Budget conference: $1M slotted for Fernandina Beach ‘beautification and preservation’

Image via Amelia Coastal Realty.

Help is on the way for Fernandina Beach from the state of Florida after budget conferencing.

The House Infrastructure & Tourism Appropriations Subcommittee and the Senate Transportation, Tourism, and Economic Development Appropriations Committee agreed to slot $1 million for Fernandina Beach 200th Anniversary Beautification and Preservation Improvements.

Next year is the anniversary year, so the funding is timely.

The funding request was carried by Sen. Clay Yarborough on the Senate side and Rep. Dean Black in the House, both Republicans, with the House offer matching the Senate appropriation.

“Two-hundred years old, Fernandina Beach’s downtown Historic District currently has an aging street-scape with multiple renovations over the last 20 years that has created combinations of sidewalk patterns and materials, deteriorating landscaping, aging lighting, and insufficient ADA components. The downtown revitalization project will re-fresh the downtown street-scape, improve walkability through the downtown corridor and create a fresh, clean, compliant corridor for residents and tourists,” reads the House funding request.

The money represents the culmination of five years of planning in the Nassau County community, with the project eventually being declared a “critically-needed legislative priority” by the City Commission.

Jacksonville’s Miller Electric has already completed a Downtown Lighting Design Study, which seems likely to guide the work to be done. Citizens groups will also have a say as the project goes forward.

The project, which is expected to benefit access to Fernandina Beach’s historic downtown, is expected to be a boon to tourism on Amelia Island. That is said to have a roughly $1 billion annual economic impact, and estimates are that one in every four Nassau County residents are employed in tourism-related industries.