The City of Fernandina Beach has been pushing a redevelopment of the Marina waterfront. Evidently some committee years ago got the train rolling when they did a "study" as to what Fernandina residents wanted. That train has been heading down the tracks for years, although it gets sidetracked each election, it appears that it's now got the support of the City Manager and at least one Commissioner.
The Marina waterfront has been studied, surveyed, and planned for years. Why hasn't it ever been implemented? My theory is the City Managers, past and present, along with a Commissioner or two, listen to just a few sources - they take input from people that think like them and that's what they go with. Then they put together a committee who thinks like them and they order a study, and those folks talk to the same people. Then they come up with a "plan" and try to push it through - they even order more surveys designed to get the answers they want and then use them to try and prove the worth of the "plan". Then the general public rebels, voice their criticisms and and the development never gets done. Why?
Because they were all BAD plans to begin with!
Here's an image of the current "train" with estimated costs, that is a rolling down the tracks:
There is so much wrong with this plan with the first being that it should have never been contracted to be drawn. I could get down in the mud and hit on the dirty details like, why in the world would you put Pentanque Courts at a.....wait for it.....wait for it....MARINA!?!? I know, what does Pentanque have to do with boating or fishing? Well the answer is, those that are pushing this plan know that there are some voting Pentanque folks out there that will support this just to get the courts. Not only do Federal and State politicians try to divide us, here's an example of Local bureaucrats doing the same.
An "Event Lawn? There's already a lawn located there now and it shouldn't take much to beautify that. Heck, I'd bet local garden and service clubs would help out, if asked. But why "Events" anyway? It's a Marina for god's sake! There's a huge Central Park right down Atlantic with plenty of lawn space and....Do we really need a Bandshell at $1.1 Million? If we don't need the bandshell, we really don't need the Restrooms - there's public restrooms right across the RR tracks behind the Visitor Center (train depot). But again, what's the push to have "Events" at the Marina? The downtown area is already packed with people during the "season" it's almost like St. Augustine (yuk). Are the powers that be going to plan "Events" every weekend at the Marina? Imagine the traffic and congestion when, in the past, they have the Chili Cookoff downtown, or the Shrimp Festival. Is that going to be every weekend? Do you really want to deal with that? And if not, how do you justify it just sitting there, empty and unused?
Scroll back up and look at the "Observation Deck". Guestimated to be built for $540,000 of your tax dollars. Is it for you or the tourist and yacht owners? Will you get your money's worth from this Observation deck? We all could just take advantage of WHAT'S ALREADY THERE! The next time you're downtown, take a ride south of Atlantic Seafood, park and walk over to the EXISTING boardwalk. There's some nice benches and gazebo's. They're already there. They're paid for. And they are rarely used.
All of these features are meant to get you to support this train wreck. Music Lover? Here's a Bandshell. Photographer/Nature Lover? Here's an Observation Deck? And the big one: Don't you just love kids? We'll throw in an "Informal Play Area". Have you happened to visit some of our City Parks? Eagans Creek? Great place for kids. The playgrounds behind the Recreation Center? Great place for kids. So why a playground at ....wait for it....wait for it....the MARINA? Because they want the support of those of you that have kids.
Given all of this, and if you are a City resident, here's why you should be pissed, I mean really PISSED about this plan: We're a City of approximately 12,000 people. The Marina is home to the ONLY actual City boat ramp, a City that happens to be on an island and islands are typically surrounded by water and people tend to use boats when surrounded by water. You'll note on the far left (south) of the plan is the boat trailer parking. It looks like there are about 8-9 spaces, again, for a City of 12,000 people. The plan calls for boaters to park their trailers as far away from the boat ramp as possible. Take a look at the plan again. How in the heck are you going to pull your vehicle in at a 90 degree angle? I launch and load my boat over 200 times a year - I'm a pretty good trailer backer, but I wouldn't relish the challenge of parking here. Even if you can get in at 90 degrees, how are you going to get out? For the recreational boater, it's going to be a nightmare.
Why did they draw it this way? The City really doesn't want it's residents to use the Marina ramp! A few years ago I was paying $70.00/year to launch my boat at the Marina and pick up customers for a Charter trip. Then we had a couple of hurricanes, docks were damaged and there was a shortage of dock space. Fishing Guides that trailer were launching their boats and jamming up the dock by the boat ramp, and pulling over to Marina docks that were available to wait on customers. There was some animosity from boaters and Charter Captains who were paying slip rent. So the City raised the fee to launch and pick up customers to $1200/year. Now it's $1500/year. I would wonder where in the heck they came up with that pricing? Who knows. I've got my thoughts on it. But I bet a search of Email records between the City Manager and previous Marina Manager might tell the story. At any rate, what they were really saying was, "we don't want you". So most of us left and use other County and State ramps now. But what are they saying to you, the general public, the Fernandina Beach residents that have boats? They give you 8-9 unusable parking spaces a good hike from the ramp. What they're saying is, "we don't want you". You better believe that the parking situation will curtail use of the ramp, so you heard it here first: The existing boat ramp is going to need repairs sooner or later. They're already limiting usage to smaller boats due to its condition. There will be a survey sent out: Do We Want to Spend Money On a Boat Ramp That is Not Used?
