Jacksonville Waterways Commission - Jun 10, 2026

good morning everyone it's 9 31 i'll call to order the jackson waterways commission's meeting for june 10th 2026. let's begin with introductions from my left good morning jerry pinto jacksonville university shannon mcgillis office of general council the super waterways coordinator dean black florida house of representatives district 15. andrew frayden waterways commission mark hardesty waterways commission rick hartley waterways commission mike gay district two nmr city council district one matt carlucci alternate at large group four mike barker waterways commission jay hobson waterways commission mark deborah waterways commission matt jones waterways commission adam hoyles environmental protection board thank you gentlemen and ladies let's rise for a pledge of allegiance pledge allegiance of the united states of america one nation on the god thank you our first action is approval of minutes can i get a motion in a second thank you are there any notation corrections in the minutes that needed to to be done at this time all in favor any opposed minutes approved our next item action is st john's river status report on water quality and manatees uh being delivered by dr pinto dr pinto thank you um so as most of you know our rainfall has increased again so our salinities are starting to drop although they're still high if you look at the box in the middle there uh buck for the buckman bridge which should be close to one or lower you can see the salinity is still fairly high there um our water temperature is running around 80 82 degrees so everything has warmed up quite a lot and incidentally with the increased rainfall now and this high temperature we might start to see more algae blooms um and if i jump across to page three where we talk about algae blooms we have a lot of mixed algae in the area it's sort of normal but there are no toxins really to report so things are looking good in terms of uh no harmful algae blooms yet um we're still at a deficit for rainfall of about five inches although we've had close to five to six inches uh in may um somewhat of an issue on man on the manatee mortality side of things you can see that we've had a little bit of a jump up in manatee mortalities we have five for uh additional mortality since the last meeting uh in may three of those are watercraft mortalities that occurred out towards mayport uh huguenot park and sisters creek again what was suspected is that that they were a mating group that that got hit by some large vessel and and and uh rolled rather than cut by props um so that's preliminary data right now so we're still trying to find out more about those uh in addition we've had a couple of uh another death at uh the lock in uh queen's harbor and so that comes to three so far this year which is sort of unusual we haven't had that happen in a while so they so since march you know it's been one a month march april and may these these three deaths have occurred there so that is a situation that's worth uh watching and and and looking at i think uh the the management company over there is in discussion with uh the state and the federal agencies about that lock and what can be done to improve conditions there uh you'll notice that there's a map there showing you the latest aerial sightings in the area well there's a couple of maps the first one is the official map for the site the aerial sightings that i fly we have about 71 manatees in the area um and then the last page shows you the public sightings map so this is a new app that we have uh implemented there's the qr code for accessing the form and you can see that people in the community have been reporting sightings uh and so that's that's great that that allows people to be more aware about manatees which is something we want to achieve with the manatee protection plan um and they can also feel involved in in this process uh with that i'll be happy to take any questions thank you thank you dr pinto i'd like to recognize commissioner jones good morning everybody uh through the chair i'm curious is with the frequency of the lock issues is there anything we as a commission can do because it clearly sounds like there's something going on there i know you mentioned that they're talking with the state and fed federal agencies have they narrowed it down to a sensor issue or do we have an answer for that yet thank you so at this point um i haven't been involved as much as i'd like to be partly because i think they're dealing with the state and the fed agencies our plan is is a state and federally approved so they have been liaising with me about what's going on there i'm not sure that it's a sensor issue it could simply be that sometimes manatees when they're on the bottom are difficult to see in the past the the lock uh tenders over there have let the animals in and out uh you know and kept an eye on that pretty well and had very good success with that um but if they're right on the bottom sometimes you can't see them they could be behind a door when it opens or when it closes and get crushed that way and then of course once the doors are are are moving and the water is rushing through them sometimes there's there's a period of time there where you can't stop the door and if something gets in in you know obstructs the door when that happens it's it's difficult to do anything about but definitely three in in in you know a month in the last uh few months has been a problem uh so they're looking at it it may be a sensor issue it it may be that they need to employ something like a hydrophone or something to to listen for uh uh you know vocalizations that these animals make sometimes so that they can then be aware that oh we can't see it but it's there we need to just wait thank you i appreciate it just wanted to make sure that we're we if there was anything that we could do on our end to help assist preventing that in it at any time thank you thank you uh any any other oh go ahead you're not on the queue that's why oh it's not working doctor hey two two things one you used to term rolled when you talked about the manatee and i'm not familiar with that rather than cut did i miss hear that and then the second thing is would be around that lock rather than listening excuse me is there a sound that could be broadcast under the water maybe that would kind of spook excuse me again that would spook the manatees away from the lock something like that uh great and interesting points we've we've looked at putting sound into the environment which apparently is against the law uh for civilians anyway so that that's not allowed by federal uh restrictions unfortunately but the idea of having sort of like a deer whistle type thing that would light up an area uh to to to let manatees know that there's a there's watercraft in the area or there's something moving um has been has been looked at in the past uh without great success i would i might add because in shallow water environments because of the way sound bounces off of these various things and you get a lot of interference and it's not the same as being out in deep water in the ocean uh and and you know for example the right whale uh issue there it's it's a little bit different um i forget what your first question was a rolled uh or cut so some manatees we've noticed get prop cuts and die from those prop cuts and you can tell from the size of the prop okay it was a commercial vessel or it was a recreational vessel or likely to be you know this size vessel um but sometimes there's blunt force trauma that's caused and so uh it you can get a manatee can get hit by a boat uh and not exhibit any of those signs of of cutting from the prop or the skeg on the on the motor or the engine unit but the bones are broken and invariably they have punctured various organs and killed the animal that way and so typically like a tug or a barge that might run over something and not cut it up that that's the type of uh thing i'm talking about being rolled uh and and and with bones being broken and that kind of thing thank you commissioner barker uh commission uh hoyles mr hoyles yeah uh through the chair thank you um it seems like the garmin now makes forward-facing sonar that's steerable um for fishermen and you could drop one of those into the lock and literally look around and something the size of a manatee would show up brightly on a sonar like that um that's not expensive or exotic technology nowadays it seems like that would be an easy solution you could just see if there's a manatee in the way and and i would agree and and hopefully that's being proposed by the state and the feds that they do some things you know quickly because it's quite simple and cheap to do that um i mean that sounds like a great research project actually for for some of my students to get out there and do it yeah i mean it's it's amazing you can literally see fish you know and and cast to them and you if you've ever if anybody's ever watched a bass fishing tournament you'll see the bass fishermen will do that they'll have a steerable forward-looking sonar and they just look for the bass and cast right to them a manatee would be easy anyway i hope they're i hope they're looking at that because that would be a simple commercially available you could you could buy them at west marine and you know bass pro shops i mean you could get them on amazon and you could have it delivered tomorrow it's you know not hard that's an excellent idea thank you um just to follow up on that uh dr pinto who would incur the cost of that queens harbor or the cost of employing that that equipment would be incurred by the management company at queens harbor which invariably would be passed on through association fees or whatever through to their to their constituents just want to get that on the record so when you're pitching ideas you know who's going to pay for it uh moving on thank you uh commissioner hobson dr pinto i was just curious when we have the manatee death who collects the manatees i'm assuming it's not you guys is it fwc is it the zoo who's collecting the manatees and then studying to see what maybe the cause thank you so the the um the fwc has a marine mammal recovery team that deals with all the recoveries assists releases that kind of thing uh and and the zoo takes part in some of those releases and rehab of animals that they collect but most of the time when they're dealing with these carcasses they will go out and do the necropsies either in the field or take them back to the pathobiology lab in st petersburg and and so the fwc handles all that thank you gentlemen um moving on the agenda uh public comment mrs hobson do we have any cards uh mr carnell oliver i can hear you sir mr oliver name and address