City looking to preserve waterfront access through legislation

News

by Max Marbut

Staff Writer

Legislation will be introduced to City Council later this year to establish regulatory criteria to recognize, promote and protect the public’s access to all navigable waters in the city. The proposed measure will also become part of the City’s Comprehensive Plan with the intent to ensure the economic viability of recreational and commercial “working waterfronts.” That can include shipyards, marinas, public boat ramps and even kayak launches.

The Jacksonville Waterways Commission Subcommittee on Waterways Access met Thursday at City Hall to approve the final language of the proposed Future Land Use Element (FLUE) policies. The Planning Department has been working on the language of the legislation since 2007. After the final version is approved by the Waterways Commission, it will then be considered by the Planning Commission before it’s presented to Council which will conduct a series of public hearings.

As part of the process, the City will also implement an ongoing inventory of available boat slips and background data concerning marina occupancy rates.

Florida Statutes require waterfront policies to be adopted in areas covered by a Comprehensive Plan. There was a discussion of how that mandate could be applied to Jacksonville, since the City’s Comprehensive Plan does not include other municipalities in Duval County, particularly the beaches, which play an important role in the public’s access to waterways.

Deputy General Counsel Shannon Eller said even though the beaches are excluded from the Comprehensive Plan, the entire county is included when issues like the manatee protection plan are considered. She also said the City’s Capital Improvement Program also includes projects in the county but outside the geographical boundaries of the Comprehensive Plan and added, “Consolidated government can sometimes be confusing. Sometimes the City functions like a city and sometimes the City functions like a county.”

Subcommittee Chair Susan Grandin advocated including data from outside the area covered by the Comprehensive Plan in the waterways access legislation because while political boundaries are arbitrary, the City’s “waterfront issues could involve adjacent communities.”

Eller said the subcommittee can recommend that waterfront inventory in adjacent communities be taken into account when evaluating land use and zoning changes related to preserving recreational and commercial waterfront property.

One of the provisions of the proposed legislation is that if a property owner desires to change the use of a parcel of waterfront property, the property owner will be required to provide notice to the City. The City would then have first right of refusal to purchase the property for the purpose of preserving the waterfront usage and access and six months from the date of the notice to enter into an agreement with the property owner.

The proposed legislation also would compel the City to “continue to recognize the unique character of historic fishing villages” through adopted zoning overlays and to promote the Waterfronts Florida Partnership Program in order to enhance public access to waterfront while protecting environmental and cultural resources.

In addition, if enacted, the legislation would “encourage new and protect existing public access” to the St. Johns River in the Downtown Zoning Overlay district and protect City-owned street ends and right-of-ways along navigable waterways as public access and view points.

Grandin said another requirement of the state statute is that the City acquire more property with public waterfront access and encourage new development through incentives. She then asked the subcommittee to recommend incentives the City could offer with the caveat, “Obviously in this day and age it’s not going to be monetary.”

The final version of the proposed FLUE will be considered by the Waterways Commission at its meeting on Sept. 10. Assuming it’s approved at that time, it will be introduced at the Oct. 13 meeting of the Council.

Public boat launches

• St. Johns Marina

• Bert Maxwell

• Mayport

• Intracoastal Waterway

• Wayne B. Stevens

• T.K. Stokes

• Arlington

• Oak Harbor

• Pottsburg Creek

• County Dock

• Hood Landing