The company that built the house is asking for permission to build a retaining wall along the marsh after it was already built.
ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A dream home built for Home and Garden Television has hit a logistical bump in the road.
The house on Anastasia Island in the Pelican Reef neighborhood is complete, but its builders are having to ask the St. Augustine city government for permission for a seawall that has already been built.
It seems some pre-construction paperwork was either not completed, submitted or not fully approved.
The company behind the home – Coastal Getaway Homes – and its attorneys are going before the St. Augustine Planning and Zoning Board on Tuesday to ask the city to approve something that its builders have already built: a rock bulkhead on the water side of the house.
According to city documents, the house builders are requesting permission for the already built bulkhead made of rip rap. It’s inches away from the marsh, according to photographs in the city files.
The house is by a conservation zone which requires more levels of approval to protect animals an plant life. City policy discourages the “disturbance of natural shorelines” in order to protect the water habitat.
In the application letter to the city, the company’s attorneys state “while the retaining wall was not included within the site plan…it was included within the building permit application.”
The company’s attorney also stated the wall was built following city code, and that “the retaining wall has no impact on plant and animal habitat.”
Was the retaining wall built too close to the water? St. Augustine’s planning and zoning board will discuss that during their meeting on Tuesday.
