Plans for restaurant docks don't hold water for city

Dock dispute holds up future of old Santa Maria restaurant in St. Augustine

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – The future of the Santa Maria restaurant in St. Augustine remains in limbo some three years after it closed.

The once iconic restaurant that sits above the Matanzas River is now an eyesore of an abandoned, dilapidated building near the Bridge of Lions.

The White family, who also own O.C White’s and the White Room, bought the property in 2015 when the waterfront restaurant shut down, and they've been working to get a new restaurant up and running.

Both the city and the Whites want to come to some sort of an agreement, so they can move forward, but a sticking point seems to be related to adding docks to the waterfront property.

The official demolition and building design plans for the site were received and approved in 2016, but the developer still needs to get zoning, public works and other approvals.

St. Augustine City Manager John Regan said the main issue is who owns the land where the docks would be added.

“They operate from the belief that they own the bottom of the submerged land out to the channel,” Regan said. “We believe that we own those bottomlands.”

The city said the proposed docks would interfere with a commercial dock at the municipal marina.

READ: St. Augustine city memo on dock dispute | Letter to commissioners

In a letter to the mayor and city commissioners, Jennifer White wrote, “The minimal docks proposed east of the restaurant will not interfere with navigability to the city’s marina. The proposed docks will allow locals to arrive at the restaurant via boat, thus reducing traffic downtown.”

White said in her letter that the developers would waive rights to future litigation on who owns the land if the city will approve the docks. But Regan said the city can't budge on the possibility of boat traffic interfering with the marina.

“It holds everything up,” Regan said of the dispute over the docks. “It creates a log jam.”

There’s no timeline on how soon the two sides might come to an agreement.

Right now, the proposed agreement is on the agenda for the city’s Aug. 13 meeting, which is open to the public.


About the Authors:

A Jacksonville native and proud University of North Florida alum, Francine Frazier has been with News4Jax since 2014 after spending nine years at The Florida Times-Union.