What's happened is the City invited some group to come in and survey residents about what they wanted at the Marina. They tried to touch all the bases to make everyone happy. And now that that train is on the track, they're pushing it as hard as they can. But what they forgot is that it is a MARINA. What you have as drawn is Disney World. The City will be asking us to stomach a tax increase to pay for such a travesty. Yes, it will be pretty. Yes, listening to a good band while your kids run around within eye sight will be such a pleasant outing.
But here's what they're not telling you:
As mentioned above, boat trailer parking for the everyday boater will be severely limited. Are "Events" going to be every weekend (yuk)? Where are THOSE folks going to park? IF you launch and park, are you going to want to navigate the Event folks? Notice how the Pentanque Courts are adjacent to the trailer parking? Who's going to enforce the "no parking but trailers" if the Pentanque folks park there? They don't enforce it now. They won't do it once this park is built.
Did you know there are over 50 Charter Fishing Captains working in this area? The next time you're down a the Marina, take a count of how many are docked. Why aren't there more? Why aren't there more of us that trailer our boats launching? The City has made it more and more difficult to justify using the Marina. We have been in effect, "run off". You could probably ask the same of the Shrimpers of years ago. Why did they leave? Gas prices? Ice prices? Insurance and labor costs? I wonder if docking issues played a part in it? I betcha.
So the Marina will become Disney World on the water, a pretty place to visit once in a while and take your family, and a Marina for yacht owners and boat owners who have the money to afford docking there. A high priced RV park on the water. The Shrimpers are gone and the Charter Captains are right behind them. And we Fernandina tax payers will be asked to foot the bill.
What Could Have Been:
I'd bet many of you don't remember being able to walk down to the City docks, walk up to a shrimp boat and purchase fresh shrimp right off the boat. Some of them had fish, too! Fernandina Beach has always billed itself as the "Birthplace of the Modern Shrimping Industry". But now we treat that industry as something that is gone and should be forgotten. But the shrimp are out there! There are a handful of "river shrimpers" operating in our rivers as you read this. Big commercial shrimpers are coming in and docking north and south of the Marina. Shrimpers are using Mayport to unload their catch. What if some of those shrimpers were to bring there fresh catch in to the Marina for the public to buy? What if there was a viewing area where school children, families and visitors could watch that catch being offloaded? What if the City had pushed their train down that track as a plan?
As mentioned, there are over 50 Charter boat Captains operating in the area. In addition to the handful that you see at the Marina, some of us have spread out to the Amelia Island Marina, to Tiger Pointe Marina and the rest of us trailer our boats to various boat ramps. More of us could be at the City Marina if the pricing and rules weren't so restrictive. If they would accommodate us rather than run us off. When I used to use the Marina I remember cleaning some fish one day and looking up and a crowd of about 12 people had gathered to watch. I did the same thing when I visited Maine and got to watch the lobster boats come in. It 's part of the culture that you want to see when you visit an new area. It's real, not fake, like Disney World. What if the City and Marina encouraged Charter Boat Captains to rent slips with more attractive pricing? What if they had a more reasonable fee for launching a boat to pick up a customer? What if they had more dock space for those Charter boats with a viewing area for those that won't to see the catch cleaned. You know, a REAL experience. Not Disney World. What if the City had pushed their train down that track as a plan?
The City Manager likes to point out that his "Studies" and "Surveys" show that space at a waterfront Marina is too valuable to have parking there. I'd beg to differ with he and his professionals. To valuable to who? So what if most of the property is parking! The downtown area needs the parking. Embrace the parking! Adding more "Events" and taking out parking is only going to make it worse. IF the City had set their train on the track to revitalize the Marina with some landscaping and then re-do the traffic flow and parking for boat trailers, and then embrace City residents who like the convenience of a centrally located boat ramp, then we wouldn't be looking at multi-million dollar price tag when this train reaches the station. A price tag that that they are now trying to sell to all of us.
And now, someone please tell us just how much money these new assets are going to cost us to maintain each year?
Contact your City officials and tell them to STOP the train!
