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• 04 Aug 08 Beach Access

Commissioners,

Unfortunately I will be out of the country this week and be unable to appear in person before you on this item.  I request that you deny this request on First Reading for the following reasons:

·       The motives of this group are no secret - to stop vehicular traffic and other usage of the beach in front of their units.  It was this group that enlisted the help of Nassau County Commissioner Mike Boyle last year that led to the initial proposal to close Peter’s Point and other oceanfront county parks from sundown to sunup.  After a thunderous outcry of oppositions from citizens all over Nassau County, Commissioner Boyle withdrew the proposal admitting that it “was a bad mistake”. 

·       The group will try to paint a picture of frequent incidents of loud behavior & reckless driving on the beach, trash left on the beach, vandalism at the park, etc.  While there is no question that this happens from time to time, Nassau County Sheriff Tommy Seagraves testified last year on this matter before the Nassau County Commission, that complaints and police citations are no more frequent at Peter’s Point or any other oceanfront park than any other area of the county.  He repeatedly said that this was “an enforcement issue”.

·       In response to the complaints from the owners (please note the deliberate use of the word ‘owners’ and not ‘residents’), Sheriff Seagraves significantly increased the amount of beach patrols, particularly at Peter’s Point.  At one point for about 6 months after the initial brouhaha, Nassau County had a marked “Beach Patrol” vehicle at Peters Point almost the entire time from morning through midnight.  It now appears that the dedicated Beach Patrol vehicle plan has been abandoned (probably due to the high cost); but the park is still patrolled diligently by unmarked and marked Nassau County police officers.  While Nassau County will still have jurisdiction of the beach access roadway and Peter’s Point, if annexed, it will be the responsibility of the Fernandina Beach police department to respond to complaints about action in front of the Sandpiper units and north to the present City limits line.  I don’t know how many 4-wheel drive police vehicles the City currently has, but it will need one to be available every shift, every day of the week to be able to patrol this area.  I just have to wonder whether the $150,000 - $165,000 cited as additional revenue to the City will be outspent in servicing this group of “high maintenance” property owners.

·       I have only lived in our wonderful City for 8 years, but I have no recollection of ever having seen an involuntary annexation before the City Commission.  From the comments made by Mr. Drew Scott when this item was originally scheduled, he is opposed to this annexation.  It would appear that since some of the owners couldn’t get the “contiguous” requirement worked out on an individual property owner basis, they resorted to this method of annexation in an effort to get their way.  On one hand these owners scream for their private property rights, yet they have no concern at all in treading over the rights of those property owners that have already said no.

·       While there is the argument for some protection of their property rights, these owners should be reminded that ALL owners in Nassau County have been paying over the years for the various beach renourishment projects that have provided great economic benefit to these property owners.  Additionally, the beach driving and use of the beach at night has been going on for many decades and existed when all these owners purchased their property.  Any lack of diligence on their part is their responsibility, not the City’s.

I do have some level of sympathy for these property owners in that they are entitled to the quiet enjoyment of their property; but I believe they already enjoy that environment despite the stories you will probably hear.  When I am in town, I usually do a nightly beach walk parking at Peters Point and either walking north to Seaside or south down to American Beach so I am in this area quite frequently and in a position to state that the acts that they will try to convince you are everyday (or night) are in fact, quite infrequent – especially now that Nassau County has stepped up their presence at Peters Point. I would have no problem with Nassau County restricting night driving / parking on the beach, but that is something these owners need to deal with the County on, not put the burden on the City.

A personal example might give you some insight into the mindset of some of these owners.  Last summer, I was returning to my car about 10pm on a Friday night where it was parked under the parking lot lights at the north end of the Peter’s Point parking lot.  As I was coming off the walkway I noticed a lady standing behind my car with a notepad in her hand.  Fearing that someone might have hit my car while I was walking, I quickened my pace and as I got up to my car I said “Excuse me, can I help you?”  She immediately glared at me and asked me in a most confrontational tone “What are you doing here?”  I said “ Excuse me, I was just out for my nightly walk on the beach, is there a problem?”  She said “You’re not supposed to be here.”  A bit bewildered, I told her I didn’t understand what she was talking about and she repeated more emphatically “You’re not supposed to be here.”  I then asked her why I wasn’t supposed to be there and she told me that the park closed at sundown.  I told her that she was mistaken that the park was open 24 hours a day and her response was “That’s not what the real estate agent told us when we purchased our unit!”  So it is clear, that at least some are being sold on the location by providing a false sense of exclusivity.  Others have noted the small percentage of owners of the Sandpiper properties that are actually residents.  I suspect that many of them rent out their

I am sure that the advocate’s attorney, Mr. Jacobs, will paint a picture of minimal impact that the annexation would have and possibly promise the City that it could be in a win-win situation of getting the additional property tax revenue but still have the ability to control the activities that can take place on the beach within the City limits.  But I’m sure the reason these well-moneyed folks hired Mr. Jacobs was that they knew that he was the one that worked his influence on the State legislature on behalf of Amelia Island Plantation, the Ritz-Carlton & others, to get the state law changed that severely restricted driving on the beach south of Peters Point.  I would hope & trust that our City Attorney would clearly understand the limitations on the City under the existing state statutes and be in a position to advise you. 

