Are We Up to The Challenge of Buying Riverstone's Property?

By Mike Phillips

Though there’s still a lot of tip-toeing going on in county government circles, the cat’s out of the bag: Commissioners didn’t cave to Riverstone Properties Monday evening. They did what they had to do to get all litigation done and off the table -- so they could put something else on the table.

Nassau County wants to buy the property where Riverstone would like to build eleven 85-foot condo towers that would be twice as tall as the county’s land use regulations permit.

The property – 50 acres of pristine maritime wooded beauty – is worth about a million dollars an acre. It abuts the state park at the southern tip of Amelia Island. It is an environmental treasure. For a small county like Nassau, that might seem like an impossible pile of cash to raise. The other problem is that the owners might not want to sell.

But here’s what the county has going for it:

• It’s a county. And counties have the right of eminent domain.
• There are pots of conservation money in many places, and the Florida legislature is considering a particularly rich one.
• The land is next to a modest state park. Put the two together, and you can forget about “modest.” Good management could make it one of Florida’s special places. If the state park people understand that, they will be the key to making a deal happen.
• And then there are our people. The energy, dedication and intelligence of our people are outstanding. If we put petty political differences aside and embrace this challenge together, we the people will be unbeatable.

Let’s go for it.