by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
After failing to get approval from the City Council Finance Committee a couple of weeks ago, Council member Bill Bishop’s hydrology study bill was unanimously approved by the Jacksonville Waterways Commission Thursday.
The bill sets aside $100,000 for a study that will look at the long term ramifications of Central Florida draining hundreds of millions of gallons of water from the St. Johns River.
March 17, the Finance Committee voted 3-1 in favor of the bill. However, Committee member Denise Lee’s dissenting vote was enough to keep the bill in Finance. Lee objected primarily to language that would have allowed Jacksonville University “among others” to conduct the study. That stipulation, said Lee at the time, seemed to circumvent the City’s procurement process — something she pointed out the City has been criticized for during the past year.
The current legislation does not stipulate who would perform the study.
Thursday, Bishop called the St. Johns River Water Management District “schizophrenic” in its analysis of how the water withdrawals will affect various areas in the lower basin of the St. Johns River. District studies have indicated the impact on Northeast Florida would be minimal. Local scientists and river advocates disagree.
“We need to do our own science,” said Bishop. “It’s highly complicated, but it needs to be done.”
Wednesday, Bishop asked Council President Daniel Davis to “discharge the legislation” from the Finance Committee and consider only the unanimous approval votes of the Recreation & Community Development and Transportation, Energy & Utilities committees in bringing the bill before full Council Tuesday night.
Bishop, who chairs the Waterways Commission, said he isn’t sure if $100,000 is enough to foot the entire study.
“We believe this amount of money is sufficient to get us underway,” he said, adding there is the possibility Clay and St. Johns counties could be incorporated into the study and either help defray some of the tab or supplement any cost overruns.
“A regional council would make a lot of sense,” said Dr. Quinton White of JU.
Although the study will have to go through the City’s request for proposal process and the Professional Services Evaluation Committee, it’s likely the marine biology departments at JU and the University of North Florida will be involved in some capacity. White said the current withdrawal models were created by District consultants and he questions their accuracy.
“The models are only as good as the assumptions,” said White. “What I am not sure about is who critiqued those assumptions. We (JU and UNF) have a very, very good database. If we apply that database to a model, we can make predictions and deal with the District on a more level playing field.”
Southbank marina
The Commission also approved the 128-slip marina on the Southbank proposed by South Shore Marina Group. The Development of Regional Impact (DRI) project between Southshore and the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission involves development rights as opposed to cash or tax incentives.
Under the agreement, which still requires Council approval, Southshore will get the rights to develop the marina in exchange for assuring public access to the marina and the river. The slips will be adjacent to the Aetna Building.
Eric Lindstrom, a project manager for the JEDC, said the developer has agreed to allow water taxi service to the marina.
“In exchange, the City has agreed to maintain certain elements of the Riverwalk above grade,” said Lindstrom.
Commission member John Lowe said he has followed the project since it was introduced last summer, and it has received approval from the proper entities in Tallahassee.
“It’s a good project,” said Lowe.
Commission member Jim Bailey is also on the Downtown Development Review Board, which recently heard the project.
“This was a classic, text book case in how to make this work,” said Bailey, who was in his last meeting as a Waterways commissioner.
Lindstrom said Southshore has until 2010 to start the project, but both parties are set to sign an amendment that would give them until 2015.
JEDC’s 19-point plan
The Commission also heard from JEDC Executive Director Ron Barton, who gave his 19-point presentation on how the JEDC plans to partner with the private sector to improve Downtown for both the daily worker and resident as well as the regional visitor and tourists.
That plan covers everything from simply making Downtown safer and cleaner to major capital projects like renovating the Southbank Riverwalk, finishing the Northbank Riverwalk and overhauling the Metropolitan Park/Kids Kampus area.
Barton said the Downtown Master Plan, which was adopted in 2001, is good in theory. However, it was never truly enacted because no mechanism was ever devised. His plan involves 19 steps/projects — all of which rely on each other to an extent. According to Barton, the overall cost to implement the entire plan is about $450 million.
“Frankly, that’s the first number that’s been put on it in 20 years,” said Barton, who did not mince words about Downtown and its current state. “This is the Downtown capital improvement plan and has to be done without blinders. It’s the path to recovery as far as I’m concerned.”
Barton stressed the implementation of the plan cannot fall solely on the shoulders of the JEDC or its partners such as Downtown Vision Inc., Visit Jacksonville and the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce. He said a public/private partnership is imperative to improving what he calls the horizontal aspect of Downtown. Once that’s done, he’s convinced the vertical and residential market will rebound.