Thank you for your time in listening my position.  I again hope that you will kill this resolution from any further movement forward at Tuesday night’s meeting.

Dave Lott

993 Ocean Overlook Drive

Fernandina Beach FL  32034

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• 07 Mar 08 

The power of one By MarkKaufman - for the My Nassau Sun   There seems to be no shortage of contentious issues floating around Nassau County these days: those opposed to (and in favor of) a tree ordinance for Nassau County; those in favor of (and opposed to) keeping fresh water an integral part of the Egans Creek Greenway on Amelia Island; proposed development of Crane Island and/or Florida A1A, and so on. It never ceases to amaze me how one person’s voice — and actions — can have such profound influence on the critical decisions to be made. When our county commissioners were to consider a proposed tree ordinance for the entire county, a few outspoken residents from west Nassau came before the commission to argue about their rights as property owners. Their voices — and concerns — were clearly more persuasive than those who had hoped to preserve the county’s natural beauty and resources. In Fernandina Beach, a single resident has effectively prevented any actions to stem the flow of saltwater into Egans Creek south of Jasmine Street by filing a petition with the St. Johns River Water Management District, leaving the City Commission somewhat helpless to answer to the hundreds of residents advocating for fresh water. And here in our own subdivision, a group of neighbors banded together to form a subassociation that would ensure proper upkeep of conjoined townhomes and exterior landscaping, realizing that the purchasing power of a group would be more beneficial than each homeowner could afford separately. But one property owner took exception to the plan, and filed a lawsuit to prevent its implementation. Three years have now passed, with no resolution in sight. In all of the above cases, only one thing seems to be missing — the ability to have an intelligent, meaningful, noncombative dialogue about the issues. In a world of sound bites, talk show hosts who don’t know what it means to listen, and polarized politics with debates that really aren’t in the true sense of the word, having true dialogue isn’t as easy as it might seem. Often times, it will require an impartial facilitator to set and enforce some simple ground rules: only one person should talk at a time without risk of interruption; if the listener has an issue with what has been said, he or she should respond with a question, rather than a rebuttal, to seek elaboration and clarification. This process should continue until there is some consensual agreement about what the issues really are, and whether there is any middle ground that might satisfy both parties. Next time you’re tempted to argue with someone or challenge their beliefs, I encourage you to give the dialogue technique a try. Ask some questions, make some attempt (even half-hearted) to understand the other’s position and motivation, and above all, be civil. It likely won’t be easy, but you might be pleasantly surprised by the outcome.

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•  07 Feb 08  waste of tax money to study the Greenway situation

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• 06 Jun 07  County traffic mess and Crane Island destruction

 I think we need to pin down some realities such as:

      1         No more roads can be built due to geography, topography, and finances;

2         No roads can be widened without huge property acquisition costs and damage to trees and ambiance;

3         Road densities must be realistic relative to trip times, accident rates, road rage;

4         Parking must not consume undue time to find places;

5         Impact of dwelling construction on traffic must be measured island wide and all of it must take A1A into account, with no artificial 1.5 mile radius nonsense;

6         Hurricane evacuation times must not exceed 72 hours under any circumstances and should not exceed 48 hours;

7         Current hurricane evacuation times posted by the county are false due to developer influence and must be corrected publicly;

8         The intersection of A1A and the Parkway will become one of the most dangerous in NE Florida when the shopping center is built across from the Hess station because the traffic patterns will be conflicting and confusing;

9         The streets cannot be forced to take more traffic unless they are made one way end to end or traffic is required to drive close together at speeds less than 15 mph;

10     The addition of traffic stop signs and traffic lights will cause people to race from light to light and sign to sign causing the accident rates to skyrocket;

11     As traffic densities increase and delays grow, road rage will grow exponentially and accidents and incidents will skyrocket;

12     The need for additional emergency vehicles will grow;

13     A1A cannot be widened because too many properties have been constructed too close to the road and acquisition of that land would break the bank;

14     A1A could be widened in some places by using the median strip and jersey barriers, which would be ugly as hell and ruin the appearance of the approaches to east Nassau County;

15     Widened roads will result in additional accidents from vehicles changing lanes suddenly to make right or left turns;

16     Tuscany traffic will cause a very dangerous situation on the west end of the bridge as people seek to go west from Tuscany;

17     A traffic light at Tuscany will cause problems with trucks stopping and starting, with many of them ignoring the traffic signals altogether;

18     Continued construction of townhouses and condos without more roads will cause traffic gridlock such that trips that now take 15 minutes will take 45 minutes or more, causing road rage and accidents;

19     The response times by emergency vehicles will become so long that loss of life and property damage will cause insurance problems, lawsuits, and voter rage;

