By Cindy Jackson
Reporter
November 4, 2021
At a very brief special meeting of the Board of County Commissioners on November 3rd, a list of projects was approved and ranked for submission to the Florida Legislature. That list of projects will be presented to Representative Cord Byrd and Senator Aaron Bean on November 10, 2021.
During the discussion, County Manager Taco Pope explained that projects are not funded by “one single pot of money. There are multiple funding sources . . . it’s less about the number and more about the diversity of projects,” citing that money for the SWEAT program, for example, comes from the Department of Juvenile Justice while funding for County Road 121 would come from the Florida Department of Transportation.
As approved, the 2022-2023 Legislative Priorities for Nassau County have been ranked as follows:
- County Road 121 $9,000,000 for completion of resurfacing project
- American Beach $1,850,000 septic to sewer conversion
- NE Public Safety $5,950,000 the County has begun construction of Phase 1
Training Facility at a local cost of $3.2 million. The County lacks resources for Phase II — construction of the indoor portion of the facility and classrooms - SR200/A1A $1,200,000 for a feasibility study relating to the widening of
Widening SR200/A1A from County Road 107 to the Amelia Island Parkway. Project would include the widening of Shave Bridge from four to six lanes - US Highway 301 $1,550,000 for intersection improvements at US Highway 301 and Crawford Road to include extending turn lanes and creating acceleration and deceleration lanes
- Tourism Expansion $775,025 to develop off-island ecotourist activity by leveraging current construction of the Tributary Regional Park to include a commercial scale kayak launch and community dock
- Amelia Island Trail $5,119,474 Phase 4 would complete the final three miles of the Island’s 17-mile trail system
- SWEAT $110,000 Sheriff’s Work Ethics and Training Program is designed to redirect “at-risk” youth by way of community service, academic assistance and mentoring
For additional information, the agenda from the meeting can be viewed at
https://nassaucounty.novusagenda.com/AgendaPublic/CoverSheet.aspx?ItemID=8602&MeetingID=1077
and at the bottom of the agenda page is a link to a memo from the County Manager’s office which contains detailed descriptions of the projects, monies already invested and the rationale for having identified these projects as priorities.