The City of Fernandina is a vibrant and diverse community that embraces us economically and socially. From the friendliness of the people to the natural beauty of the landscape, there are countless factors that can make this place a great place to call home.

Residents value community, our outside-oriented lifestyles, our weather, our beautiful surroundings, and our long historical heritage. These are all parts of what makes this community what it is.

Certainly, as a community we will change. Within that, Nassau County Sierra Club sees the need to define development more broadly - defining it to include social as well as economic indicators of progress. Any desire for the local economy to grow and prosper should recognize a balance between the importance of improving the quality of life of citizens and the environment as well as improving the economy’s overall productivity and sustaining healthy income levels.

Development and planned growth initiatives will continue to take hold but they should be community centered and based on maintaining the importance of Fernandina Beach Historical Resources, not robbing them and not changing them.

If we can find this delicate balance, certainly we can initiate the brighter future we all want for this special place.

It seems clear that a lot will be hanging by a thread on the upcoming local November election- a desire would be to protect Land Development Code 1.03.05 so as to protect the current character of the city without the instigation and takeover of 25ft lots changing the density and character of local neighborhoods.

It also seems clear that most residents want to maintain the health and safety protections that are offered under our I-2 Heavy Industrial zoning regulations and Comp Plan.

Just knowing that RYAM (Rayonier Advanced Materials) has permission to put 26.31 million gallons of wastewater discharge into our river per day is worrying; and then we also have Westrock and its discharges. In many cases residents did not realize that such a massive discharge has been coming from the factories daily. How much can our estuary systems handle? Can we also expect discharge increases from the Ethanol Plant? Could the Amelia/St Mary’s River system be at its tipping point ? Do we know even know what that would look like?

Moving towards the fall elections, there will be many competing interests but we must as individual voters find the longterm sustainably and accountability we need as a community.

The question is who will provide that? We cannot continue to allow abuses our natural world and we must not allow the atmosphere of our community to be destroyed. Voices of the community must matter - not be relegated to the end of Commission meetings.

A place with a strong sense of community and plenty of opportunities for social connections can provide a higher quality of life and a greater sense of belonging. The role of community and social connections cannot be overstated when it comes creating a good place to live.

Preserve and promote small-town environment

Protect natural resources and promote sustainability

Expand educational opportunities

We must fight the monied special interests, lobbyists, and large employers that will wield too much influence especially during the upcoming fall election process.

In most instances, power leads to greed. We're not interested in local politicians bending to whomever can donate the most to their campaign nor are we interested in outside monies coming to influence our local elections. A disregard and general lack of awareness of by elected officials and by city staff regarding what locals care about has led to a huge disconnect - that needs to stop.

We are a historic beach community. That's our charm and our legacy to future generations. How many developments are in the planning stages? High rises are not our future, trees are. Development is a threat that we have to deal with. It won't be stopped by being nice, by letting one high rise or densely built project proceed...we have to stop development that's not sustainable, smart, or that reflects our heritage and ambience.

We want nonpartisanship governing and accountability that will tackle the problems of the City.

We want the things that harm our long-term resident quality of life to stop. We think a healthy dose of Skepticism and community participation is a good thing.

Fernandina Beach can be livable forever if we do the right things now:

Nassau Sierra wants special interests out of our Planning Department, out of the City Manager's office and out of our City Commission.

There is only one special interest that should matter...the voice of our residents and the future of the City.