you know the routine our waterways is an economic engine for the city as a whole but for black americans who live on the east side dealing with our jacksonville ports authority there's a lot of economic engine that could focus on creating a community trust fund if we can deconsolidate this city back to its original city limits because the opportunity zone 2.0 there's a lot of investment that is coming down the pipeline of 2027 and where there's a lot of land that caters to our interstate compact and our commerce i want to maximize every opportunity there's undeveloped land jack jacksonville port authority has acquired a lot of land along that waterways is has a lot of rich potential but i want my people black americans who are indigenous to america to get the reaps of the rewards it's just like in what they do in alaska the people of alaska gets royalties from the oil fields and dealing with our ports i believe that we can create an automated port with black developers black engineers contractors we create our own trust we create our own economic empowerment one that is not dependent on government subsidized funding but we get the initial investment the dollars are already there it's just the opportunity has never been recognized or given to black america you cannot say that i don't know what i know being in this building and i see how that money flows and one of the things i want to do is create an economic engine for self-determination and that's one of the key talking points that really resonates with the culture of this city you let me do me and i'll stay out your business and this is the opportunity that i'm trying to create and one of the things i want to know is dealing with our waterways how many state parks are associated with jack's park associated with black americans how many local property are associated with jacksonville because my ultimate goal is we keep the framework of consolidation but we go back to the original city limits and we get a black american freedman zone thank you mr oliver mr john nooney hello i am john j nooney name and address is on file all right uh i'm wearing my fwc hat cia hat culinary institute of america and um fwc it's a playoff the fish and wildlife commission and you know fwc fishing with crady i hope you're going to be talking about the june 22nd it is probably right before the day before the next city council meeting it is going to be one of the biggest events you can imagine you know for uh nassau duval county fwc so fishing with crady fishing with crabs these are some fiddler crabs just got them from the backyard just now fishing with credit fwc fishing with cash fwc fishing with the commissioners fishing with council fishing with chris fishing with carlucci fishing with congress you know uh what i'm just out of two minutes but right now what i want to share with you at last night jacksonville city council meeting we're making a movie it's real 2026-03-96 saw todd rubin right outside you know what i have my todd rubin shirt underneath this and this is brooks rehabilitation they are going to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of this potential park on potsford creek and i'm just down to a minute 20 but also what this waterways commission needs to understand is that we just created three trust funds 2026 0004 it's a parks trust fund 2025 0463 it's a veterans trust fund 2009 442 is the artificial reef trust fund that goes back a ways and now we're going to have 2026-0396 which is for movies for marketing to the world it's real it's not fake i'm down to 40 some seconds you know i was at st john's the board of county commissioners you know right here june 2nd here is the northeast florida regional council seven counties you know you're going to be talking about fine you know uh captain suber you're in the movie you know you all are this is huge pat calloway is our fine commissioner i was on that trip you know super props daryl joseph jill ends brian burkett you know uh our waterways it is tourism so anyway i'm going up here's the donation 2025 0463 for the veterans thank you mr nooney and here's the other three thank you all right any questions mr nooney have a seat please uh miss latrice bell good morning latrice bell my address is on file um we visit uh the george crater bridge uh salt pit bridge on friday we stop right by uh different businesses to let everyone know that uh the mayor will be visiting the salt pit george crater bridge on this month the 22nd at 9 30. we invite you all to come out and uh take a tour with us come and tour with the mayor and we want you to see what's going on down there also i don't know if you all knew know our concern about what's really happening on hexa drive the someone dep the fdot whoever they are taking over the whole whole hexa drive they're they're taking over everything down there and i thought we duval i thought part of the end was ours and to come to find out people that are in charge of that end well i've got to say honesty is the best policy to be honest and be fair and transparent because there's a lot going on down there they're developing a lot they're taking a lot and somebody know about it now that salt pit bridge the kayak man take he's taking over and that didn't just happen yesterday the community do not know anything about it when we know anything sign seal and deliver it some sneaky business is going on and that's not fair y'all we should know something that boat ramp was built we didn't even know nobody was going to build no boat ramp they closed that bridge kicked us off didn't care anything about us everybody they made it convenient for the bikers they rerouted the bike trail from the old bridge to the new one they took and kicked us off the bridge and when i say us red yellow black white green purple we all god's children they kicked us off that bridge we need to be on that bridge we need to fish we need to fish for food we need something on the north side for the children for all of us to come out everyone don't have a boat they don't have water in their backyard where we can get a cane pole and we can go out there and catch fish whenever we get ready we're not fortunate enough to have that you're taking everything away from downtown we can't go downtown and fish there's nowhere for us to go we need help y'all know what's going on and it's not fair that you don't let the community know thank you thank you miss bell i would encourage you to remain persistent on on this matter uh moving down the agenda we're going to flip-flop uh some of the new business because of an update technical update um so we'll move to the uh discussion of the uh fine letter of support for a comprehensive watershed analysis of honkman creek uh miss mcgillis would you put me in the proper posture there is this a brian burkett thing and who i have not seen the letter that was you okay mr barker it's it's on you the reason that i asked for that to go in is i've been serving as chairman of the fine subcommittee for the last number of years and that'll be coming up again shortly and um the folks supporting um hog pen had gotten in touch with find while find was here and got a letter of support from them and so what i suggested via email to one of the supporters whose email we had received was that maybe we could put some money and ask for some money in the in the next find budget um put it on the list for consideration when we go through that process which is coming up fairly soon so in other words put it officially on the list of of projects to consider so that there would be at least a start to it's a long process but there will at least be a start to provide some kind of funding at some level for this if you're going to get anything started any sooner find is very slow you're not going to get any money for probably two three years because these things are charted out pretty carefully and construction and design is already done and money's kind of committed but at least this will give a start to uh something solid as far as addressing the problem so i just wanted to throw it in front of mr barker what kind of dollars are we talking about well they need to come up and make an ask is typically what they do but what we typically do with waterways is we just have an idea or excuse me with the fine subcommittee is put an idea on the list of projects to be considered and what and unless there's some sort of objection here or anybody thinks that's inappropriate i just thought it would be a good idea to put it on that list for consideration and then what we can do is we can discourse back with them and find out what what they're asking for i don't even think we know what the cost of of the soils examination that they're asking for would be at this point do we does anybody know that yeah i don't think so but at least i think we need to go ahead and put on the list find as interested so let's put it on our list and at least it's it's it's out there and it's something tangible that they can work on in addition to other things that might hit sooner is there any conversation from any of the commission partly mr chair should we ask mr burkett to discuss the application of this idea thank you mr hartley at first i thought he was the proper voice but uh brian go ahead good morning brian burkett parks department uh i was at that fine meeting when they were in town a couple weeks ago and i did hear the gentleman speak to them and they had a receptive voice um so i think that's what generated this letter um that was in your packets i did reach out to the executive director of fine because i wanted some clarity on what her letter said and what she's recommending and what would be fine grant eligible so the letter is suggesting the first step would be a comprehensive watershed analysis study which would help identify the cause of the sedimentation within that within that channel what she does what she did clarify to me that study would not be find eligible they would not provide any dollars for that study but the recommendations that come from that study could be find eligible if there's support from the from this body and the city council but since it is since there is no public water access facility along that water body it would not be eligible at the 50 percent reimbursement this would only be eligible for a 25 percent reimbursement and it also stipulates their grant rules say that for this type of project the 50 50 50 of the match dollars would have to come through uh general taxes or assessment of the benefiting properties so it's different than this would be totally different it could still be a the recommendations from the the let me back up the recommendations that come from this study which still would need to be funded by the city or elsewhere but not