St. Augustine moves intersection art project forward, neighbors push back

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — This week, St. Augustine city leaders voted for the artist it wants to make an art sculpture at a busy downtown intersection connecting the city to Vilano Beach.

The city’s commission voted for Ivan Depeña, a Charlotte-based artist originally from South Florida, as the artist whose concepts would be used to create the $250,000 sculpture.

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Neighbors in St. Augustine tell Action News Jax the same thing they told us when we first reported the story in March: they think it’ll bring a lot more danger than dazzle.

“Driving around here, it’s pretty insane,” BJ Maggert, who’s lived in the city for around 40 years, said. “I always try to avoid that intersection when I can.”

RELATED: St. Augustine drivers worried over planned art sculpture at busy downtown intersection

The intersection selected for the project links three streets in St. Augustine: May Street, San Marco Avenue, and West San Carlos Avenue, which runs by the St. Johns County library branch there.

Maggert said the traffic lights, signs, and sounds of the looped intersection are already enough to give her stress.

“You keep hearing horns because people hardly ever know where they’re going,” Maggert said.

READ: St. Augustine residents rally against state’s ‘Great Outdoor Initiative’ to protect Anastasia State Park

But when she saw the plans to add an art sculpture there, she thought it was too much.

“I thought, ‘What is this thing?’” Maggert says, “It’s way too much money for what I think will be very little impact.”

The artwork will go in the middle of the intersection once it’s built. Click through the gallery below to see some of the concepts being considered:

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St. Augustine moves intersection art project forward Artwork by Ivan Depeña will go at the intersection of May Street, San Marco Avenue, and West San Carlos Avenue in St. Augustine. These are some of the concepts being considered. (City of St. Augustine)

Depeña spoke with Action News Jax about his designs for the project earlier today, saying he was taken aback by some of the pushback from neighbors. He said the intention of the piece is to make it blend into the environment, rather than be a distraction to drivers.

“I wanted it to be incorporated into the site, so sort of incorporating the landscape into the art as opposed to the art into the landscape,” Depeña said.

Rather than create traffic, Depeña said he wants to make his mark on honoring St. Augustine’s history.

“This is not an obstruction I’m placing there, I was as sensitive as possible and did something I feel would enhance the site,” Depeña said.

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But more than the specific concepts being considered, drivers like Maggert worry the intersection selected is too busy to add a work of art to it.

“I just don’t think it’ll make much sense, I don’t think it will make things any better,” Maggert said.

The Florida Department of Transportation says thousands of cars drive through the intersection every day. FDOT said at least 13,000 cars drive along San Marco Avenue and more than 17,000 move along May Street daily.

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Maggert hopes what the city has in store won’t make more traffic, but believes the project might be better suited somewhere else.

“If anything is going to go there, I hope it’s trees, or something on the natural side,” Maggert said.

Depeña said he’s not responsible for the actual development of the land at the intersection where the sculpture is set to be built, meaning he, nor the city, as of Tuesday, have a confirmed timeline of when it could be finished.

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