida Main Street Community in 2003. Communities are selected for this award based on active participation in the Florida Main Street Program.
Vilano Beach's waterfront location adds to its ability to attract interest as a Florida Main Street community. There are two waterfronts on its main street ---the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Intracoastal Waterway on the other. From the Vilano Beach Pier you can enjoy fishing and viewing historic St. Augustine, the nation's oldest city.
In October 2008, Vilano Beach Main Street celebrated the completion of its infrastructure including an underground stormwater system, angled on-street parking, unique glass pavers for the sidewalks and attractive benches, lighting, and landscaping.
Plans for the community include the restoration of the "Blue Bird of Happiness", a nine-foot structure from the 1950s. He is currently missing his wings and needs a total facelift. On April 12th, Easter Sunday, a farmers and arts market is planned at the base of the fishing pier. This weekly market will be from noon-4 p.m. and will be called "The Sunday Market".
Florida Main Street is a technical assistance program of the Bureau of Historic Preservation, Division of Historical Resources, Florida Department of State. The Bureau has statewide programs that identify, evaluate and preserve Florida's historical resources. Main Street, with its emphasis on preservation, is an effective strategy for achieving these goals in Florida's historic retail districts.
Barbara Jenness is on the Board of Directors for Vilano Beach Main Street as the Vice-President of North Shores Improvement Association. She has been on the board since 1998 assisting in getting the community designated a Waterfronts Community and then as a Main Street community. She has been active in redeveloping Vilano Beach and is the current President of the A1A Scenic & Historic Coastal Byway (AKA Friends of A1A), one of 125 national scenic byways. She can be reached via e-mail at Barbara@BarbaraJenness.comor at 904-823-0027. She is an active licensed real estate broker in northeast Florida (St. Augustine to Jacksonville including Ponte Vedra) specializing in foreclosures and waterfront properties.
Tonight, March 23, 2009, there will be one extremely large town hall meeting for northeast Florida. In fact it is actually 7 simultaneous town hall meetings and they will be held in each of the seven counties of northeast Florida (Baker, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Putnam, and St. Johns). All interested residents are encouraged to attend and participate by giving feedback on how we should grow as a region answering questions from the "Grow Smart Survey" or you can take the survey in person by going to the Town Hall Meeting and voting between 4:00 pm - 6:30 pm today.
The location for the meeting tonight in St. Johns County is:
SJC Utility Department
1205 SR 16
St. Augustine, FL 32084
Other town hall meeting locations can be found here.
At 6:30 pm, the Town Hall Meetings will begin. Participants will be allowed to answer questions from the "Grow Smart Survey" as a group. This is a way to have your voice heard twice (once in the written survey and once at the meeting). And you will hear how others feel about growth in our area. Next there will be a presentation on Reality Check First Coast and Regional Visioning followed by public discussion.
The meeting will end at 7:30 pm to allow participants to get home in time to view the public broadcast with the survey results at 8:00 pm on public TV, WJCT. A panel of experts will discuss the survey results and other issues that are most important to us and discuss how a Regional Vision can help us to create the future we want to see.
The fun continues on On May 21, 2009 when 300 government, nonprofit and business leaders will meet at the St. Johns County Convention Center in the Renaissance Resort at World Golf Village and work in teams of 10 in a day-long exercise, laying Legos on regional maps to show where they think growth should go over the next 50 years. You can nominating a government, nonprofit or business leader at http://www.realitycheckfirstcoast.com/nominate/. The goal of the exercise to include a representative cross-section of the people in the area.
By the year 2060, it is estimated that 1.6 million additional people will be living in northeast Florida, requiring the addition of new jobs and housing to accommodate this growth. They are hoping the program will yield results by the fall of 2010 that can be a model for a growth "compact" agreed upon by governments in the region.
Come join the fun at Fiesta Falls Miniature Golf at 818 A1A Beach Blvd, St. Augustine Beach. Clowns, fun, prizes from 1 pm to 4 pm. Some of the proceeds will go to support Friends of A1A for the new year.
Make the stop right after visiting the St. Augustine Beach at the Pier and all of their Beach Blast off activities celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the City of St Augustine Beach.
Tickets available at the Beach Blast off events and at the Farmer's Market. Call 904-425-8055 if you want more information.
The Friends of A1A Scenic and Historic Coastal Byway ("Friends of A1A") was recently awarded $853,932 by the Federal Highway Administration. The local award represents 16% of the total funds awarded and 36% of the total projects sumbmitted by Florida applicants.
Out of 20 projects submitted for Florida, 11 were awarded funding and we were pleased that all 4 of our projects were selected. Federal Highways released appropriations to the states and contract preparation has begun for the projects that will begin in July 2009. For the second year in a row Florida was the top recipient of applicants in the nation - a record broken twice! The state received 70% ($3.87 million) of funds requested ($5.53 million). A list of all projects can be viewed at http://www.bywaysonline.org.
Sallie O'Hara, Byway Program Administrator, is delighted that the young nonprofit is gaining such credibility and support from governmental partners and community supporters. This is a 9.5% increase over the 2007 grants. The A1A Byway has received over $3.9 million dollars in funding since 2000. Most of those funds have gone into facility improvements at parks.
National Scenic Byway Program grants require 20% local match from various partners.
This year's Federal funds awarded to A1A projects include:
Barbara Jenness, President of Friends of A1A, stated the awards were most impressive given the level of this year's competition. "We have been working hard for years to improve A1A and now we are really beginning to see some physical results!" The group hopes these projects will prominently place the A1A Scenic & Historic Coastal Byway on the area maps as a destination unto itself. Travelers may already be noticing many parks under construction and roadways being improved.
Friends of A1A is a nonprofit organization that protects, preserves, and enhances resources along the A1A National Scenic Byway. Designated in 2002, the Scenic A1A Byway is one of 125 roadways in the America's Byways collection and stretches 72 miles along the Northeast Florida Atlantic Coast, traversing St. Johns and Flagler Counties. Visit our website: http://ScenicA1A.org to learn more about this beautiful road.
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As a waterfront specialist (ocean, river & Intracoastal), Barbara Jenness provides real estate services in Northeast Florida from St. Augustine to Jacksonville (Ponte Vedra, Crescent & Vilano Beach).
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