Last modified 6/23/2008 - 9:53 pm
Originally created 062508
By DREW DIXON, Shorelines
After holding two tumultuous public meetings through the past year, trying to mediate debates between beach access advocates and conservationists and rewriting a management plan three times for Huguenot Memorial Park, Jacksonville officials are basically starting the process over.
It's been a long and difficult task trying to figure out how to control public access to the city's only place where people can drive on the beach.
About a month after completing a 58-page document that was supposed to be the final draft, the Jacksonville Recreation and Community Services Division is revising it again.
"I think the issue's not the time so much, but getting it done right," said Scott Shine, president of the beach access advocacy group Florida Open Beaches Foundation. "So many changes have been made since public hearing that it's appropriate to bring it back to the public and the advisory board for review."
He and those who want to protect birds and other species on the oceanfront park off Heckscher Drive had expressed concern that the most recent plan for park managers to decide who gets into the park on any given day is too arbitrary.
Nathan Rezeau, the city's acting division chief of Waterfront Management and Programming, said Monday that they want to address all the comments made to the plan under revision.
"We got more [comments]. I think people wanted more explanation and detail," Rezeau said. "It's going back and putting in clarifications. We want to present this as a final draft. We want to put in [the plan] when calls are made to close the beach."
The park's beach could be closed to motorists when the shoreline overcrowds on weekends. The park is most popular between March 1 and Sept. 30 when as many as 6,000 vehicles visit the park on weekends.
For the new version, the city is considering calling on scientists and regulators to say how traffic should be controlled, depending on safety issues or wildlife issues. "We are proposing that we convene a committee that would provide input in making that decision, specifically for the wildlife situation," Rezeau said.
The revisions to the management plan will be distributed to the City Council, Huguenot Park Advisory Board and other government officials July 10. Then it will go to a public town hall meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7, at the First Coast High School auditorium, 590 Duval Station Road. A similar town hall meeting in February turned into a contentious debate between beachgoers and conservationists.
Rezeau said the plan will go to the City Council Tuesday, Aug. 12, and to state and federal officials for review by the end of September.
Through the debates, beach access advocates have called for limited controls on availability to the shoreline while conservationists worry too many people on the beach will threaten rare, endangered species of water fowl and other wildlife.
Shine said he's hopeful the next draft will heed criticism that beach closures left up to the park's management are too arbitrary.
"I'm feeling good. I think that we've taken a lot of the things in the plan that were on the wrong course and put them on the right course," Shine said.
Julie Wraithmell, wildlife policy coordinator for the Audubon Society of Florida, said while she may differ with Shine, she agrees the plan needs revisions.
"I think the city is in the position of having to bring together stakeholders ... and pleasing regulatory agencies. It's a delicate dance and that's why we're seeing so many variations of the plan," said Wraithmell, who is also on the park's advisory board, as is Shine.
Drew Dixon can also be reached at (904) 249-4947, ext. 6313.
