Resident Lynn Williams proposes seawall to protect Fernandina Beach downtown; Mayor Boner requests update on $8,000 dredging experiment

Submitted by Suanne Z. Thamm

Reporter – News Analyst

If local resident and waterfront proponent Lynn Williams can convince city commissioners that he has the solutions to potential future problems of global warming and storm surges along with many longstanding problems that have impeded development along the Amelia River front, the city may be in for an expensive, long haul project involving the construction of a 2,600-foot seawall, purchase or taking of private property and submerged lands between Rayonier and points north of the city marina, and opening up a new housing area in the river itself.

What’s more, citizens may have multiple chances to vote on it.

Williams used approximately half of the Fernandina Beach City Commission (FBCC) 2.5-hour regular meeting on March 18, 2014 on two topics:  a presentation on a proposal for a waterfront seawall, placed on the agenda by Vice Mayor Sarah Pelican; and an update on Williams’ progress on his water injection dredging experiment for which he was given $8000 by the city in May 2013.  The latter item was discussed under item 6 on the agenda, Public Comment, in response to a query from Mayor Ed Boner.

Seawall Along the Amelia Riverfront

Vice Mayor Pelican introduced the presentation, saying that the topic had been raised during the FBCC’s goals workshop, but that Commissioner Charlie Corbett had not been present for the discussion.  She expressed her concerns over the devastation that was caused by super storm Sandy and asked Williams to explain his proposal for protecting Fernandina Beach’s downtown area in the event of a similar weather event locally.

Williams concurred with Pelican’s assessment of potential problems for the downtown area in the event of either rising sea levels connected with global warming or a catastrophic weather event.  He explained that the last major dredging of the marina basin was in 1986 and that today there is not much land to build upon along the riverfront.  He hypothesized that a major storm “will destroy a lot of old buildings,” adding his conjecture that many of the building owners are “running without insurance.”  He claimed that the historic downtown could tolerate only a 1-2-foot flood.  Constructing the seawall he proposed would produce 18.5 additional usable acres of land along the riverfront with 300K cubic yards of fill to reclaim submerged lands.  The cost of such a project, he estimated, would range from $18-26M, excluding the cost of acquiring the private lands needed to make this a fully public project.

There has been no engineering work done on this idea to date.  Williams suggested that the seawall, which would protect the downtown and provide more usable land, would be constructed from steel or concrete at a rough cost of two thousand dollars per linear foot.  He was unable to specify the height needed for such a wall, but said he was not proposing a 25-foot high wall.  He said that even a 6-foot high seawall would afford a lot of protection.  He referenced the movable walls along parts of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to cover gaps in the levees.    He suggested that part of the city seawall might be moveable.

Project advantages cited by Williams included protecting the downtown from storm surge obliteration, adding value to the western edge of town, bringing jobs and young people to town for important work, anchoring the Community Redevelopment Area (CRA), eliminating the need for future marina dredging, and “bringing beauty and pleasure to the people of Fernandina Beach.” Impediments mentioned included costs, permits and mitigation.

Williams said that in order to seek federal and state funding for such a project, the project must be totally public, meaning that private property owners could not benefit from the results.  Williams and Mayor Boner debated the meaning of the word “taking” when applied to a municipality acquiring private lands from an unwilling seller, with Boner believing this is a bigger issue than Williams admits.

Williams estimated that the seawall would be a 4-5 year project that could be constructed in 2-2.5 years.  He believed that the city would only need to invest $4M plus the costs of purchasing the private lands.  He suggested that the city needed to lobby Governor Rick Scott and United States Senators Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio to secure the bulk of the funding.

Williams presented slides showing the extent of the project and suggested possible activities that might be conducted in the reclaimed land, such as a marine research institute or a wooden boatbuilding business.  He also presented photo-shopped pictures of floating residential units to be located in the river itself.  He suggested that even he might consider such a living arrangement, which is common in other waterfront areas of the nation.

Commissioner Pat Gass said, “I’m excited! This is hand-in-hand with the public vision and the CRA.  Next steps?”

As far as next steps, Williams wants the issue of the seawall to be placed on the November ballot in general terms.  “If the people reject it,” he said, “that’s the end of it.”  If the people support the concept, then he would propose to follow the initial referendum with a second one to borrow a specific amount of money in the range of  $2-4M.  City Attorney Tammi Bach said that ballot language would need to be finalized by August this year.  Williams also added that the city would need to “beg, borrow or steal ATM time to work out details of the project.”  Applied Technology & Management http://www.appliedtm.com (ATM) is a coastal, environmental, marine and water resources engineering design and consulting firm serving public and private clients worldwide that was hired by the city to develop an earlier plan for the riverfront that the city never implemented.

While most commissioners seemed intrigued by the ideas presented, Mayor Boner remained skeptical.  He said, “I’ll be one dissenting vote.  I don’t think the project is big enough to protect downtown.  Permitting, property acquisition … are all big questions.”  Boner went on to express concerns over impact on the downtown businesses, marina operations, a waterfront park and events like Shrimp Fest.   Williams countered, saying that Front Street would not be touched at all and that he hoped the owners of private property would be “reasonable” in agreeing to sell lands to the city.  “I do not see business interruptions,” Williams said.  Boner also raised the question of the effect of such a projects on other existing projects that have been funded by grants.

Gass said, “There are many, many, many questions.  But [the project] deserves to be looked at.  Put it together, rip it apart, put it back together.”

Williams allowed, as how “the politics of the thing are very real.”

Water Injection Dredging Project:  a Status Report

During public input Mayor Boner asked Lynn Williams to return to the podium to update commissioners and the public on his experimental dredging project, which the city had funded with $8,000 of public money last May.

Williams reported that he had thought the experiment could be conducted quickly and inexpensively within 6-8 weeks.  “I was sure wrong,” he said.  He recapped difficulties over obtaining insurance to conduct the experiment in the city marina that resulted moving the project to the David Cook property.  Cook is Williams’ partner in the experiment.  State permitting presented another set of problems.  Williams said he discovered that it is tough for private citizens to work with Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).  He said that some of the ATM people helped him in this regard.  He weighed conducting the experiment without state approval and seeking forgiveness afterwards.  However, ATM backed off direct involvement in the experiment, saying that they would not be associated with law-breaking.

With the backing of the executive director of the Florida Inland Navigation District, the DEP was persuaded to modify the city’s dredging permit to allow the experiment to continue.  Williams anticipates receiving a modified permit from the Jacksonville office in a month.  A condition for the permit involves collecting data on turbidity changes during the experiment.  Williams stated that he and Cook have the equipment ready.

Vice Mayor Pelican thanked Williams for not moving ahead in advance of state approval.

Mayor Boner asked Williams to provide regular written updates, citing inquiries from citizens seeking information.  Williams replied that he is happy to report every meeting and that he is concerned over public information requests that use legalistic jargon.  He said, “I am in the book and happy to talk to anyone with questions.”  He said that the public information requests imply he is doing something “nefarious” and “nothing could be further from the truth.”

Editor’s Note: Suanne Z. Thamm is a native of Chautauqua County, NY, who moved to Fernandina Beach from Alexandria,VA, in 1994. As a long time city resident and city watcher, she provides interesting insight into the many issues that impact our city. We are grateful for Suanne’s many contributions to the Fernandina Observer.

March 19, 2014