VILANO BEACH HISTORY Vilano Beach is located two miles from St. Augustine in Northeast Florida's St. Johns County. The area lies between the Atlantic Ocean and the Tolomato River and was platted during the 1920's Florida Land Boom. The majority of the land remained vacant until after World War II. Beginning in the late 1940's and continuing in the 1950's, small motels emerged along Vilano Road. Today, the majority of the original platted residential lots have been built upon and several Planned United Developments have also been created. Vilano is now a year-round residential community boasting hundreds of homes and numerous small businesses. Vilano Peninsula from the south Vilano Beach is surrounded by natural resources. The area has nine different wildlife habitats, includes 125 species of birds that visit, nest or reside in the area, provides nesting beaches of endangered sea turtles, serves as a wintering and calving ground of the northern right whale and has several public parks including Surfside, North Beach and Guana River. Prior to 1995, a drawbridge brought traffic along Vilano Road. In 1995, the opening of a new bridge diverted traffic away from Vilano Road which had a significant, negative impact on the area businesses. The North Shores Improvement Association (NSIA) worked with the businesses and residential areas in 1998 to develop a Visioning document for the area. This document was adopted by the St. Johns County Commission in 1999 and serves as the basis for the revitalization of the area. Reasonable growth, stewardship and protection of the environment are a few of the issues addressed in the Vilano Vision. In addition to the several small motels that were built in the 1950's, two new hotels opened more recently along Vilano Road. All of the hotels are a short walking distance from the pristine beach along the Atlantic Ocean, the fishing pier at the end of Vilano Road and restaurants. Casa del Mar Oceanside Hotel and Suites at Vilano Several of these restaurants have opened within the past few years and with the already established restaurants, offer a cuisine variety to satisfy any palate. North Shores Improvement Association Renewed "Under the North Shores Improvement Association umbrella, following acceptance of the community Vision by the county, a citizen-government partnership was founded with St. Johns County in 1999. This resulted in acceptance to the Waterfronts Florida Program under the Florida Department of Community Affairs and to the Florida Main Street Program under the Florida Department of State. These programs have provided technical assistance in designing a new Vilano Beach Town Center to sustain local population and for creating a unique destination experience for the visitor. They also helped procure over one million dolars in grant funding assistance for public projects.   A Community Redevelopment Agency Area with Tax Increment financing was put into place along with a Design Review Board for a new North Coastal Corridor District zoning overlay to approve new commercial and multi-unit construction. Groundbreaking for the new Town Center Streetscape with underground utilities and stormwater system was done in 2006, with a completion expected in the summer of 2007."   The Vilano BeachTown Center Design and concept has received awards from The Council for a Sustainable Florida and the First Coast Florida Regional Planning Association, among others."   A beach pavilion at the ocean with an interactive fountain and a matching pavilion at the fishing pier on the Intracoastal Waterway at either end of Vilano Road were constructed in an architectural style combining art deco moderne and Florida vernacular, and a new boardwalk over the salt water marsh in the Intracoastal estuary connects the residential area to the North with the Town Center under construction to the South."   A new Mixed Use Zoning classification was approved for the Town Center district, which will allow residential living over the retail and commercial units on the first floor. A grocery store commercial/residential complex called Waters Edge has been approved for a 4.5 acre parcel at the corner of Coastal Highway and Vilano Road with construction expected to begin when the streetscape is completed and be finished a little more than a year later."

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