Fernandina Commission votes to scale back $185,000 Parks and Recreation Master Plan

The Fernandina Beach City Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to scale back the scope and cost of a proposed $185,000 Parks and Recreation Comprehensive Master Plan, directing city staff to return with a more focused and less expensive proposal.

Commissioners agreed the city still needs a long-term plan for parks and recreation facilities but said the consultant proposal from Kimley-Horn was too broad and costly for the city’s immediate needs.

The 5-0 vote sends the proposal back to city staff to “tighten the scope, reduce costs, and focus on long-term recreation services,” according to the motion approved by the commission. 

City Manager Sarah Campbell said the proposed plan was intended to guide long-range decisions about Fernandina Beach’s recreation facilities.

“This is a consideration of a proposal to update the city’s Parks and Recreation Comprehensive Master Plan,” Campbell told commissioners. “We pursued this path after last year’s visioning and discussions about long-range plans for our facilities, and specifically our three city recreation centers.”

The city budgeted $100,000 for the first phase of the study this fiscal year, with a proposed second phase costing $85,000 next year. But several commissioners said the total price tag of $185,000 was more than they were willing to approve.

Commissioner Tim Poynter, who served on the commission during the city’s previous parks master planning effort in 2015, said the earlier study was overly ambitious and proposed ideas the community ultimately rejected.

“That report was exhaustive,” Poynter said. “They were talking about moving ball fields and creating a lake at Central Park. It was not even possible that this community would go for something like that.”

Poynter said he supported planning for the future but wanted a much narrower study focused primarily on recreation facilities.

“My concern is the three rec centers that are basically 70 years old and they’re inadequate,” he said. “For a community this size to have three rec centers for 14,000 people is ridiculous.”

Commissioner Genece Minshew agreed the city should develop a long-term strategy but said the current proposal needs refinement.

“I do think we need something — maybe not this robust,” Minshew said. “We need to look out five years, 10 years, 15 years to understand where we want to be … but $185,000 is too much.”

Much of the commission’s discussion centered on how many recreation centers the city should operate and whether the current model is sustainable for a city of about 14,000 residents.

Commissioners also discussed whether a future plan might consider a single larger recreation complex rather than multiple smaller facilities, though the idea generated disagreement.

Vice Mayor Darron Ayscue said he would oppose any proposal that would close the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center.

“I’m not going to be in favor of closing MLK,” Ayscue said. “If you even attempt to talk about closing the MLK rec center, you’re going to fill this place up again. The community there does not want that facility closed.”

Commissioner Joyce Tuten said any long-term plan should recognize physical constraints at existing facilities, including floodplain issues at the Atlantic Recreation Center.

“It makes no sense for a city this size to have two rec centers, two pools, two athletic facilities,” Tuten said, while adding that at least one recreation center should remain in the walkable neighborhoods north of Sadler Road.

Parks and Recreation Director Scott Mickelson told commissioners the department is already managing several major projects and long-standing infrastructure challenges.

Scott Mickelson

“We do have some pressure points,” Mickelson said. “Those pressure points include recreation centers, pools, beach access maintenance, and youth sports facilities.”

The city maintains 47 beach accesses and 34 boardwalks, creating ongoing maintenance costs, he noted.

“Youth sports facilities are another pressure point,” Mickelson said. “The upkeep alone on sports fields is so much more difficult and a lot more money than cutting the grass at Central Park.”

Under the commission’s direction, city staff will work with Kimley-Horn to develop a scaled-down version of the study that better matches the $100,000 already budgeted for the current fiscal year.

Commissioners said the revised proposal should focus on actionable priorities and a realistic long-term roadmap for parks and recreation investments over the next five to 15 years.

“I would move that we send this back to staff to tighten this up, reduce the costs, and make it more specific,” Minshew said before the commission approved the motion unanimously.