Dale Martin
City Manager
Fernandina Beach
January 6, 2017 1:00 a.m.
Prior to the end of 2016, the City Commissioners gathered for their annual visioning workshop. The meeting was somewhat earlier than in previous years (in relation to the election of City Commissioners) because, with no December run-off election necessary, the Commissioners could move more directly to the task at hand of establishing policy direction. The workshop was conducted as a day-long session at the City Golf Course, with some senior staff, members of the local media, and several members of the public in attendance.
The intended sequence of events is to have the City Commissioners provide direction so that, as budget preparation for the following year begins, funding can be properly prioritized to reflect the direction established by the Commissioners. It may, however, be possible to address the goals within the framework and constraints of the current budget year. Otherwise, especially for larger scale projects, efforts to achieve a desired goal may have to travel through the entire budget process.
To summarize the efforts of the 2016-2017 goals (formally adopted by the City Commission in Resolution 2016-51, I expect that nearly all of the objectives will be completed: a review of beach safety, improvements to storm water management, installation of soccer lights, amendments to downtown density, and efforts to enhance accessibility. The only goal likely not to be achieved by the target date is the re-opening of the Alachua Street railroad crossing (September 30, 2017).
Alachua Street, and the waterfront area in general, was the primary focus of the initial several hours of discussion. The waterfront area has several components that offer an opportunity for a broader perspective for consideration. These components include the marina (including repairs, realignment, and expansion), the City’s recently acquired property on N. Front Street (marina expansion and redevelopment potential), N. Front Street (traffic circulation, parking, environmental issues, and railroad safety), Alachua Street (re-opening and railroad safety), Centre Street (traffic circulation, parking, and railroad safety), and several parcels currently utilized for waterfront parking. The Commissioners indicated that they would like to make use of a waterfront development consultant to integrate all of these components into a larger scale plan rather consider each as an individual disjointed project.
Several consultants were invited to submit letters of interest, including examples of previous waterfront development projects. A tentative schedule associated with the consultant selection and effort was presented to the City Commissioners earlier this week. Letters of interest from consultants are expected to be received no later than January 27. After City Commission review, up to three consultants may be selected to prepare a preliminary concept. After further review, the Commission will select one consultant with which to work (tentatively scheduled to be selected by the end of March).
Making use of dedicated focus groups (marina interests, Main Street constituents, business owners, residents, visitors, City Commissioners, City staff, and others, as needed), the consultant will further develop and refine the concept before presenting the concept to the City Commission by the end of June. The Commission and the community will be able to review and comment on the concept prior to formal consideration by the City Commission in August. The related costs can then be incorporated into the subsequent budget.
This process will likely unfold over the next six months, providing sufficient opportunity for the City Commission to gather extensive information related to waterfront redevelopment. Additional discussions have commenced with other specialized consultants, to provide, if necessary, further insight and recommendations related to parking (the City’s last formal parking review was conducted in 2002) and traffic circulation. Discussions with other agencies, such as the Army Corps of Engineers, FEMA, and the Florida Departments of Transportation and Environmental Quality will have to occur. It will be an exhaustive process and public outreach and communication will be vital to aiding the City Commission in making key decisions.
I look forward to providing the necessary support as required and desired by the City Commission and working with other members of the community throughout this process.
Dale – you should be asking the citizens who live in the city to weigh in via a survey monkey survey on this closure of centre street. I would encourage you to send an invite to the taxpayers in the city and ask them to come down to speak on the issue or offer their views. You would be surprised when you invite people to come and offer their views, most feel that government is so arrogant that they have already made up their mind that they are not interested in the views of the uninformed public. All you need to do is ask them to offer their views and give them choices. Just a thought….
As mentioned in other articles, the city is hosting two special meetings to take input from citizens on Centre Street/waterfront issues. The first will be held at City Hall at 6 pm on Tuesday, January 10; the second will be held at the same time and place on Tuesday, January 24th. Commissioners have also invited citizens to contact them via phone or email–addresses available on the city website.
Thank you for the update. I like the idea of using a large scale plan and avoiding disjointed projects. That’s easier for the residents and business owners to visualize and in the long haul allows implementation of projects to flow together with greater ease in a linear fashion.
I also like the idea of consolidating all the ideas that involve an area, specifically the waterfront and first block of Centre St. I am concerned that, having read minutes from previous meetings, some decisions have already been made by the various boards/commissions and that citizen input has not been welcomed or encouraged. Yes, it’s all well and fine that these meetings are scheduled but the fact is, when the introduction of an amendment to increase density of occupation by over 400% is headed with the statement ” would like approval on first reading”, it tells citizens the decision has already been made and people don’t bother to come out. It would be nice to know that, in fact, we WILL be heard now, not after-the-fact when our only recourse is to make sure those who don’t listen are voted out.
The fact is, yes, I’m new here. But I moved here for very specific reasons not the least of which was the lovely downtown and it’s HISTORICAL vibe. I find many of the proposals I am reading about (closing part of Centre, this increased density issue and the facade of the proposed new hotel downtown) to be alarming, short-sighted and not in the best interest of the city and island as a whole. So I HOPE that the board will, in fact, LISTEN; not only to the input of the consultant(s) but to the residents, business owners and visitors to Fernandina Beach and not just vote based on their personal desires and biases.