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In response to June 9th article
appearing in Florida today “Titusville expansion worries Port St. John”
“Amy Tidd worries what ….new neighbors to the north will
mean.”
- This is the same Amy Tidd, a member of the Political
Action Committee, Port St. John for Tomorrow and who spoke in favor of
permitting of the helicopter school at Tico Airport, and who in concert with
her cronies is attempting the hostile take-over of three small communities to
our south, specifically Williams Point, Frontenac, and Hardeeville by the
proposed new City of Port St. John. It
seems odd that Ms. Tidd and her associates are so worried about the area to the
north having so much alleged impact on PSJ, when recently they have attempted
to orchestrate a take-over of the three communities south of Port St. John..
"Titusville seems to have aggressively annexed down (southward) since
we've said we are going to incorporate," said Maureen Rupe….”
- In her quote, Ms. Rupe is making the huge assumptions
that a majority of PSJ voters will vote for incorporation on Nov 5th. Ms. Rupe’s name frequently pops up when there is an opportunity
to imply that we might be affected by annexation, and here it is again. Let’s
be clear, Port St. John could incorporate only if residents vote to do so.
At present there still remain some residents who have been wrongly convinced
and therefore still believe that incorporation is our only protection from
annexation by either Titusville or Cocoa.
Florida State Statutes clearly show, no unincorporated area can be
hostilely annexed by a city. Chapter 171” 171.0413 Annexation procedures, “Following
the final adoption of the ordinance (by the city)…, the ordinance shall be
submitted to a vote of the registered electors of the area proposed to be
annexed.”
- You might be wondering, how Port St. John could take
over Williams Point, Frontenac, and Hardeeville without their permission, when
Titusville or Cocoa cannot hostilely annex Port St. John? The answer is a
paradox. When an unincorporated area is
considering incorporation, it may include other contiguous unincorporated
areas, yet the Florida Statute quoted above prevents a city from annexing
without consent of voters from the area proposed for annexation.
- Just to be clear, Titusville annexed the “Tico land”, but the action was a requested annexation by the landowner,
Flagler Development Corp.
- The sewer issue scare tactic has gone hand in glove
with the annexation scare tactic and therefore deserves comment. Neither
Titusville nor Cocoa can force sewer upon Port St. John because we already have
a Brevard County Sewer System in place. It serves much of the residential area
east of the tracks most of the businesses and the two schools west of
Interstate-95. If and when the time comes as determined by the State of
Florida, that we must go on sewers, the capacity to expand our present sewer
plant to meet future needs exists.
So what is all this fuss about changing unincorporated Port
St. John into a city? Certainly there is no need to do it for protection from
our neighbors. Secondly, there is not sufficient tax base to create a viable
city. Quoting an April 24, 2002, Florida Today article by Marilyn Meyer “David Laney, the (feasibility) study’s
author, concluded incorporation would be feasible, presuming… the city would
start off with bare bones services” while at the same time levying more
taxes. Why on earth would we want to pay more taxes and slide backwards to bare
bones services? For example, why decrease from the current 3 deputies per
shift to 1.4 deputies per shift? This is not acceptable! Why self inflict
another layer of government? Are not the Federal, State of Florida, and Brevard
County governments and taxes more than enough?
Residents of the greater Port St. John area need only look to recent newspaper
reports about Palm Bay and their potential seven million dollar shortfall,
possible police and firemen and other layoffs, fire station closings, and their
hanky panky chronicles. It should give
one serious pause. And finally, it should be pointed out that the political
action committee Port St. John for Tomorrow does not represent the majority of
Port St. John residents.
Residents of unincorporated Port St. John, Frontenac,
Hardeeville and Williams Point want no part of a Bare Bones City of Port St.
John.
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