Planning board to ask commission for Sadler Road overlay memo, working group and targeted outreach

The Fernandina Beach Planning Advisory Board on June 4 agreed to advance planning for a Sadler Road commercial overlay and to send a short memo to the City Commission asking that a citizen working group be formed to guide more detailed design and public outreach.

The board heard a staff presentation of a three-page summary and a parcel-level spreadsheet that included zones, acreage and building-use data. Mia, a staff member who led the presentation, told the board the overlay process is still at the mapping-and-research stage and "is a very engaged process that would probably take about a year and a half to 2 years to fully implement." She asked members what additional data and stakeholders they wanted included before broader public engagement.

Members pressed staff for more precise metrics. "It would be helpful to have the land area, building area, and land-to-building ratios," one member said, noting those figures would help the board evaluate redevelopment intensity and whether suggested coverages such as 50% or 70% are realistic. Board members also asked staff to calculate impervious-surface percentages for major parcels and to prepare an adjacent-zoning map that highlights nearby residential properties.

Several members emphasized using the city's existing Comprehensive Plan as the policy basis for the overlay. A member cited Objective 104 from the plan, saying it already calls for commercial overlay districts in the Sadler Road corridor and outlines goals such as mixed-use development, pedestrian activity and low-impact development strategies.

On public outreach, the board and staff discussed formats likely to produce actionable input. Staff suggested graphical boards and scenario images so residents could react to concrete options; a public commenter urged an evening-focused, single-session meeting where "everybody's in the same room" rather than a daytime drop-in with posters and anonymous dot-sticker votes.

The board agreed on immediate next steps: draft a short memo describing the Sadler Road study area and the board's purpose in following the Comprehensive Plan; ask the City Commission to consider establishing a working group (modeled on an earlier 8th Street effort); and direct staff to produce the requested research (impervious-surface calculations for major lots, zoning adjacency maps, building square footage and a bulleted list of overlay elements drawn from existing MU/MU-8 code language). Staff also agreed to email the group the 8th Street small-area plan and to return with case studies and examples from other cities.

The board set a tentative follow-up in about three weeks and asked that staff members Kelly and Margaret attend the next meeting if possible so the board has more concrete visuals and technical responses. The memo to the commission will be reviewed by the full board before transmission.

The board did not take a formal vote or adopt ordinance text at the workshop; members framed the action as direction to staff and a request to the commission to authorize a working group and continued planning work.