by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
If you’re a boater who likes to navigate the St. Johns River near Downtown, you’re a step closer to having another location to tie up along the Northbank Riverwalk.
The Downtown Development Review Board of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission granted conceptual approval for a floating dock to be constructed neat the Fuller Warren Bridge. The project is consistent with the City’s Downtown Action Plan, said JEDC Executive Director Ron Barton.
“We want to enhance marine linkages and better engage the boating community with Downtown. Having this dock will attract that community,” he said.
Barton told board members that the Riverside Arts Market near the dock’s location is “wildly successful” and attracts up to 20,000 people each Saturday.
Landscape architect Kevin White made the formal presentation on behalf of HDR Engineering. He said the dock will be 200 feet long with a gangway consistent with other floating docks in use Downtown.
When asked if the dock would be used only on Saturdays when the market is operating, he replied that the area under the ramp to the bridge, which is close to the Riverside, Avondale and Ortega neighborhoods, is “used as a park area.”
It was also noted use of the dock by boaters will conform with existing regulations governing other Downtown docks, including no use at night between sundown and sunup and no water supply or electricity will be available.
In addition to its proximity to the market, the location also was chosen because it is adjacent to Lender Processing Services on the Fidelity Campus. Private security is on the property around the clock and Barton said the service would be able to “keep an eye on the dock and let us know” if police or marine patrol officers needed to respond to any situations.
Part of the approved concept is enhanced signage warning boaters of danger to manatees. That also will educate children who attend the market about the marine mammals.
White said that there will be 11 to 13 feet of water depth on the outside docking area and seven to eight feet on the inside. The dock is designed for up to 10 20-foot vessels to tie up simultaneously. Because of its length, it does not require a submerged lands lease from the state.
The dock has already been approved by the Jacksonville Waterways Commission and City Council passed an ordinance Tuesday to fund the $396,000 project with an appropriation from the Northbank Tax Increment District Fund.
DDRB also granted an extension of final approval to February 2011 for the Southshore Marina and Riverwalk project for a public marina on the Southbank at the Aetna Building.
The board gave the project the green light in February 2008, said attorney John Campbell with Pappas Metcalf Jenks & Miller. The project has not begun because of market and economic conditions.
He was asked when he thinks the project might be started. “We’re dealing with economic reality and it’s a financing issue. I don’t have an answer to that question,” he said.
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