fine apparently um you know that i assume that would take a whole year to to to identify the recommendations but whenever those recommendations are identified we could add those projects to our fine list for consideration but just know that the um uh the reimbursement level is significantly is half of what we typically get and the match dollars half of those match dollars have to come from the benefiting properties so i don't know if that's already set up as a taxing district i know there was some discussion over that in the past so that's a little light on this subject that makes it a little more unique than the typical project that we would recommend another another option if we did put a public facility there a boat ramp but i mean i looked there's really minimal opportunities if we did have a public access facility then that would make it eligible for the 50 percent thank you mr burkett mr carlucci and mr barker after mr carlucci uh thank you mr chair how much of those studies generally cost i mean is there a a number you can put on that the size of that one right there i mean i've i've looked at it you know from google earth that area uh and i've met with some of the uh constituents out there or i talked to them over the phone i should say and um and the city's not inclined to pay for that and now with november looming and that um referendum on um you know those kind of the property tax cuts that makes it likely we're not we're going to be further less inclined to spend money on that but do you have any idea what those costs or maybe uh commissioner hoyles over there that i didn't notice with out better glasses uh would know but i'm just curious you might know what that costs a hundred thousand three hundred thousand fifty thousand i'd be guessing if i was to take a shot we would yeah you would have to hire engineer or a consulting firm to do that study mr barker grateful that you're here brian because i didn't know you'd be able to be here um so i just asked for this to be put on a day or two ago um my thought on this was that an analysis would be kind of a one to two year process and then it would dredging be a better match if we got an analysis that said go ahead and dredge under these conditions so i know we can dredge in the in the main body but would this be eligible for the regular match at the dredging portion the dredging project is certainly eligible um but again it would be only be at the 25 percent because there's no public access facility on this water body it's just all privately benefit uh benefiting properties uh would need to contribute according to the grant rule um but i think fine also wants to know it as obviously there there seems to be some kind of a cause uh effect here so if if we whenever we ask for a dredge uh funding they want to know did we look at what's the cause of this sedimentation and is there any mitigating design factors that can be contributed to this project so we're not coming back and doing this on a regular frequency because they don't want to spend their dollars on a project that's going to fill in in short time because we didn't do our due diligence and figure out the cause and and mitigate you know the source of that i didn't think find was necessarily going to be able to solve their problem but if it's even if it's a 25 match we still have to find funding from other sources and find is going to be i mean the earliest that i could see having dealt with with you and find for a while i mean the earliest that i could see a dredge hitting the water would be three to four years out because you'd need the analysis and then you need the approval and then you need to get the permitting and all the rest of it and i think they want to move faster than that but a 25 match actually might work because we'd be able to take a smaller amount of money and dedicate it to that to that and at least give them some matching funds for something and at least help them get started um it it's not going to be the panacea but since they brought it up i just thought i'd run down the road with it and i'm i'm glad you were here thank you mr barker mrs suber well brian pretty well just said everything i was going to say but because dredging is a solution to clean up but it's not a solution for the solution it's it's it's sediment that's coming from all those neighborhoods and everything where um does it have a stormwater basin that can catch those base those uh sediments before it goes into the natural water body those are the kind of questions that need to be answered i think uh to mr burkett uh when the community came to the commission um the motive for study was to identify uh culpability who is responsible uh and then moving forward from responsibility to resolution if i remember distinctly um would that fall within the scope of fine to determine who is in in this analysis as to who uh would be responsible for this uh silt build up that has made that waterway somewhat unusable um i don't think so uh that so they're not uh you know in a regulatory or an enforcement body they they're just saying that they're they're willing to contribute towards a solution if one we did a study that identified the cause and two um we have to apply for an application um using their the standard protocols of the design phase and the construction phase but it would only be at that 25 value and that stipulation that 50 of the match comes from the benefiting properties so we just have to play within their their rules they're identifying an opportunity to use their money but they are they they wouldn't be um i think where they would where they would have concern is if that sediment can continue to go all the way out of hog pen creek into the icw if if that became an issue then they would probably get very interested to know you know what's causing this because that's that is their that is their mission right to keep the intercoastal waterway navigable but i don't think to my understanding that's not been an issue at this point okay are we required uh to take action for for this to move forward um i don't think there's any action this was just a a letter that was shared to to show you know the what fines recommendation is and and again i guess it's up to the the body to you know whether they wanted to uh support the idea of finding funding for this uh comprehensive watershed analysis i i i i've just read over the letter from ms zimmerman so i i see what what the what the ask is mr chairman the reason that i wanted wanted i'm sorry i just say if if to the chair i just wanted to put it in so that we discussed it so a we let the community know that we are looking at it hard and they did take the time to go and deal with find and that we're running down every avenue that we can with fine to let them know that we're not casting a blind eye towards them but we've got to come up with the right pathway mr burkett is extremely effective in helping us do that so that was the reason for doing this it's not necessarily that we have to take action right now but they know what we're doing thank you mr barker mr hoyles you were on are you off i am thank you um yeah to answer some of the questions um about hog pen creek yeah study like that i don't i agree with brian's assessment of fines ability to fund that i think it would end up being a city obligation and to answer um council member carlucci's question about cost um i work on a team that does those studies but i've never tried to cost one so i i have no idea um the the level of magnitude but um studies like that are done uh to solve issues just like this um i have a heart when i look at aerial photography of that area and that creek i have a hard time saying that it was this development or that development you have a lot of neighborhoods discharging storm water into that canal that discharges into that creek um so i mean there's a lot of collective responsibility in that and i i would think there would be a public interest in reopening that waterway and maybe coming up with a solution to modify that canal but the problem with modifying that canal is we've built right up to it and so you know if we're going to do anything serious with that we've either got to really re-engineer the canal itself or somebody's going to lose a home um so there's not a lot of space to come up with a solution so i mean you know even if we do study it and even if we do figure out where the sediment came from preventing that problem in the future is going to be an interesting challenge because somebody's property is going to need to get taken my opinion you know i don't i don't see where you put infrastructure is is my point i'm not an engineer but that just that infrastructure would have to go somewhere upon settling basin filtration basin something and then of course somebody would have to maintain it somebody would then if we're not putting the sediment directly into the creek the sediment would go into a basin and then some of the cities they're going to dredge out that basin from time to time so um solvable problem for sure so if that's helpful thank you mr hoyles miss mcgillis you are on the queue thank you um to the chair and through the chair to the commission um the hog pen creek area is in district 13 and council member rory diamond did state and it's i'm reading from jack's today uh of may 12th 2026 at a meeting he uh committed to securing funding for a watershed analysis and i do also recall that he stated that about two councils council meetings ago so um to answer your earlier question procedurally what does this body do you just you you've acknowledged the letter um there's nothing for you to do at this moment and i recommend not do anything at this moment um and let the um council member move forward with securing funding for the study thank you mike exact sentiments mr artisty thank you mr chairman uh this brings up a very interesting issue that mr burkett has been involved with captain suver uh dr pinto uh all of us that have been on this uh this commission for any time at all um we have a shoaling committee uh that that has attempted to deal with these persistent reoccurring issues that occur in all different places and the the one that comes to mind that we have absolutely slammed our heads against the wall and gotten quite frankly nowhere has been uh the shoaling uh right outside of clapboard creek uh that runs along raymond drive and uh we have we have put in work we have put in every effort we have gotten federal agencies involved and i say all that to say this is that these agencies that are involved in this are going to fight you to the death number one number two is is they hold most of the cards they have all the money and so it has become a very difficult thing but it's something this