Rezoning of the Ortega River Boat Yard and other marinas is under
consideration by the Jacksonville City Council. The marina and docks are
to be replaced by high density housing, by an Atlanta developer.

This will result in the loss of many slips and the Ortega River Boat
Yard. The Ortega River Boat Yard is the last remaining working boatyard
in Jacksonville, and is in such continuous use that you must make an
appointment for drydock time. It also dry stores many boats and has wet
slips for 50 more.

As many of you are aware, this developer recently eliminated Pablo Creek
Marina and converted the property to Condos. This eliminated more then
100 dry storage spaces and 40 slips. It has lead to a big shortage of
dock space and large price increases due to lack of supply and high demand.

If allowed to eliminate Ortega River Boat Yard, the out of town
developer will make a short term profit, but the city will lose its last
maintenance yard and many more valuable boat slips.

This will injure the boating community at large, and cause great
economic loss to the city. We will no longer be able to host large
baot-related events, because there will not be enough dock space nor
fuel pumps to service local boaters. Many local businesses depend on the
boating for their livelihood. The proposed action will cause many to go
out of business, with a coorsponding loss of jobs.

The first hearing will be on January 29th at the City Council Chambers.
117 West Duval Street, 1st Floor.

call 904-630-1404 to confirm times and dates

Planning Commission 1-29-04 @ 1pm
Committee Adoption 2-3-04 5pm
City Council Adoption 2-10-04 6pm

Refer to Rezoning Ordinance #2004-12 PUD Ortega Marina

The following is a list of council members with their email addresses
and phone. The mailing address for all members is:
Councelperson
City Hall
117 West Duval Street
Ste. 425
Jacksonville, Florida 32202

An asterisk (*) indicates a member of the Land Use and Zoning Commission

Dist 1 Lake Ray 630-1389
Dist 2 Lynette Self 630-1392
Dist 3 Jerry Holland * 630-1386
Dist 4 Suzanne Jenkins 630-1394
Dist 5 Art Shad * 630-1382
Dist 6 Sharon Copeland * 630-1388
Dist 7 Pat Lockett-Felder 630-1384
Dist 8 Gwen Yates 630-1385
Dist 9 Reggie Fullwood * 630-1395
Dst 10 Mia Jones 630-1684
Dst 11 Warren Alverez * 630-1383
Dst 12 Daniel Davis 630-1380
Dst 13 Arthur Graham 630-1397
Dst 14 Michael Corrigan* 630-1390

AT Large Councel Members

Group 1 Faye Rustin 630-1393
Group 2 Elaine Brown * 630-1381
Group 3 Lad Daniels 630-1396
Group 4 Kevin Hyde 630-1398
Group 5 Glorious Jackson 630-1387

You are urged to contact your council representitive to oppose rezoning
of any more marina space until public use replacement spaces are provided.

Hi Frank,

The same thing is happening with the Beach Marine marina on the ICW at Beach
Blvd. Apparently, a developer is planning on purchasing the entire site and
building condos. The slips are to be 'reserved' for condo owners, and the
400 or so folks who have their boats in either dry storage or wet slips are
being forced to move. A close friend of mine who stored his boat at Beach
Marine saw the writing on the wall and was able to get dry storage slot over
at Pablo Creek Marina.

The wet/dry storage accomodations in Jacksonville has become so tight that
the impending closure of the Ortega yard along with the Beach Marine marina
will likely push the supply/demand ratio to the extreme. Folks here are
either 1) happy as hell to have a slip and will hang onto it at all costs,
or 2) wondering whether to sell the big boat before storage costs go to
$10.00/ft/month., or 3) considering a trailerable 30 footer so we can tell
the marinas to shove off.

I saw a beautiful 48' Bluewater Coastal Cruiser sitting at Beach Marine
listed in Boats.com for about 180 grand - I shudder to think how that boat
owner must feel knowing his slip is going out from under him.

Kevin

Thanks for responding Kevin, I invite you to join the "parade" and come
to the council meetings. Writing to a rep or council member would help too.

Capt. Frank
www.home.earthlink.net/~aartworks

Wile E. Coyote wrote:

Hi Frank,

The same thing is happening with the Beach Marine marina on the ICW at Beach
Blvd. Apparently, a developer is planning on purchasing the entire site and
building condos. The slips are to be 'reserved' for condo owners, and the
400 or so folks who have their boats in either dry storage or wet slips are
being forced to move. A close friend of mine who stored his boat at Beach
Marine saw the writing on the wall and was able to get dry storage slot over
at Pablo Creek Marina.

The wet/dry storage accomodations in Jacksonville has become so tight that
the impending closure of the Ortega yard along with the Beach Marine marina
will likely push the supply/demand ratio to the extreme. Folks here are
either 1) happy as hell to have a slip and will hang onto it at all costs,
or 2) wondering whether to sell the big boat before storage costs go to
$10.00/ft/month., or 3) considering a trailerable 30 footer so we can tell
the marinas to shove off.

I saw a beautiful 48' Bluewater Coastal Cruiser sitting at Beach Marine
listed in Boats.com for about 180 grand - I shudder to think how that boat
owner must feel knowing his slip is going out from under him.

Kevin