ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The Florida Acquisition and Restoration Council blocked the City of St. Augustine from leasing a piece of Anastasia State Park to build a new fire station Friday.
Madeira Heights neighbors are ecstatic because it's something they have been trying to prevent for months.
Beth Robinson and Pat Day have been advocating for months to save this parcel of undeveloped land near their homes.
"It was a huge win today for us," Robinson said.
The land, which is a detached part of Anastasia State Park, is right across from the St. Augustine Amphitheatre on A1A.
"It's a terrible location,” Robinson said. “It's an extremely busy traffic nightmare when we're having a concert directly across the street. It's an influx of many, many thousands of people. So bad in fact that two people died after a concert this year trying to cross the street."
The community wants to preserve the wildlife and native trees and plants.
Day also said the trees and brush act as a natural protective barrier from strong hurricane winds and loud music from across the street.
"It's also land that is inhabited by all kinds of different migratory birds when they're going north and south,” Turtles, gopher turtles. All kinds of wildlife, and there's so few of that left in the state of Florida."
There's a 60-year-old fire station about a mile down the road from the neighborhood, but city leaders say it’s outdated.
Robinson and Day agree, but they don't want a fire station in their backyard.
"I am not against a fire station,” Day said. “None of us are, but they just chose the wrong piece of land."
Fire Chief Carlos Aviles said the city will go back to the drawing board now to find a solution.
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed, but I understand why they made the decision that they did. That just leaves us in a position to regroup. It doesn't change what the needs are of the city. We've just to formulate some different strategies."