Submitted by Suanne Z. Thamm
Reporter – News Analyst
October 3, 2018
The Fernandina Beach City Commission (FBCC) discussed various options for funding land purchases for preservation of island green space, including funding possibilities, at their October 2, 2018 Regular Meeting. But by the end of the discussion it was clear that other than calling for a joint meeting on the topic with the Nassau County Board of County Commissioners, the discussion had produced little in the way of goals, plans, or procedures for moving forward.
Commissioner Chip Ross, who expressed his frustration with what appeared to be merely kicking the can down the road instead of identifying a path forward, asked that each commissioner reduce his plan to writing for inclusion in an agenda packet for the November 7 FBCC Regular Meeting.
Commissioner Roy Smith said he would not comply with Ross’ request, instead taking the position that he would not endorse any plan that involved new taxes without an endorsement from city voters via a referendum.
Several conservation advocates attended the meeting as well as David Holley, the city’s newly appointed arborist, and District 2 County Commissioner-elect Aaron Bell.
Vice Mayor Len Kreger had placed conservation land acquisition funding on the meeting agenda as a discussion item. At his request City Attorney Tammi Bach began the discussion by laying out various legal options to fund land acquisition. She identified:
GENERAL OBLIGATION BOND – requires voter approval to pledge property taxes to repay the bond. All the steps in the process would require 6-9 months and costs of approximately $73,000 ($23,000 for a special election; $50,000 for validation legal fees)
MUNICIPAL SERVICES TAXING UNIT (MSTU) – requires county adoption, no voter referendum needed. MSTU adoption would take about 90 days and incur no legal fees or other administrative costs. It would need to be adopted by January 1 to get on the tax rolls for the next fiscal year.
CONSERVATION/OPENSPACE IMPACT FEES – Impact fees are adopted by city ordinance and require new development to pay for the cost of additional “infrastructure.” Open Space and conservation land, known as “green infrastructure” are arguably the most critical infrastructure to citizens and visitors alike. The city would be required to spend $10-30,000 to hire a consultant to develop a rational rate structure. This process would take about 6 months, and would require a 90-day notice prior to implementing the new fees.
Bach identified five additional, potential funding mechanisms for consideration:
1) Increasing millage rate without a bond referendum and dedicating a certain millage to conservation (City Commission vote only)
2) Planning Department Development Application Fees can be analyzed and increased with a portion going to Conservation Trust Fund (City Commission Vote only)
3) Nassau County could dedicate portions of sales tax revenues to conservation
4) Private money donations to City and/or County for conservation
5) Land donations to City or County for conservation
Bach stressed that while apparently there are other ideas/plans for funding being floated in social media, the ones she has identified are the only legal options available. She added that the city cannot impose a sales tax, and only the County can approve establishing a special taxing district (MSTU).
Vice Mayor Len Kreger said that individual property owners also have the option of placing conservation easements on all or part of their property, which would allow them to retain the property while taking advantage of tax breaks.
Margaret Kirkland, representing the Amelia Tree Conservancy, urged that the city work with the county to see if an MSTU could be set up, with or without a voter referendum. She said, “This is an island problem, and we need an island solution.” If that does not work out, she said that her organization would support the city seeking a general obligation bond via voter referendum. “In the meantime,” she said, “we hope that you would allocate money from the Parks and Recreation Impact Fees for conservation of those lands that can be used as passive parks. … We could get started on that and make some progress while [other options are being explored]. That would help us raise funds and get others to donate land and funds for conservation.”
Kreger supported meeting with the county, which he said would need to wait until after the November 6 General Election. He wanted to pursue the idea of an MSTU and noted that there are parcels of land in the county that could be added to conservation. He said that Planning Manager Kelly Gibson had provided commissioners with conservation land nomination forms. Kreger reminded audience members that the FBCC had just passed the ordinance to establish the Land Conservation Fund in June and that it would take some time for a program to get established.
Commissioner Chip Ross identified the “elephant in the room” as nominating properties and how the city would pay for the purchases. He said, “I’d like to know before we leave this room, who should meet with the county and why does it have to wait until after elections?”
Kreger said that the question is, does the city accept and work from the list of properties as identified by the Amelia Tree Conservancy and determine what the process should be? “Maybe staff can do the feasibility of working with the county,” Kreger suggested. Kreger said that the city already has $115K toward purchasing land for conservation.
Ross offered a proposal. “I would challenge each commissioner to put in writing what their vision is for land conservation and how they’re going to fund that. Put in writing what you want to do and we can talk about it at the November 7 [FBCC] meeting. And how we’re going to do it. … Then let’s see if we can take those five statements and come up with a workable plan for funding. … There are many issues.”
Commissioner Roy Smith said, “I’m going to tell people right now I have a problem if everyone in the city doesn’t get to vote on this because they’re going to have to pay these taxes. To me a referendum is the only way to do it. I’m not going to tell people that we are going to tax them [to buy conservation land] when they didn’t have a chance to vote on it. I just think that goes against democracy. … If people are willing to pay the tax [for a bond or MSTU], I’m fine with it. But that’s the only way I’ll support it.”
Kreger said that at some point the city would need to go out to the public to get some of the funding. “We need to be transparent; we need to be up front with this,” Kreger said.
Ross reiterated his call for written input.
Smith said he would not provide written input because he had already provided his input: he will not support using tax revenues for this purpose without voter approval. “If we want to do anything now, let’s get moving on that referendum,” Smith said.