20     Widening Buccaneer trail to connect Plantation South with Plantation North will cause destruction of a treasured canopy road just north of Fletcher/Gerbing roads;

21     Roundabouts for four lane roads will cause a huge increase in traffic accidents as people turn from the wrong lanes;

22     The construction of a marina on Crane Island  at the end of a runway will create a potential fire hazard of monumental proportions since an aircraft crash into the marina would cause a fire that would take every fire truck for 50 miles around to put out, especially with townhouses built within just a few feet of the edge of the marina;

23     Crane Island holds the seeds of some very imaginative lawsuits against the city;

24     Crane Island impact on insurance rates could be catastrophic for the island;

25     The Plantation Corporation will certainly create the circumstances whereby the airport becomes thousands of dwelling units, including hotels, clubs, condos, and townhouses, and add perhaps hundreds of cars to the roads, causing the Plantation to demand the widening of the Parkway and Buccaneer Trail, with fatal results for the ambiance of both;

26     Impact fees charged to developers are a fraud because they are insufficient to contribute anything to road construction and thus allow the commissioners to go ape with the money for frivolous projects;

27     Nassau and Florida are broke, as is the Federal Government, so pipe dreams that the public will fund the ancillaries for developers must disappear;

28     When the roads fill up to sensible standards of density, all dwelling construction must stop, period, no matter the threat of lawsuits;

29     When the traffic limit is reached, the developers must get the word that no more dwelling construction will be permitted, period;

30     No more roads mean no more dwelling construction when the roads fill up;

31     Definitions of traffic densities must be publicly controlled and publicized so that the BOCCs cannot circumvent them with constantly changing definitions to suit developer demands.

 I suspect east Nassau has about 10 years before it is sent to hell by the developers and the corrupt commissioners and their corrupt staffs.

So far it seems to me the people of Nassau don’t give a rat’s a-- about what is happening to their quality of life. So, they are going to

get it right in the a--.

Don Jones,  Fernandina Beach  

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• 12 May 07  Keep the Greenway green

Casting aside all the personal aspersions and innuendo that only served to take focus away from the real issues confronting the Egans Creek Greenway, I wanted to respond to Joe Palmer's piece that appeared in the May 4th News-Leader and correct some of the misinformation it contained.

Before the salt marsh restoration project between Atlantic and Jasmine, saltwater intrusion south of Atlantic was prevented by the use of back-flow prevention devices on the pipes under Atlantic. These devices allowed the fresh water flowing north through Egans Creek to empty out during outgoing tides, while blocking salt water from flowing under Atlantic Avenue during incoming tides. These devices performed quite well as evidenced by the forested wetland containing coastal hardwoods and oaks that flourished between Sadler and Atlantic for many, many years.  Despite frequent questioning during the salt marsh planning process, the Florida Department of Transportation insisted that such devices were not necessary to be installed on the pipes under Jasmine. We all know now that the FDOT was wrong and. to their credit, they have agreed to right their wrong the best they can.

Saltwater is not "seeping" into the area south of Jasmine as Mr. Palmer leads you to believe.  Go stand on either side of Jasmine by the north Greenway walkway entrance and you will see twin 3-foot diameter concrete pipes with thousands of gallons of salt water flowing unimpeded under Jasmine on every tidal cycle twice a day.

As far as the allegations of Concerned Friends of Fernandina and the Nassau County chapter of the Sierra Club "browbeating a timid FDOT,, speaking for Concerned Friends, I could only wish that we had that power and level of control. I can assure you that if we did, the original salt marsh restoration project would never have been expanded outside the 25 acres that was originally proposed.  Talk to Mr. Spence and see if he shares Mr. Palmer's characterization of a timid FDOT as they have threatened to take his property through eminent domain if he didn't sign their agreement about fixing the erosion in his back yard.

There is no question that the Egans system has been significantly altered by man through the ongoing development of Amelia Island and within the City of Fernandina Beach. However, when the citizens of Fernandina Beach approved a $6 million bond referendum in 2001 (the majority of the funds designated for the purchase of lands for conservation that make up the Greenway), the community spoke with its wallet about the value and the need for the permanent protection of this land.

All the professionals retained by the FDOT, as well as Dr. Munsell McPhillips and Mr. Robert Prager, have said that the damaged area could be returned to its previous freshwater forested wetlands or it could be converted to a salt marsh. Each has its advantages and disadvantages.  Concerned Friends of Fernandina believes that the freshwater-based, forested wetland has more value to the community for a number of reasons, but primarily due to its scarcity on our island and within our city. Amelia Island has thousands of acres of salt marsh wetlands, but its forested wetlands is dwindling by bits and pieces every week and the 50-80 acres already affected is a huge loss that will take years to recover. We all know that value of trees with regard to air quality and erosion prevention and wildlife habitat, but did you know that the water absorbed and held in trees in a wetland area helps control flooding and elevated ground water levels much more than marsh grasses?