Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Infrastructure topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board approves seawall and marina overhaul, asks staff to square off pier design and add shade considerations
Summary
The council approved a resiliency wall along South Front Street and a waterfront redevelopment plan that demolishes Brett’s Waterway Café and rebuilds the boardwalk and docks; approval included a condition that staff revisit deck geometry (make it more rectilinear) and consider benches and shade in later phases.
Fernandina Beach’s Historic District Council approved two city‑sponsored projects designed to harden and reconfigure the downtown waterfront: a sheet‑pile resiliency wall along South Front Street and a coordinated demolition and marina rehabilitation that includes rebuilding the boardwalk, docks and open‑space improvements.
Deputy city manager (presentation) described the capital‑project process and framed the resiliency work as part of a longer adaptation plan. Staff said the resiliency wall design is a sheet‑pile wall with a concrete cap, with the top set at approximately 9 feet NAVD88 and an expected visible height of about 4–5 feet above nearby grade. "This plan for the resiliency wall is compatible with the city's newly adopted adaptation plan," staff said during the presentation.
The marina and boardwalk design prompted the most extended discussion. Consultants presented a configuration the design team described as a single, largely open deck with gangways to floating docks; the schematic was colloquially described in the meeting as a "seahorse" shape. Public commenter Eric Bartelt raised engineering concerns about gangway lengths and ADA compliance and asked how the proposed deck elevation would integrate with the floodwall and the riverwalk. "If you change that, gangways ... are not gonna be ADA compliant because they're gonna be too short," Bartelt said.
Board members and staff debated elevating the deck to 9 feet (to reduce flooding days) versus a lower elevation (around 7.5 feet) to avoid very long ADA gangways and complex openings in the floodwall. Staff said they had advocated initially for 9 feet but the team selected a compromise (about 7.5 feet) after weighing fueling and utility routing, ramp lengths and constructability. Project timing was a factor: staff planned to advertise for bids in early April to take advantage of a favorable bidding environment and meet event schedules, which limited how long the design team could iterate.
After hours of technical and design discussion the board approved the demolition and rehabilitation project with a stated condition: staff and the design team should return to the board with a revised pier/deck geometry that is more rectilinear ("more square and less polymorphic"), include additional consideration of shade, seating and other amenities for future phases, and report back on ADA gangway solutions and floodwall openings. The board's conditional approval keeps the project on a path to bid while preserving the council’s ability to review final design refinements.
Funding and next steps: staff said a state allocation of approximately $4 million will fund the seawall portion; the city obtained a line of credit for about $7 million intended to cover demolition, pier replacement and marina rehabilitation. The city expects a multi‑phase procurement and a roughly 16–18 month construction schedule once bids are awarded.
