Weekly comments from Dale Martin

Dale Martin

June 21, 2019 12:00 p.m.

City Manager Dale Martin

While most of the obvious attention on the City’s Amelia River waterfront is focused on the restoration of the Marina, other significant activities continue elsewhere.

What originally began as an effort to determine interest in the City-owned (and now vacant following demolition) property at 101 N. Front Street (where Alachua Street would meet N. Front Street) has evolved into a much broader review of waterfront resiliency. Resiliency, in this instance, is the ability to prepare and protect the waterfront and surrounding areas from tidal flooding, storm surges, and sea-level rise. Typically, resiliency efforts involve the “hardening” of infrastructure (building bulkheads and walls) or elevating infrastructure. Other techniques are more “soft,” such as the use of natural shoreline features to minimize the power of water.

At the direction of the City Commission, I have been discussing shoreline resiliency planning with two teams of consultants. I anticipate bringing the results of my discussions to the City Commission at the July 2 City Commission meeting, looking to the City Commission to select which team to begin the earnest effort of shoreline and waterfront planning. Funding for this effort has been provided through a state grant.

The City Commission has defined the waterfront area to extend to the west side of 2nd Street. The resiliency effort also includes a component of economic redevelopment (which is what originally started this effort). Several properties on N. Front Street and N. 2nd Street have sat dilapidated for decades. Is the lack of activity on those properties an indicator of “economic resiliency”? What can be done to promote the redevelopment and success of those properties?

While the interested consultants may provide a technical and planning framework for action, the redevelopment of the waterfront area has vexed this community for decades. Plans for park development are stacked and boxed throughout City Hall, but nothing has been done due to political turmoil, personal egos, unclear visions, and insufficient funding. We might be able to overcome those issues sufficiently enough to actually do something over the course of the next several months.

Since everyone has their own image of what the waterfront (and, to a greater degree, downtown) should be like, building the consensus of what to really build has become problematic. Something will be proposed, generate interest and momentum, then the effort gets undermined and stalled, and things begin all over again. Rinse and repeat for thirty years and welcome to today. Perhaps we can start the next decade in a new fashion.

So what do people want on the waterfront and downtown? Let’s have a group exercise (which I have seen utilized in other communities, so this is not a new idea). Over the course of the next few weeks, I ask that you send photos to me. Actually, no more than two photos each. Your first photo should reflect the type of structure and/or use that you’d like to see on the Amelia River waterfront- the properties between the Marina and the Port. Show me what you envision on the waterfront: residential units, restaurants, shops, boatyards, etc. Look to other coastal communities that you have visited for examples of the things that you like.

The second photo should reflect a broader perspective: provide to me a photo of something that illustrates, in your mind, an interesting component of a successful downtown. Do you like pedestrian amenities, parking garages, signage, parks, and so on. What would you like see incorporated into our downtown?

When received, I’ll organize the photos into several groups based upon the sender. The first group will be those photos provided by the City Commissioners. Another group will include the waterfront property owners (I will send a request directly to those people). The next group will be the Main Street Executive Board. The final two groups will be residents and visitors (for the visitors I may have to enlist the support of Mr. Gil Langley and his Tourist Development Council staff [um, Gil, I’ll call you shortly]). It will be interesting to see how common or uncommon our visions are.

I have been tasked with providing a concept of the waterfront to the City Commission in early August. It has been said a picture is worth a thousand words, so please send me your photos of what you see for the future of the waterfront and downtown. Photos can be snet to me via email at dmartin@fbfl.org, mailed to City Hall at 204 Ash Street, Fernandina Beach, 32034, or hand-delivered to the same address. Please recognize that if photos are mailed or delivered, you will not receive those photos back.

Thank you for participating.