One of the provisions the Fernandina Charter Review Board has been considering is a provision prohibiting the sale or long-term leasing of City-owned conservation lands perhaps without a public referendum first.

At this point, the CRC has gone so far as to agree that any such sale or lease longer than 40 years of City-owned recreational or Conservation Land must receive unanimous consent of the City Commission and 70% approval by the voting public. The bad news is that City-owned conservation land could be leased for up to 40 years.

At the February 25th meeting the planning director, Kelly Gibson, told the CRC that she could think of many reasons that the City would want to enter into up to 40-year leases of City-owned conservation land, including partnerships with nonprofits to manage the land and for photography and sight-seeing businesses. She also said that without the right to lease the land, it might should be kept in an “abandoned state”.

Since when would keeping land in its "natural state' be a bad thing? Human sprawl has shrunk our wild lands. As a result, wildlife are struggling to find places to rear their young, feed, and find shelter.

The Nassau County Sierra Club believes that Conservation Land should not be leased. Leasing can open the way for irreparable damage to treed properties, even for a short-term lease.

Leased property could be impacted by the needs to create parking places, facilities, or other improvements. Plus, 40 years is way too long for a lease anyway. We believe there is some discussion to reduce the length of a lease to 15 or 20 years- agreeably this is better- but we stand by our initial opinion of the no lease option.

Please tell the Charter Review Committee your thoughts. Community input is important.

An email address has been set up for the Charter Review Committee: CRC2020@fbfl.org. Emails sent to this address will be received in the City Attorney’s office and promptly forwarded to all members of the Charter Review Committee. Please send emails before June 4th that will express your sentiments. Also, public comment is to be taken at the June 4th meeting at City Hall at 5:00.

If attending in person at City Hall, please arrive at City Hall no later than 4:50 PM to be counted and to complete a speaker form. You will be admitted into City Hall when it is your turn to make your public comments.