JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Mayport Waterfront Partnership Director Bill Gulliford says the historic St. John's Lighthouse in Mayport is not moving.
The partnership held a meeting Tuesday night to address what Gulliford called a "rumor."
Fellow partnership member, Janet Torelli, wrote a blog post and said a contractor told her the lighthouse would be moved. Torelli said no considerations were made about disturbing burial grounds of the historic Mayport Cemetery surrounding the lighthouse. Gulliford said it's not true and no agreement was made.
According to Gulliford, in 2001, a $600,000 bid to move the lighthouse was made and hasn't been acted on since.
"I couldn't even get the people to give a bid or price to move it without giving them $11,000 to do all kinds of studies and location citing," Gulliford said. "It will take a lot of effort if you ever get to that point. So, for 22 years, that's just languished."
At Tuesday's meeting Gulliford listed several things that need to happen for the lighthouse to be moved. Including but not limited to permission from the Navy to move the lighthouse from its property, finding about $2 million to pay to move the lighthouse, and not disturbing the burial grounds.
“All of that was just speculation, the whole project is speculation because you heard the impediments that you’d have to face to move it some of which might be impossible to overcome," Gulliford told First Coast News.
“It was important for me to give my side of the story of what I had heard," Torelli said. "I think it's important for everyone to communicate with one another and I think once that happens, everyone will be back on track."
Gulliford says the Navy doesn’t want the lighthouse on its property and said he would like to see it moved to the waterfront in Mayport Village for people to enjoy it.
A Navy spokesperson could not comment on if the Navy wanted the lighthouse on its property but did tell First Coast News that it would support any legitimate organization's effort to fully fund moving it, as it is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.