FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. — The City of Fernandina Beach is looking into building a new park right on the Amelia River waterfront, but not everyone is on board with the plan.
Michael Sharpe is a long time resident of Fernandina Beach and has been fighting the proposed park for years now. He even created a Facebook group with more than 200 members who are also against it.
"That's a beautiful waterfront. There's a walkway along there, it's beautiful. There's nothing wrong with it. There's no reason for us to create a park that's going to be expensive for us to maintain," Sharpe said.
Sharpe said the current pétanque courts already take up too much space, and the new park would cause problems for people coming to the water.
“It doesn't belong here. We need parking. This parking lot right here is full. Right now on a Wednesday, it's full. On the weekends, it's more full," Sharpe said.
Currently, the area has a greenspace, walking path, and pétanque courts, along with dozens of parking spots for both cars and trailers. Charles George, the interim city manager for Fernandina Beach, said city leaders want to create a waterfront destination with a space for kids to play and a pavilion with a stage for music.
"Right now, it's basically just a parking area. So just try to make it more multi-use and more conducive to people coming downtown as tourists to enjoy being next to the waterfront," George explained.
George said they plan to use money from impact fees, which are one time fees imposed on property developers, to pay for the construction of the park. He said no tax payer money will be used and no taxes will be raised.
Sharpe said he is concerned the park would take away much needed parking in the area, and take away boat ramp access. George assured no boat ramps will be removed and they hope to increase parking.
"It's just kind of a gravel area where you kind of park wherever you want to. We'll actually have delineated spaces, so we do gain some more spaces, probably maybe eight to 10 more," George said.
George added the pétanque courts can also be moved for additional space depending on the event.
Sharpe hopes city leaders will wait and listen to residents' concerns before moving forward with this plan. If not, he said he will start gathering signatures to put a referendum on the ballot so voters can decide if they want the park.
"If you put a hardscape in here with a park, you are limiting us, limiting us completely on what we can and cannot do here. It's a bad plan," Sharpe said.
A consulting group was hired to come up with a design for the park. The group will present their proposal at next week's city commission meeting. George said construction could start this year if the plan is approved.