Wes Wolfe
Nassau County got what it wanted in its No. 1 priority for state assistance in this Session, the matching million dollars to acquire land next to the Amelia River to enhance Piney Island’s resilience in the face of rising seas and stronger storms.
The House placed $1 million for it in that chamber’s budget bill, but the Senate didn’t do so in its bill or in its first offer. That changed Tuesday when Senators came back with a proposal agreeing to the $1 million outlay.
The area received attention for a number of reasons, including “view-shed protection, protection of cultural and archaeological resources, flood mitigation, preservation of greatest risk habitats, protection of wildlife corridors, passive ecological and cultural park use, creating a more resilient, sustainable, and storm resistant Florida, reducing vulnerabilities to sea level rise and climate change and, by extension, limiting further strain on insurance providers.”
Purchase of the land is meant to eliminate its risk to future development.
Sen. Clay Yarborough and Rep. Dean Black, both Jacksonville Republicans, filed requests for $1 million in state funds. The money will go to the Board of County Commissioners, which — in partnership with the North Florida Land Trust — will combine state and county money with private donations to obtain the property.
County officials retained the Land Trust to assist in identifying and acquiring conservation resources and in developing the county’s conservation plan.
The land comprises 39 acres next to the Amelia River and State Road 200 near the Shave Bridge. Nassau County residents voted to issue $30 million in bonds to facilitate conservation and land acquisition.
Members of the county’s Conservation, Land Acquisition and Management Committee ranked the Piney Island project first out of more than 750 nominated parcels.
“The Piney Island project is the No. 1 acquisition project for the county, both at the committee level and for the Board of County Commissioners,” County Manager Taco Pope said in January.
“This presents an opportunity to leverage local dollars, working with the property owner who is a willing seller and who is willing to work with us on the acquisition with private, nonprofit funding, and then the state dollars. What we’d like to be able to do, just like we talked about in the creation of the (Conservation, Land Acquisition and Management Committee), every dollar we spend locally, we want to be able to leverage that.”
Budget conference subcommittees will meet throughout the week to resolve differences in each area. When remaining issues reach an impasse, they will be “bumped” to the full budget conference committee.
Lawmakers must reach an agreement on a final spending plan by May 2 to meet the 72-hour “cooling off” period required by the state constitution before they can vote on the budget to avoid pushing the Regular Session past its scheduled May 5 end date.