commission must address because we're seeing these issues pop up and continue and we haven't solved one yet as far as how much these studies go i can tell you that the testimony that we've had in these shoaling committee meetings and councilman gaye's been right right side by side with me is they're in excess of a million dollars just to quote-unquote study it and and and y'all are right there are two two um steps to this whole thing one is discovering what the problem is what the origin of it is and creating a solution for that moving forward and the second is the remediation of what that damage has that has occurred is dredged or you know there is a breakwater wall or something like that installed installed to prevent it from going on in the future so yes it's a two-step process um but but i will tell you that i am all for this commission getting completely behind this and with the political ump that that we need in this thing because our one issue and it's going to be the same in this project as it is the shoaling is going to be money and funding because these agencies that are involved in our case we believe it's it's uh noah and the corps of engineers and um some projects that they did they're to blame but we've gotten to the point where really finding the blame who cares at this point the point is is before someone gets killed in the shoaling situation specifically where this the in a navigable channel where uh you know it is it we finally got it marked so there's a safety issue that we've achieved but it's a dangerous thing it continues to be a dangerous thing um and i i really this has been a great thing to bring this to light because this isn't the only one that we're going to see we're going to see more and more and more as the dredging continues as the developments continue as all of this there is a buildup of sediment there is uh this is a ongoing thing and so um i'm glad we're not casting a blind eye to this and i'm glad that it's brought the shoaling issue at clapboard creek back in the in the forefront and so i'm all here to to help but i need help i need help to to push this thing forward thank you mr hardy see mr gary and we'll move on thank thank you mr chair um i concur with mr hardy see of the efforts and all the work that's went in trying to deal with the the shoaling there in the st john's river um i guess really the making sure that this this study that's done is that's where we as a council stock because we could have had ju do a study and it was going to cost a million something dollars the uh we could have paid the federal government to do their study which it was going to be two to three million dollars for them to do theirs uh but we could not get a guarantee of that the the federal government state coast guard uh army corps all all your entities uh out there that would accept the ju study and so that's where it we we stopped uh moving forward with it and tried to go different avenues so that that's my only ask uh with potentially if council member diamond is doing uh going to have this study done that we kind of look at all the entities if they're going to accept the the analysis of it so with that thank you mr chair thank you mr gay moving to the next agenda item uh for discussion uh something i'm more familiar with uh commissioner matt jones this is the uh for george river sandbar boating hazard issue uh commissioner sent out an email earlier identifying and looking for our voice to address this issue i i know mr gay and anyone else who's been in that area know that what it's like on on the weekend mr jones go ahead good morning commissioners and to the chair through the chair to the commission um i'd like to bring to the floor an issue that at least in my opinion should have been done years ago i've actually made a cheat sheet to read so i don't go rambling on because i know everybody's got other things to do uh but i'd like to get at least the discussion started about making the inlet a no wake zone that resource as thousands know is one of our most amazing and very few left of places to enjoy while out on our inshore waters on our boats for decades locals myself included have enjoyed many family weekends out on the multiple sandbars located within the inlet over the last few years with the influx of new residents and boat purchases the fort george inlet has become a summer weekend destination and as more find out the numbers are just going to continue to grow on any given weekend the inlet can see anywhere from two to three hundred boaters probably double that on memorial weekend july 4th labor day etc um everybody looking just to go out there and relax and enjoy the many outdoor pleasures that we as floridians have at our disposal as the crowds grow so does the chaos unfortunately with an ever-changing ecosystem every year the locations that boaters are able to safely anchor changes dr pinto can probably agree to that this occurs with the swift incoming and outgoing tides on the atlantic ocean side of the inlet that constant shifting of tides relocates to multiple sandbar locations almost on an annual basis and i've got some pictures if you scroll down there there's pictures of how the sandbars change over time i mean you know one year you go out there you've got one location to anchor up at next year it's completely different as outlined by lieutenant kilcoyne with the jso marine unit the constant shift creates navigate a navigational nightmare that even the most seasoned local boater and even more so for the new residents coming in for the first few times the alamacani kayak launch on the east end is also gaining in population during the weekends with kayaks in the inlet mix that with the number of boats that are already anchored added weight from incoming boats huge gatherings of families and it's just a recipe recipe for disaster i did also find a a local sighting of a manatee in there i've lived here 54 years did not know manatee migrate up in there but apparently they do um even more of a reason to slow everything down i feel it's not only our duty as waterways commissioners but also in our moral interest to want to keep not only our resources safe but first and foremost our residents not only in this current time is this needed due to the explosion in population but constituents are actually asking for it this can be done with very little funding i believe the only funding required would be for signage that's it to the best of my knowledge but the return on investment for keeping children and boaters safe would be huge signage would need to be posted at the kingsley plantation dock on the west entrance from sisters creek and zoned up to the alamacani kayak ramp on the east end at the hexer drives end now known as the jimmy buffett memorial highway i'd like to propose a resolution to have this put up for public comment and hopefully a vote at our next meeting to move it forward to the next stop and graciously ask for the commission's support thank you mr jones mr gay thank you mr chair uh as we discussed in the last uh waterways meeting i believe when we had the uh jso doing the presentation that this was one of the topics that i i discussed about the the necessity for increased patrol out there um uh it's as far as the there's been discussions i've i've uh met with uh different entities about the uh reducing the speed and reduce the minimum wake zones uh allowed in a lot of these areas and it'll i'll discuss it in the shad creek as well um but i i have met the the state parks kingsley plantation is is uh interested in the the minimum wake zone in that area so there's been a lot of a lot of discussion about this trying to get a get a handle on it but there's a whole procedure that that we've got to go through with fwc to get them to allow um signage to go to for minimum wake zones to go in there and captain super can elaborate a little bit on all that as is what we're trying to do uh in other areas uh so it has been discussed uh it's the the need is there uh boaters jet skiers i mean it jet skiers is a lot a lot of uh uh very active in this in this area out here as well uh so it definitely needs to be moved to the priority for discussions and and what we can potentially get fwc to allow to be to be done in there and thank you mr chair mrs super through the chair um i i was contacted again i've been contacted every couple of years or maybe even every couple of times a year about this issue those are great photos those are good examples to support the need out there by the way but uh that uh fwc lieutenant as well as jso marine units contacted me this past week about how they can help and i told them they needed to first of all send me an email or have their lieutenants send an email of support for this because of the conditions out there and at least that would give evidence and give uh support for what is actually needed because i don't think there's anybody other than a couple of jet skiers maybe that might get a little upset about the fact that that this is being done but that's okay i mean it needs to be done this is a serious uh safety issue out there and we've already since we've had this conversation we've had uh some injuries and some foot and a fatality that wasn't because of fast boats but uh a drowning out there i don't know really how it happened but but that's just more icing on the cake if you will as to evidence that something needs to be done out there and he's right this is this is an ever-ending evolution of sand that is changing all the time and and the the kingly plantation all the way out to the saint john's or to the ocean needs to be a no wake zone or slow speed minimum wake thank you thank you mr suber uh let me ask miss uh mcgillis so we've had a conversation about this and uh clearly anyone who's been up there on the weekends uh don't even need the pictures that know firsthand uh what the conditions are are uh miss mcgillis um it seems like clearly an appropriate issue for the waterways commission so how procedurally do we move forward from here to the chair and through the chair to the commission yes um this issue is clearly within the scope of the purposes uh of the waterways commission under chapter 95 um as well um captain suber is correct as usual about that this is uh far more complicated an issue as as as with uh council over gay far more complicated an issue as hey let's buy some signs to stick them up this would be the equivalent of the city trying to put signs on a state road in the middle of a federal park can't do it on our own but um under section 327 46 of the florida statutes there is a narrow window uh through which the municipality can regulate the speed of boats but um the where we can regulate and to what distance we can regulate all depends on certain