Officials and residents outline restoration plans for George Crady Fishing Pier after water, bait station restored

City and state officials and local residents met at a community session to discuss short- and long-term plans for the George Crady Fishing Pier State Park and to announce that water service and a bait-cleaning station had been restored.

Cliff Maxwell, district manager for Northeast Florida State Parks at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, said the department approved reinstalling a bait station and restored water service “last week.” Maxwell said the park’s unit management plan, updated and approved last June, recognizes the pier’s value for shore-based fishing while also noting that “the existing structure has a finite life and it's time to plan for what comes next.”

The meeting focused on immediate comfort and sanitation fixes — picnic tables, shade structures and trash receptacles — and on a longer-term vision that would guide any major repairs or replacement. Rep. Dean Black, a member of the Florida House of Representatives for District 15, urged residents to organize a stakeholder group and offered a small initial pledge: “I will fund the first thousand dollars for that club individually,” he said, describing a potential George Crady Fishing Pier Association to coordinate local feedback and fundraising.

Sen. Tracy Davis, who participated remotely and was represented earlier by Sofia Velasco, described repeated attempts to secure state funding and told the group the state had twice included $500,000 line items in the budget that were subsequently vetoed by the governor. “We actually have gone, and had a half a million dollars secured in the state budget for a couple of years … that item was vetoed by our governor both times,” Davis said.

Several speakers pressed officials for clarity on how local contributions and past emergency money had been used. Rep. Black said the combined local contributions since the program’s start amount to roughly $1.5 million, with about $250,000 currently remaining in the fund, and he urged updated local commitments to show “skin in the game” when seeking state or federal dollars. City representatives noted the original maintenance agreement dates to 2003 and said auditors and the city attorney’s office were still reviewing how past funds were spent.

Councilman Mike Gays, a Jacksonville City Council member representing District 2, and other city officials discussed the Duval side of the structure, which speakers said is deteriorating faster than the Nassau County side. Maxwell said the unit management plan contemplates redesigning the Duval-side access and boat-ramp areas but that formal planning and Duval County input have not yet begun.

Officials also discussed whether to open existing FDOT catwalks for interim access. Maxwell said FDOT is considering opening catwalks in some circumstances but that the department did not have a final decision on broader, ongoing access at the time of the meeting.

Residents emphasized the pier’s social and food-security importance. Latrice Bell, a long-time user of the bridge, said, “We want to go home. We want to go back across the bridge to the Sawpit Bridge,” and other speakers described teaching children to fish and sharing catches with neighbors. Public commenters thanked DEP for turning the water back on and putting a bait table back in place and asked for additional tables and larger openings in bait-table drains to handle cleaning waste.

Next steps identified at the meeting included drafting a joint letter from Jacksonville and Nassau County to DEP formalizing short-term amenity requests (tables, shade, trash receptacles), providing stakeholders a copy of the unit management plan for review, continued coordination among DEP, FDOT, city and county representatives on access and design options, and community organization of a fishing association to help present a unified vision to funders. No formal votes or motions were recorded at the meeting.