| Moody Shipyard vote |
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The City Council is scheduled to vote on ordinances 2007-355 and
356, relating to Moody Shipyard, tonight, 5/8/07.
Moody Shipyard is located on the western side of Atlantic Boulevard
and the Intracoastal Waterway. The owner wants to redevelop the
77.22 acre area in retail and residential. The Public Trust has
been urging the City Council to vote against this project because
36 of those acres are salt marsh and the ordinances as they are
written do nothing to protect that area. We would be in favor of a
redevelopment project limited to the upland area if the salt marsh
was put into the land use designation Conservation and the project
was otherwise compatible with the surrounding developments and
hurricane evacuation requirements.
The proposed development could include as many as a thousand residential units despite the fact that Moody Shipyard is in the Coastal High Hazard Area (CHHA). This area would need to be evacuated in the case of even a category one hurricane. The Department of Community Affairs (DCA) found that the evacuation time for the area was already more than 20 hours, more than the adopted evacuation clearance time of 16.75 hours. Because of the wetlands, the traffic, and the CHHA designation both the DCA and the Northeast Florida Regional Planning Council recommended that the City Council deny the application. Despite this, the City's Land Use and Zoning Committee voted for approval. This area of salt marsh provides particular benefits to the surrounding communities, specifically the Pablo Point community which is behind Moody Shipyard and has also come out against the development. The salt marsh protects against flooding, storm surge, and contamination. The marsh also provides habitat for the estuarine ecosystem. The City should not hope that the salt marsh will be protected by another entity or rely on developer promises of a conservation easement that have yet to materialize. The City should step up, deny this application and only accept another that designates the 36 acres of wetlands conservation land. |
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