enumerated features of the waterway that's under question so any ordinance and this would have to go as an ordinance through city council any ordinance passed by city council cannot take effect until fwcc fresh florida uh fresh fish and wildlife conservation commission they have to opine they have to review the the past ordinance and they have to make a determination by substantial competent evidence that the ordinance is necessary to protect public safety so any ordinance has to be built upon and founded a lot of whereas clauses with all of the competent substantial evidence necessary for fwcc to sign off on it and then it would become effectuated but we're also talking about the fort george river um is protected and managed by florida dep as council member gay uh pointed out and the fort george as part of the fort george island cultural site and the saint john's river marshes aquatic preserve beyond it is a florida outstanding waterway these all probably weigh in the favor of um regulating boat speed by the municipality but you also have to understand that the whole thing is under the timoquin as the timoquin ecological and historical historical preserve so any ordinance has to by florida statute also beyond florida dep has to go through the united states coast guard and the army corps but again you're talking about what you're asking to do is of the benefit to all of those to the preserve to the marshes it would help all of it and so what if anything is translating through this message is it's gonna be a lot of whereas clauses like a wheelbarrow full and that's fine but in order to get the facts for your whereas clauses you need to gather these facts how can jwc gather these facts please how can we um fantastic question um i highly recommend because this is unlike some of the other issues that were discussed um at earlier meetings and even today such as like dredging and and how are these silts coming in this is a known issue it's a matter of how the the the sands come up through the inlet into the fort george river because this is actually part of the fort george river not the inlet um so this is a known issue it's the atlantic ocean um with a discrete solution so this is ripe for a task force and this body can create a task force um and what i would recommend is um using a task force to to collect all of the information and present it to the commission as a body um in that way you have the benefit of the this commission as a forum for uh bringing in the necessary entities you know um fdep fwcc the army corps they're all uh by our code chapter 95 liaison members to this commission so we can bring every everybody to the proverbial table um so i do highly suggest uh that yes this is a a proper and appropriate scope of jwc and can be done through a task force thank you uh before this meeting is over i'd like to create that task force and uh i i don't know the size of what it should be i don't know what uh the shoaling and the reefing and and and and those different uh the size of those task force is it three members or four members i'd like also to have a time certain that this does not linger that if once the task force gets going that within a 90-day period if possible come back with a report uh to move this this forward uh give me your guidance uh to the chair and through the chair to the commission um under chapter 95 the creation of a task force of the jackson waterways commission is a two-step process number one under 95 104 d as in dog the a task force can be authorized by the commission that would be a vote that this commission takes to say that yes we want a task force on this issue if this body says yes we want a task force on this issue then then under 104 a a it is the chair that you make up the how many people are on it you appoint who's on it you give a uh a schedule of when the report should be due that would all be through what i highly recommend a charge memo so it is um in public circulation and everybody knows the scope the members all of it i do um caution that task force meetings um and communications among task force members will be within the sunshine law um so um and because the results of that task force are expected to come to a vote to this body and even more likely to come to a vote to the city council as a whole communications among task force members and task force members to this body and this body and task force members to city council as a whole will be subject to sunshine laws thank you given that i'd like a motion to um authorize a task force and second all in favor any approved okay so that carries that's the first step um i do believe um i don't believe in big government so i do believe that the task force should be at minimum three members maximum five does that seem appropriate miss mcgillis to the chair yes it does seem appropriate and um i neglected to state that one of the benefits of a task force is that um you can appoint members to this task force that are not members to this particular body so long as the chair of your task force is a member of this body and also note if we um if if you the chair me i added the we because i am offering to write your charge memo for your approval um if that charge memo goes out prior to when a new chair comes in on this body the task force will continue up until at least then and then the new chair of course can maintain that task force thank you i i would then suggest that we have at minimum three members who are now on the waterway commission and perhaps two from the public who may be um acquainted with the issues and would like to participate i would like you to begin to work on the charge memo i um clearly i don't want to draft anyone but i think uh commissioner jones uh perhaps commissioner gay and and third party uh maybe mr hardesty since he's looking at me uh be the three members from if you don't i'm okay mark if you're not interested be the three members from this body and then they can collectively identify two other parties from outside the body and that way you have uh two different perspectives does that sound good okay i've got mr hardesty in the queue to be followed by mrs super the chair um i just wanted to understand the the shoaling committee that we have had is that the is that interchangeable with the task force to the commissioner through the chair i would recommend not because um and the number one thing that i see as a difference legally is the what and hows the shoaling committee is still focused on the what's happening how is this happening who's responsible where this is a very discreet issue that probably can be solved through legislation that just needs a gathering of facts and from all accounts thus far those facts exist it's just a matter of gathering them and so i would highly recommend that keeping this issue as a separate discrete very short term task force and moving forward with legislation as a result of that task force as opposed to blending it with the existing committee mr gay i'm mrs super i'm sorry i'm sorry mark through the chair um so i guess i guess what i am struggling with is we have struggled with the particular clapboard creek shoal for years now and um maybe it's time to shift maybe it's time to shift the approach on that and i'd like your counsel on that uh because we're dead in the water pardon the pun um on on that shoal um and you know we're looking for a resolution just like this is looking for a resolution i'm sorry guys i got a 10 45 go ahead mr super i guess this is a question more than his statement but to the chair would it be appropriate that in this task force representation be the uh state park service because it's in the middle of their system as well as fwc which is the enforcement branch and jso uh whether whether it be advisory position or task force position as well as the timaquon preserve i'm sorry jim i'm multitasking got distracted what was the question i can address it if you would thank you um to answer the question as to whether or not representatives from the necessarily approving agency should be members of this body i would actually recommend not because as soon as they have a titled seat on the body they are under sunshine law so you probably would be better served to leave the representative members of the necessary agency's acronyms and initialisms all as uh liaisons that do not vote and are not members so that they can their council can come and go among all the members this body as well as city council as a whole thank you and in my thought to be honest as far as the uh the the three standing members here and the two from the public i was not really thinking about another agency voice uh just you know it could be john q public who's acquainted with the situation and has a vested interest um to if i may um i would recommend and this can be part of the charge memo um part of the charge memo also um appoint staff um in order to handle the notices of the meetings and things and what can happen is um just like when the notices and the agendas go out for this body it goes to more than just this body and so all of the necessary seats at the table um the invitations beyond going to the general public as it has to for sunshine law those notices can also specifically be go to representatives of the different um necessary agencies so everybody knows on top and if i did not state this before the other really good benefit to having the all of the data come up through and be presented to this body is for the general public to have ample notification to weigh in because you are going to have a lot of public participation on this issue thank you uh commission again councilman mckay thank you mr chair um i i would recommend that this task force uh not be designated as just the uh uh fort george river but it just be a task force uh designated as a minimum wake zone task force and that way it can deal with multiple issues over time that that would come up to where it would kind of cover all basically i i see what you're saying as far as for future use but i i don't know if that weakens the effectiveness of of what we're trying to do we're trying to stay focused but i understand what you're saying uh mr jones to the chair i just wanted to say if offered position accepted set me where i am miss mcgillis i know last remarks were establishing the task force three members from the waterways commission to from outside you're going to write the charge i personally would like to see a 90 day return for a report but just tell me where we are and i'm going to have to excuse myself gentlemen um mr gay is going to continue the meeting i've got uh 10 45 that i have i must attend to the vice chair to the commission um i can have your charge memo prepared and to you by close of business on friday