Weekly comments from Dale Martin

Dale Martin
City Manager
Fernandina Beach
February 15, 2019 12:00 a.m.

Over the course of several hours spread across two days, the City Commissioners worked to enhance efforts to work together and develop goals for the community. Their efforts were facilitated by Ms. Cindy Jacoby of Bizhelp Consulting and supported by City Department Directors. Also attending the sessions were a few members of the general public, a few of whom represented other agencies, such as the Nassau County Board of Commissioners (thank you, Commissioner Bell) and the Tourist Development Council (Mr. Gil Langley).

The general purpose of the Visioning Session is the informal commencement of the budget process. The City’s “operating” or fiscal year runs from October 1 through September 30. Once we roll into a new fiscal year, City staff has a few months to get newly-funded projects started before again turning to budget preparation. The City Commission’s goals and comments provide direction for staff focus throughout the development of the budget.

This year’s visioning, however, focused not so much on the next fiscal year, but rather an immediacy of goals for the balance of this fiscal year. I expect that as we progress toward achieving those immediate goals, we will easily transition toward budget priorities for not only next year, but also for following years.

Unsurprisingly, the bulk of the City Commission’s discussion focused on the Amelia River waterfront. The longstanding and overwhelming community desire has been for a waterfront park. This concept was validated in the City’s 2017 National Citizen Survey (NCS) effort: when queried about the waterfront, 88% of the respondents supported (47% strongly supported) the use of the waterfront being used for open space (public gathering and community events). A third of respondents strongly opposed making no changes. When asked about the single most-preferred use, open space (with 33%) again was the leading choice. On the opposite end of desired uses, commercial use (retail, mixed-use, and residential) of the waterfront not supported (54% opposed). I believe that the philosophy of the City Commission reflects the results of the NCS. The City is preparing another iteration of the NCS to be conducted over the next few months.

It has been well-documented that planning efforts for the waterfront have been both exhaustive and exhausting. The implementation of any plans has been thwarted by politics, hurricanes, funding, and focus (the definition of the “waterfront” has been both expansive and narrow). The City Commission has established the parameters of the waterfront for its efforts: from the port facilities at the north to the southern edge of what is referred to as Parking Lot D, and from the Amelia River to the west side of 2nd Street.

The specific direction to me from the City Commission is to prepare a concept and recommendation on how to proceed with the development of City facilities and infrastructure, and report that information to the City Commission (and the community) no later than August 6. With the assistance and experience of others, I believe that this goal is most assuredly attainable, but more importantly, I believe that this City Commission will support (both politically and financially) the efforts to move the various subordinate projects associated with waterfront development forward, beginning less than two months later with the start of the next fiscal year.

The other City Commission goal, which can be pursued simultaneously with the efforts related to the waterfront, is the acquisition or designation of land for conservation purposes. This effort is already underway with the assistance of the North Florida Land Trust (coordinated by Mr. Marc Hudson). Based upon recent City Commission discussion and direction, the City has submitted purchase proposals for two parcels of land that would have otherwise likely been developed for residential purposes. As with the waterfront, I believe that the current City Commission is solidly supportive of conservation efforts.

While it may be relatively easy to reclassify several City and other publicly-owned land for conservation purposes, the acquisition of additional land for similar purposes will be hampered by funding. Again working with Mr. Hudson, I will, in support of the City Commission direction, prepare a plan for acquisition and funding for conservation land and present that plan to the City Commission no later than May 7.

Several other issues remain to be further considered as the budget process begins in earnest in March and April, but for now, the direction of the City Commission has been established. Thank you for that direction, thank you to the staff for their supporting efforts, and thank you to Ms. Jacoby for her assistance during this year’s visioning process.