St. Augustine City Commission Reviews Strategic Plan Goals

If there’s any truth to the maxim “failure to plan is planning to fail” the St. Augustine City Commission is on a path to success.

At a special meeting earlier this month, commissioners reviewed the city’s strategic plan and offered suggestions and additions to the document.

“The strategic plan is the blueprint for our city’s future,” said City Manager David Birchim. “It’s how we allocate resources to achieve our goals and that is why we review it during the budget process.”

The strategic plan covers four broad categories – livability, authenticity, character and vitality – and includes nine overall objectives including infrastructure, mobility planning, zoning and building code updates, resiliency and sustainability, arts education and community, preserving the downtown, event planning and diversity, equity and inclusion.

Resiliency and sustainability for residents and businesses was a major theme in the plan and commissioners offered several ideas to achieve those goals.

Vice Mayor Roxanne Horvath kicked off the discussion with a suggestion that the city install solar canopies on the top of the city’s public parking garage.

“It can act as an event space,” she said. “Right now we have no shade up there. It wouldn’t be visible from anywhere, but I think it would be good for us to lead in that way.”

Commissioner Barbara Blonder said the first priority she identified was to develop funding and criteria for a land acquisition program to address conservation and resiliency.

“I have been advocating for a real significant push for the city to move into sustainability in a big way,” she said, citing a program called Race To Zero that aims to reduce a community’s carbon footprint.

“It provides a framework and assessment of where we are now, how we can reduce our carbon footprint and what are some measurable goals to get there,” she said. It also can have an economic development benefit as well, she added, when potential investors in the business community see the city is serious about taking a proactive approach to climate issues.

Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline said the focus on sustainability should really be considered as a 10^th objective of the strategic plan.

“It seems to me like it’s turning into a pretty big pot,” she said. “I suggest let’s break it out and then we’ll have 10 objectives.”

Commissioners also discussed improvements in the city’s West Augustine area, specifically addressing drainage improvements, highlighting the city’s civil rights and African-American heritage and evaluating the special events policy and short-term rentals.

The discussion concluded with a suggestion by Blonder that the city go beyond a review of the existing strategic and vision plans and work on a new document.

“I think this is an opportune time for us to think for the next budget cycle about going into a more formal strategic planning process,” she said. “We should take a hard look, a formal process with measurable objectives.”