and um it would just be issued by um publishing um on uh to the public as well as to this commission and i i will come um discuss with you so you can get to your meeting um if i may through the vice chair um address the your question actually about um whether or not to combine this and have it be a more of a long-standing task force um besides just the semantics of task force versus committee um we're also right on the cusp of a new um as you're very well aware a new uh city council leadership cycle and so the membership of this body may change um including the chair so what i would recommend is that you you address this very discreet and what should be a very short-term task force on this issue to go forward and then under the new chair if there is a different chair of this body consider creating a committee which would be more long-standing a committee about boat speed regulation all right give me in the right posture we've got a motion in a second on the yeah yes um i was just confirming um with legislative surfaces there was a motion a second and a successful vote so all so we've passed phase one phase two is simply um to create the charge issue a charge memo um pursuant to the chair's um uh wishes right so he um there's nothing else no other action that we need to take up take upon this uh the chair will get the the members in place and then get the the charge presented all right so that'll take us to our next item let's go ahead to our new business item number twenty twenty six zero four seven five mr lukachovic good morning everyone uh it's good to see you all again uh can you all see the powerpoint uh presentation yes okay uh i'm ed lukachovic for the record uh representing the planning department uh with me this morning i have the applicant brian small for the application any questions that you folks may have hopefully the both of us can answer them for you uh why isn't it i can't try it again ah okay um right this morning we're looking at a small scale land use amendment uh the land use amendment number is l6120-26c it's an adoption ordinance being that it's a small scale uh land use amendment its ordinance number is 2026 475. it's scheduled for uh public hearings the planning commission will look at this application on thursday july 23rd 2026 the first city council public hearing is scheduled for tuesday july 28th 2026 and the land use and zoning committee of city council will look at this application on tuesday august 4th 2026 and the final city council public hearing is scheduled for tuesday august 11th 2026 now here's some specifics of this particular application site it's located at zero granite place it's at the eastern side of the intersection of granite place and new berlin road the size of the application is 1.91 acres and there are approximately 1.42 acres of wetlands on the application site the current wine use category it's an industrial category water dependent water related and it's proposed to go to another uh industrial land use category we call light industrial it is located in the nichols creek sub drainage basin and the saint john's river basin under the current development potential of the application site if the site was totally buildable you can have up to 20 799.9 square feet of industrial space with a floor area ratio of 0.25 under the light industrial land use category it's a little more intense you can have up to 33 279.8 square feet of industrial space with a floor area ratio of 0.4 now those two uh figures is kind of impossible because of the environmental constraints on the parcel which we will look at under the potential uses for the current land use category of water dependent water related things like ports harbors industrial docks maintenance of repair water vessels ship supply storage of goods and distribution under light industrial you can have light assembly manufacturing manufacturing manufacturing processing of goods warehousing and distribution and open storage warehouse and open storage are uses that you could you could have under the uh water dependent water related land use category but it's usually associated with port activity this particular site is really not suitable since it really doesn't really have any water um access uh for the site uh it uh if you look north of the application site and north of um of the highway uh you have high industrial and then to the uh east is community general commercial and then south and west it's water dependent water related but if you look at it it is in the uh the uh industrial uh sanctuary uh sanctuary zone which is basically a zone where we encourage uh uh industrial uh land use categories such as heavy industrial light industrial water dependent water related and business park so it's a good use for this particular zone looking at some of the um surrounding uses uh north of zoo parkway uh you have uh the pilot uh convenience store and um uh gas station you have a fast food supply you have a hotel uh salt marsh you you just have different kind of uses even though it's separated by a super uh uh by a highway uh to the northeast um you have some vacant land uh you got a couple of single family homes you have a warehouse and then to the east you have the i-295 corridor with the on and off ramps and then further east you have some vacant land in salt marsh there is a gate gas station and uh convenience store and then to the south you have some open storage you got some uh retention basins which we're going to discuss a little bit you got a single family home and then to the west you have a lot of vacant land you have some open storage uh some of the vacant land a lot of it is owned by the jacksonville port authority here's an aerial view of the application site you could see that the site is vacant uh the closest development is a circle k uh gas station and uh convenience store to the east and north uh northwest a little bit uh it's kind of surrounded by some type of road system uh you can see uh if we look at a closer view you can see that uh three-quarters of the site is salt marsh uh the northern northern one quarter of the site is uplands but it used to be an upland wetland um the adjacent construction of roadways and development and the excavation of stormwater retention basins lowered the uh high water table of the northern portion of this application site making it no longer wetlands so that area is not a wetland area um if you look uh here's a northerly view of the amendment site from new berlin road you can see the salt marsh of the application site uh here's an easterly view of the application site from new berlin road and granite place intersection and then another easterly view of the application site of the i-295 on ramp and you can see the salt marsh in the center of the photograph now here's a 3d northerly view of the application site you can see uh most of the site is salt marsh some of that salt marsh spills out over into the i-295 corridor on the side slope and then that uh salt marsh disappears underneath the highway which we're going to look at as well and then um here's a 3d view of nickels creek uh and a 10 foot wide cross drain this cross drain uh crosses underneath the i-295 highway and on and off ramps it's about a 400 foot trek till it gets to the application site of the salt marsh on the application site now at one time the salt marsh you're looking at here in the foreground of the photo was a portion of that salt marsh on the application site but when they put in the highway and on and off ramps it kind of cut that area into two however the cross drain functions where the high and low tide functions through that cross drain into the application site and therefore the salt marsh on that site acts appropriately as a salt marsh here's a wetlands map of the application site the wetlands being a salt marsh is a category one wetland it's 1.42 acres about three quarters of the site is that salt marsh then just north of that salt marsh within the same property is an area that was once wetlands but it is no longer wetlands because of the lowered high water table of the high water table of the site this is a soils map describing the type of soils of the site the 68 to zonia mucky p is the only type of soil associated with salt water marsh and then you have the 35 lynn haven fine sand which is also a wetland soil it's an upland wetland but because the lower water table it is no longer wetlands here's some elevations of the site the two the lowest elevation is two feet above sea level that's in the salt marsh the higher area of four feet above sea level on the northern end of the application site this is the area that is no longer wetlands then there is some elevations according to the city's gis map of nine and ten feet i'm not quite sure that the property line actually goes up close to new berlin road on the side slopes uh with the gis city's gis mapping system there is often what we call parcel shifting and aerial photo distortions that kind of uh they kind of fiddle with the uh areas uh property boundaries so that may not be correct but this is what we have to work with with the city now we're looking at a coastal high hazard area map and you notice that almost all of the site under the city's gis system is all within that particular zone the coastal high hazard area is an area that floods from a category one hurricane zone and uh so the site is pretty low and then here's a flood zone map of the application site and that is similar to the coastal high hazard area almost the entire site is within the ae 100 year flood zone and then uh this slide shows the adaptation action area 100 of the property is within that area uh the adaptation action area is a combination of a 500 year flood and the flood surge elevation of a category 3 hurricane uh and i think it's the hurricane that's going to cause uh most of the problems here on this particular site uh now this slide basically shows that the uh land use amendment site is within the nichols creek sub basin and then the final slide shows that the application site does have a direct impact on the city's waterways where the flow funds runs from the application site and the salt marsh through a 400 foot long 10 foot wide cross culvert into nichols creek and then generally easterly flows into the saint john's river and that's the last slide uh hopefully uh we can answer any questions that you may have all right thank you sir let's go to our first speaker in the queue mr hardesy the chair thank you uh for your presentation i um i live out in that area okay and um i'm kind of struggling with what is a good reason to do this uh that i'd under camp basically uh and we'll have to ask the applicant which is here with us as well but uh there's no water frontage you know if you want to call