Letter to the Editor: City is at a crossroads for decision-making

  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
  • Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan
    Letter to the Editor: Bob Allison Land Use Plan

    I am writing here to encourage you to consider an important first step before agreeing to any new changes to the City's downtown waterfront.  First, I should share some personal history.  In the late 60s and at age fifteen I was the youngest fishing boat captain operating offshore boats out of both Jacksonville and Fernandina Beach.  Routinely, I took on fuel at what was then the City's wooden dock attached to the Welcome Station.  In the years since, my wife and I have logged over 60,000 miles operating boats on the U.S. East coast between Maine and the many islands in the Caribbean.  We have visited the marinas and waterfront developments of every major U.S. city on multiple occasions.  With my own eyes I have seen what works and what doesn't work.

    In the early 80s I brought before the City Commission my idea for a large new City marina and plans to replace the old Florida Marine Welcome Station with a new waterfront restaurant to be owned by the City.  After attending and speaking at over one hundred City Commission meetings, I gained the support of the former City Commissioners  Ben Sorenson, Charles Albert, and Red Bean. They agreed to grant me an option to lease the downtown waterfront if I could accomplish a set of tasks that most all thought were impossible. These tasks included obtaining permits to build the large marina shown in my plans and then finding millions of dollars in private investment and government grants to build it at no cost to Fernandina Beach tax payers.  

    With the help of our then local Congressman Charlie Bennett and our Federal Senator Lawton Chiles, and operating as a company I created called the Centre Street Waterfront Group, I obtained permits from more than a dozen regulatory agencies and raised over $5 million in private investment and nearly a million dollars in state and federal grants. Using private investor funds, I built Fernandina Harbor Marina in 1984.  The construction of Brett's restaurant was paid for by a $675,000 Community Development Block Grant from the Federal government while a $100,000 grant from the State of Florida paid for important improvements to Front Street.  

    The positive economic impact to downtown from these improvements was immediate with what can only be described as a modern downtown renaissance.  Building storefronts which had been boarded closed for years came to life with new businesses.  The increase in downtown employment and commerce was immediate and dramatic.  I am proud of these accomplishments for the City.  In the 40 years that has followed, not one single improvement has been made to the City's waterfront that can compare with what I accomplished for the City in the four years between 1981 and 1985.  Importantly, all of the improvements including the marina and restaurant were paid for with other people's money and yet the City owns it all. 

    Now, with the lease that Wesley Poole and I hammered out forty years ago coming to an end, the City is at a crossroads for decision making.  We can expect many will come forward with plans and ideas for profit. Will any of them put the interests of the City and its citizens ahead of their own selfish interests for business profits?  I think not. Sadly, the City has a track record of succumbing to those individuals and groups who scream the loudest and longest. A repeat of this will consign the City's waterfront to be used by those most capable of influencing City political decisions. Unfortunately, cronyism may ultimately decide the future of the City's most valuable property.

    More than ever it is critical that the City agree on a master plan before any new changes are made to the waterfront.  With a plan in place, the interests of the various and competing private parties can be coordinated for a proper fit and balance. If the plan includes one or more waterfront restaurants, the City can solicit for competitive proposals from interested parties to secure the best outcome for the City and its taxpayers.  This method of competitive bidding can be applied to the selection of all parties interested in doing business on the City owned waterfront property whether their intent is to sell fish or to provide lodging.  Moving forward in the absence of a well thought out land use plan will lead to a hodge-podge of conflicting land uses that will forever forfeit the City's opportunity to have the most dynamic and exciting waterfront in the nation. We don't have to let this happen.

    Visit www.FBNewsLeader.com/BobAllisonLandUsePlan to view a land use plan I provided to the City some years ago.  It is now slightly dated but the visionary ideas presented in the plan remain valid and could be critically important as the City plans its next steps.

     

    Bob Allison

    Fernandina Beach