Chapman asked for a dollar amount on the land acquisition proposal. “Is it a million dollars? Is it $2M or $10M? That personally would influence the direction I would take. I think what we need is an idea of the total amount of money that we are willing to put up for this project to go forward.”
Ross agreed on a referendum, but he asked, “A referendum on what?” He went on to suggest that he would propose identifying lands from the list provided by the Amelia Tree Conservancy, ask land owners if they would be willing to sell the lands and for what price, and whether they would “lock that price up” while the city went out on referendum to secure a bond. Then he would total the “guaranteed purchase prices” and go out on a bond referendum seeking that amount of money.
Smith disagreed, arguing that the city first needs to come up with an amount of money it would be willing to spend on this project, not just totaling up all the properties on the list that were available for guaranteed purchase. He cautioned about the need to repay the bond over a period of years. He said, “We need to let households know how much they would be required to pay to do this.”
Smith said, “It’s easy to come up with how much money we’d have to pay back. But you are opening a can of worms here. We need to come up with an amount of money that we think we can sell to the voters [as opposed to buying all the available land, no matter the total cost]. If you get to the point that you are adding too much to people’s taxes, you are never going to pass this. There are people who can’t pay their taxes now; we’ve got to come up with a number that’s realistic, not pie in the sky.”
Ross agreed, but argued that the properties needed to be identified first so that you could tell the voters which lands their taxes would allow to be placed into conservation.
Chapman said that it is important for citizens to understand all the various projects that the city has on the table and how much money will be committed in toto to everything from the marina to purchasing the Post Office to improving Centre Street and building a waterfront park. “These are things that people don’t necessarily think about, but they all impact the city and the taxpayers. Conservation land is a piece of this puzzle,” Chapman said, “but you need to look at all the parts.”
Amelia Tree Conservancy spokeswoman Margaret Kirkland renewed her request for the city and county to meet to try to work out an agreement on going forward to purchase conservation lands on the island. City Attorney Tammi Bach said that a joint meeting with the county would not happen before November 7.
Local realtor Betsie Huben also addressed the FBCC seeking clarification. She asked if there were a process in place to ask for and receive donations of land, and how that was being communicated to the public. “If the public donating is more expeditious than some of these other methods, maybe we need to know what that method is [and if there are associated costs],” she said.
Bach replied that she is already working on one small donation and that there are no costs to the donor. Donated land is placed in perpetual conservation.
City Manager Dale Martin, in responding to Huben’s question about marketing a land donation program, said that via his weekly column to the Fernandina Observer, the Fernandina Beach News Leader and the Nassau County Independent, he has already sought donations. He has asked people interested in donating land to the program to give him a call.
Kreger reminded the public that individuals could put land into conservation for a variety of reasons while still holding title to the land. Such action can lower tax burdens.
The FBCC will discuss the matter further at their November 7 Regular Meeting.
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.
This whole thing is disturbing. Successful conservation efforts are funded by non-profits, land-owners seeking the tax benefits of placing land in a conservation trust and grants whether private or public…………….NOT by seeking to force taxpayers to do their work.
Lets get real here……….Kreger and Smith are somewhat sensible, Ross is completely off base.
As a taxpayer here for over a decade, I want to see public services tended to first and above all. How about affordable housing, storm drainage, marina repair………..do the job you were elected to do—-care for the public good, not the wishes of a few activists, whose motives are somewhat unclear.
Mr. Decker, successful land conservation is indeed ALSO funded by government in addition to private funding. If we wait to start this process, there will be nothing left to conserve.
Funding from the county, city, not for profits, individuals and other entities is needed in order to keep this island from becoming like the other islands south of here. Take a look at Jacksonville Beach and any of the other barrier islands. Is that what you want?
I wish Mr. Decker and others would refrain from using the ‘A’ word.
It seems if people disagree on issues the ‘A’ word is quickly thrown about.
Activists.
The word activists is used with the same vehement negativity as saying terrorists.
But I suppose the colonists who fought against the British for independence were considered activists.
Probably the women who participated in the suffragette movement for the right to vote were considered activists.
Certainly the struggle for civil rights resulted in African Americans being considered activists.
Maybe being active could be seen as a good thing.
Maybe there will be a day in the future when we all look back and realize the actions of people being called activists today became the change for all our good tomorrow. Resolving the issue of funding for land conservation can be done. Please, join the conversation on how we all make it happen.
I raise the land conservation $64 million question: How Much is Enough? Are people advocating land conservation doing so to protect wildlife and natural resources or are they simply trying to limit the population in the City or on the Island? I suspect both camps exist. Recognize that putting more and more land in conservation and not able to be developed only makes developable land more valuable and expensive – forcing the Island to become more and more just for the highly affluent.
Like Mr. Decker, I don’t believe that taxpayers should be saddled with the financial burden of land conservation purchases unless there is a specific mandate from the majority through a GOB vote. The state already has some land conservation programs that are funded by taxpayers in one shape or another.
Why not see about getting Florida’s Land Conservancy Group to study the property list on the island and have them rank what they view as the most important since not all properties are equal in terms of impact to the environment? Everyone needs to keep in mind that there are ongoing costs associated with conservation lands – even lands that are donated. Annual inspections need to be made to monitor the “health” of the land and to ensure that the land is not being used contrary to the terms of the donation.
Perpetual conservation easements provide an exemption from ad valoreum taxes once validated by the State.
Guess we need a full frontal Hurricane to put this all into perspective. I only hope plans are made to focus on what is required to mitigate development in flood zones and improve our
Amelia Island, FEMA Flood Insurance profile.