the saltwater marsh water frontage i guess you could but it's not something that we think of of a port activity uh it just not it just somehow got put in the wrong category i think but changing it from water dependent water related to an industrial light industrial use it's basically it's it's an industrial land use category uh we can ask the applicant right uh brian small he can answer maybe what he's proposing out there come on down mr small what i'm what while the applicant is coming up what i'm what i'm struggling with is is some of the some of the things that were mentioned was well this would have been it would have been uh you know wetlands and was in the past but had been liberated uh obliterated by other development and then we have close to eighty percent of the entire site is salt marsh wetlands according to the numbers that were presented and i know from living out there for over 20 years the flooding that occurs not only in a category one hurricane but um in king tides and um and i have a bait shop that floods 10 15 20 times a year um and and has been ongoing since 1943 and so i understand the whole concept pretty well and what i'm struggling with is is we're going to have to bring in tremendous fill just to to function uh and and we're not going to have any mitigation of the runoff etc because it's going to push it elsewhere um in the surrounding areas i'm i'm just really struggling to see the benefit that is there for quite frankly anybody including you as the applicant yeah good morning brian small address on file through the chair to mr mark hardesty i think we're going down the wrong rabbit hole here i know that was a whole environmental presentation water dependent water related you can do trucking i have a buyer for this property he wants to park five box trucks for his moving company here and he's able to do it water dependent water related he does not want to purchase it unless he has it as light industrial which will allow him to do the same thing but it won't have to be port related so it's a technicality as far as the wetlands they're not touching that they're not filling the site what they are doing is clearing the site because right now it's a homeless camp a trash a dumpster i mean it's a landfill i pay more money um there than i even bought the property for so we're getting it cleaned up um and that's the whole purpose of this application okay good all right so we'll go to the next uh commissioner in the queue commissioner jones through the chair thank you um you zone guys speak a language i've never been under able to understand so excuse me if i ask this question and you already covered it the only concern i see we'll have it's it's a two-part question the 400 foot long drain that runs under 295 is that an active is that currently in place or would that be part of this new project no it was put in when the highway was constructed okay so it's it's it's already there yeah um second part to the question is there some sort of mechanism built in with the fuel station on that property on the north side of that property right now that would prevent any kind of fuel spillage into the st john's river should that occur i'm going to take this one just because um through the chair again to mr jones i i think we're getting off track this is a this is going to be for land use and zoning that um fuel station referencing is actually in water dependent water related non-compliant and they had to come before and get a a um a variance or a waiver to be able to operate so as far as the pollution i'm not sure if we want to address all that but this is more just geared towards land use and zoning and i don't know what their their rules are i know all their trucks parked on granite place you know sit there idling all day and throwing whatever trash they have out so i think clearing it letting an owner be there full time um should improve it having someone there versus it just being a parking lot all right let me uh go to mr mcgillis just point of procedure is there through the vice chair to the um to mr luke is there a companion zoning bill there is um but because it's a uh judicial i can't really discuss it and that's what i'm advising yes action on a land use amendment which is what is in front of this body is a legislative act acts on a companion zoning bill and any information and questions that uh questions that generate information about the zoning bill tips into a quasi-judicial um act and um that would trigger um declarations of um ex parte at future meetings for any council members that are sitting on this board so i highly highly caution um answering any questions that would trigger information from the companion zoning bill mr jones were you commissioner jones were you okay you're through all right let's go to uh commissioner barker so by going li um to first of all you're talking about zoning and no we're concerned about the environment here i mean parking trucks in the middle of a of a retention area we've had problems on this commission with that in the past uh exactly this same situation um so you're right now talking about parking trucks but going li what does that open the door to anything else i mean this is a tiny parcel so right now you're going to park trucks but if somebody was going to try to maybe build something on this half acre um would they be able to use retention for what they build uh as the salt marsh here would they what would the parking situation look like what what are we opening the door to here mr lukakovic you're the you're you're much more expertise of that well the problem with the site is being that it's in a flood zone for one thing you have what we would call flood water displacement problems which also has to be mitigated there's really no room on the site for flood water mitigation unless they do it off site somehow and uh the only thing you could do is park a vehicle and move it if it gets flooded you can't just leave anything there it's it's it's a very difficult site i have to admit but the problem is they have an inherited right to use it for something for some type of industrial use where they're going from one industrial use to another really makes no difference to us in the planning department because they're entitled to something there um but to build on it uh i just don't know how it can be done it would have to require some really heavy engineering and whether the displacement can be calculated in the uh non-wetland portion of the application site i i don't i think it's difficult i really do parking trucks parking vehicles that can be moved that's one thing but to build something permanent that have to be some heavy engineering that i'm not familiar with and that heavy through the chair that heavy engine through the vice chair that heavy engineering would have to occur irregardless whether it was li or it's that's correct anything that position i mean if you build something on peers maybe but i just don't but would there be a okay so again do the vice chair would there be anything in there i mean i'm getting confused would you be able to park more trucks under li versus the current zoning standing no either when you can park you can park vehicles either one maybe it's port related the other one the newer it isn't uh so i really don't see the difference in a case like this when it comes to vehicles okay thank you all right thank you let's go to uh commissioner freight thank you through the new chair um you said it's going to be cleared uh would that mean clearing 100 of it 20 of it the northern it is a hundred percent i mean uh some of the southern boundary on the gis map showing that it encroaches on new berlin road on the side slopes i don't think it's reality it's just all flooded area uh there's not much you can do with it okay uh correct you said basically 100 of it is in the flood zone for hurricane uh class one uh i know like other commissioners said we've voted this down for like the north side for uh storage for trucks uh mayport and there was a spot on mayport that was 100 flood zone that we voted no for uh and then just even on what you're saying you're going to build or not build but put there and i mean putting something else there is what really irritates me sometimes uh the fire station on atlantic boulevard there was supposed to be a sandwich shop next to it and now it's a warehouse instead that we voted for a sandwich shop uh it just doesn't seem very clear i i understand that but you have to understand they have an inherited right to be able to use that property for something because they're paying taxes on it for something and the fact that it's not in conservation or anything like that they have the right now if they decide not to change the land use amendment or the i can't mention zoning but if they they have the right to use it all i have to do is submit to the uh building department for permits to do something and they have that right and there's not a whole lot you know the planning department can do to prevent anything like that i 100 agree that everybody should have the rights i'm not against business it's just that uh the waterways commission is here for the waterways that's correct thank you all right uh commissioner harderson follow up to to that uh if they have a right to do what they're proposing to do now why are we making a change explain that to me because i through the through the chair to mr harderson they're making a change because the buyer that i have wants to be 100 certain that he will be able to park his trucks there because they're not port related so we got a letter from aaron abney andy hetzel that are at the planning department and said why don't you just put this isn't in writing why why don't you just put abc waterways moving and he said i'm not doing that i want to make sure when i buy this property from you i can park my trucks there so he he could do it he could go put a magnet on his trucks right now and clear it and put the trucks there he's trying to do it by following the rules so i guess through the chair um i'm i'm struggling with this still because if he has a right to park the trucks as is and we got somebody in the planning department says i might be a little bit better if you did this um what is the real answer there has to be a real answer real clear-cut answer is does he have the right now to do it or does he not have the right now to do it because it's not he doesn't have a a clear and i don't know visual nexus to the port that's not his industry he does not have the right technically to do it because his moving trucks are not 100 port or or that category he's saying i'm not moving stuff for the port or anything on and off the port i'm parking my trucks there because i move stuff around town right so