Submitted by Suanne Z. Thamm
Reporter – News Analyst
August 26, 2019 – 10:00 a.m.
Nassau County Planning and Economic Opportunity Department Director Adrienne Burke addressed the Fernandina Beach City Commission (FBCC) during the FBCC’s August 20, 2019 Regular Meeting. Burke’s 22-slide presentation, entitled Conservation Land Acquisition, followed up on the topic of island wide planning, discussed during a Joint Local Planning Agency Meeting between The City of Fernandina Beach and Nassau County Board of County Commissioners on March 12, 2019.
Burke drew significantly from a county document available on line entitled Growth Trends Report 2018 .
From 2017-2018, Nassau County’s population grew by 3.58 percent, a significant growth of one year, making it the 25th fastest growing county in the United States. The state Chamber of Commerce also predicts that over the next ten years, Nassau will be the 9th fastest growing county for the state. Over the next 20-30 years, population projections show Nassau County’s population growing to around 150,000 from its population today of around 85,000.
“We are facing dramatic growth,” Burke said. “That’s why our department is very busy. I give our elected officials a lot of credit for being proactive. We’ve been tasked with a lot of long range planning over a very short period of time.
Burke said that one of the tools the county has added to its plan is better joint planning efforts with the city of Fernandina Beach and other county municipalities. She said that one of those joint planning efforts is the acquisition of conservation land.
She cited an increasing level of demand for municipal services in the unincorporated area between I-95 and Amelia Island, for example: recreation and trash disposal.
Burke said that the needs of the unincorporated areas of the county change in moving from east to west. The western areas are undeveloped, open lands in their natural state.
Some factors driving growth include development outside the county at places like the airport, the Cecil Commerce Center and Kings Bay Submarine Base. Earlier patterns of growth that concentrated south of Jacksonville are now moving toward the north, especially western Nassau County.
Burke spoke to the natural topography of the county, which is heavy wetlands that results in significant drainage and flooding issues in the Callahan area. This problem is not as significant in the east part of the county.
Conservation land acquisition is a significant part of growth management, according to a study from the Urban Land Institute, Burke reported. She cited parts of the county Comprehensive Plan that called for active land acquisition. This was also emphasized in the county’s Vision 2030 Plan, that was developed with citizen input.
Burke said that the appropriate policies are in place in order to take the next steps.
Nassau County is on the low end of the spectrum among state counties regarding lands set aside for conservation. The County Planning Department was tasked last year to come up with a conservation land acquisition program. In researching the work of other Florida counties, a variety of possible funding mechanisms were identified. Most counties follow the same process for acquiring lands. But she emphasized that purchasing and managing public lands must go together.
Burke said that she will be presenting financial feasibility options to the Board of County Commissioners, which will be followed by a need to discuss political feasibility of options. The Trust for Public Lands would work with the county to determine if there is support for a public referendum to purchase land for conservation. In 2008 the county pursued a similar plan with the Nature Conservancy, which determined that only 46 percent of county voters would support such a referendum.
It remains to be determined if the accelerated pace of county development would generate more public support today.
The county is working on a county-wide recreation master plan and a long-range vision plan for western Nassau County. During a year’s worth of public input from west Nassau residents, Burke said that preservation of the open rural nature of the area is highly desirable. ”They do not want to become a new Yulee,” Burke said. “I heard that a lot.”
The county is also looking to do its first ever historic resources survey.
“Regardless of whether the county chooses to move forward with a citizen referendum, we in the Planning Department see land acquisition as an important tool in growth management,” Burke said.
Vice Mayor Len Kreger commented that the city and county Planning Departments work very well together. “I commend the county for showing up,” Kreger said. “We in the city do plan to go forward with a referendum. We need to look at how that would work out with what the county is planning.”
Burke quoted the Trust for Public Lands in cautioning to be mindful of how many referenda appear on the ballot. “Too many can distort votes,” she said.
Mayor John Miller thanked Burke for her presentation, adding that county growth definitely impacts the city when county residents cross the bridge to go to the city’s beaches.