i'm 100 with you i i told him to just get a magnet for his trucks well through the chair it's it seems to me that that's a that's a question that needs to be nailed down before we go through this gyration of rezoning this property um if if he by right can park the trucks that's what i i think i heard you say then he has the right to park the trucks he does not have the right to park the trucks because they're not directly related to port activity right so i'd like to interject here real quick then that's the and i'll go to miss mcgillis on this if if the user the owner is not doing something that's port related and is doing other types of trucking that's not port related then that's where they would be in non-compliance so i'll let miss mcgillis opine on this to the vice chair and through the vice chair to the commission um i would direct your attention to um slide 31 of the slide deck as um it was part of mr luka hooke luka kovic um his presentation and it side by side sets out the current um land use and the potential land use and i'm going to defer the um the legality of the word port in the current uh land use and whether or not that's within or without to the expert standing at the podium but the difference is is very clearly um uh articulated in slide 31 of the slide deck in front of you all right so let me go to uh commissioner barker i'm not exactly sure who to ask this uh but we're talking about this mysterious companion zoning activity that now we can't talk about and that we aren't going to be told about that to my mind would have at least to me and an impact if i'm not being told the whole story then i'm not interested i i don't i don't understand this mcgillis um through the vice chair to commissioner barker what's in front of you is the land use amendment zoning is not in front of you and the zoning aspect is a quasi-judicial matter the matter in front of you is the land use amendment which is a legislative act is the creation of new law and this commission this commission can consider a myriad of information to aid in that legislative decision including to extent material related to the companion zoning bill but to take facts from questions on the related zoning bill is where you get into hot water is it an absolute you cannot do it no you can but what it will cause it'll cause um city council member mike gaye to have to declare a quasi i mean sorry an ex parte about this meeting is that okay yeah that's okay i'm just highly suggesting that you try to stay as far away from answers on the zoning bill right good mr barker all right let's go to uh representative black thank you chair so the way i understand this we're here because we want to protect the waterways and this particular piece of real estate could already be used to park vehicles upon but there would have to be machinations in order to do so they'd have to put magnets on their truck so if if we go with the landowners desires here we don't harm anything because the status quo already allows this and so i guess the question i have why would we interfere with someone's right to use their real estate which they have a right to do and i think i'll just leave that there thank you chair right don't have any other speakers in the queue and so uh just a few few more words here and then we'll we'll just vote on it by by right that they can uh park their trucks use it as the parking facility that that they want to do as long as it's uh water related and we recently had a zoning change up hexer drive because of this situation what i'm understanding correct me if i'm wrong mr small that the new buyer wants this uh basically in writing saying it's light industrial and they're not potentially having any restrictions with this clearing of the of the property mr kovic i would assume that they will have to have a site plan landscaping and and all that they'll be doing so they'll have to still follow the development process that the uh planning department is going to require uh so with that it basically changing that uh the use of it is what we're looking at and we're not impacting this changing the salt marsh we're not uh affecting any any of the wetlands you're not expand correct me if i'm wrong you're not expanding the footprint of the ability to truck parts there truck uh park trucks there as it's already identified so that's uh pretty well all that we're dealing with right here so we'll go ahead and take it to a vote but let me back up can i get a a motion to approve i've got a mo i got a motion i can get a second i've got a motion and a second to approve so let me go ahead and do this raise your hand if you're in support of approving this all right raise your hand if you're not in support of approving can we i'm sorry um can you have the four approval hands go back up all right raise your hand if you favor of approving this so i see a four to approve five to decline or to disapprove i'm sorry yeah so it's a deny okay by your action you have denied 2026-0475 thank you all for being here today uh the next item on the agenda uh is old business uh shad creek uh resolution update uh mr captain suber do you have any uh new information on the uh uh i guess the measurements and uh where we can potentially expand the the minimum wake zone to the chair uh ryan briquette has a map that he's uh published or sent out to everybody yesterday that gives options we're just not sure which option we want to take or you guys want to take so i think we need more direction as to what you want us to actually do i guess i can look at me when you mr burkett and we can try to get that dialed in miss mcgillis did you want to subsequent to that map was an exchange um on email that indicates to me that there are not the adequate features in that particular waterway to trigger municipality this trigger the city to put um any regulation on boat speed there i could be wrong and i'm happy to discuss it further with mr burkett and and um other interested parties but that is what i saw which means that that that map that you're talking about the one with the different options is really only an option for um the state level to do by rule mr burkett brian burkett parks again um right so there's certain things that we're allowed to do um that have been delegated to this the city like we did at the bridge 300 foot zone there's also an option for a 500 foot zone if there's a public boat ramp the investigation we've determined the the ramp that's on private property is not going to be open to the public use that created that opportunity we could still apply for uh to fwc to expand the zone but we have to go through their you know rigorous process but i think they kind of opened the door when they when they identified that when the bridge was replaced that the study was not done for navigation so they i think they kind of opened the door said you may have some justification for us to look at this and consider a speed zone so i think that's what kind of hang our hat on as well as you know studying the potential blind curves in that area but the other features that are identified in the statute makes it pretty clear that we don't have any citations in that area at least that last check and the distance the width of the creek has some limitations with it as well but yes it's still an opportunity but i think what um mc gillis is pointing out is that the the uh what the statue authorizes delegates to the local municipality those options really aren't available as far as we understand right and and i'm totally in agreement with the uh the process that wasn't fully followed by dot when they done the bridge uh that that that's a uh the potential for us to get it get it revisited uh to where you know how that changed the navigation through there from what it was before the bridge was modified so i'll be glad to have some some meetings with you and see what we can get get pulled together to get uh something to be able to be presented to uh fdep fwc state and everybody on this um so yeah i'll i'll i'll get with you on what what our possibilities are i believe part of the application process is still a resolution from the local government body is that true ms mcgillis um through the vice chair and uh to um mr burkett and to the commission um the point of uh the information about the lack of features in this waterway to trigger municipality action under florida statute 72746 is that city council can't pass an ordinance on this because you don't have the grant of authority because there are no water features triggering that grant of authority so i do point out that this is exactly what the resolution this body passed says or reads it reads specifically that this that this municipality has already acted to the extent that they can act and fwc is now the act or left to do um any of this boat speed regulation by rule very well we'll uh go to our plan b and so i'll i'll be getting with you to get get that legislation or that information pulled together thank you uh the next item is the uh george crady uh state park fishing pier uh i have in the last few weeks met with fdep and discussed with them the the need to come up with a plan um and explain to them that the unknown is worse than the known the people need answers out there they seem to have a uh open mind to come up with a plan so i i don't want to say it's going to go this direction that direction until we get something kind of concrete from them but just uh having that communication and that uh interest uh in helping get the the state park back open on the saw pit side it will be uh tremendous and so that's still a work in progress and so that takes us to the end of our agenda uh do we have any additional comments about any particular items before we adjourn i see no speakers in the queue thank you everyone oh before i do adjourn i want to say this is uh will be the last meeting of the uh council year as the leadership is in place so i want to thank every commissioner on here representative black everybody mr holes everybody uh for all their work miss mcgillis dr pinto captain suber i want to thank uh councilman amaro for his leadership on this uh to help get our waterways in a better place uh i commend you all on your volunteerism to step forward for the city and and everything that that you do i'm not sure who will be from the council back home on the commission and uh if i am i'll i'm glad to be here if not keep up the good work and but you'll probably still see me here at some point so thank you all and we are adjourned starts from scratch fresh chicken clean prep and season the right way here it's not about covering the flavor with sauce it's about building it from the ground up every sauce is made in-house crafted to complement the seasoning and yeah it might cost