Buffer zone will separate Port Storage Tent from Historic Neighborhood under tentative agreement

Attorney Courtney Gaver makes opening remarks during City/Port mediation hearing

The City of Fernandina Beach and the operators of the Port of Fernandina reached a tentative agreement that would establish buffer zones between the facility's huge fabric storage tent and the adjacent historic residential neighborhood.

The proposed agreement, which must be approved by the City Commission and the Ocean Highway and Port Authority (OHPA), came as a result of a mediation hearing Tuesday at City Hall.

Nassau Terminals LLC, the operators of the port, filed to have the mediation over its erecting the massive tent without obtaining required city building permits and for violating standards of the city's Land Development Code. Nassau Terminals also located the tent at a different location within the port then had been designated by OPHA.

At the hearing before Special Magistrate Scott Steady, the two parties agreed to establish a buffer zone around the Port Operator's administrative office in an historic house located at 501 N. 3rd Street. It was designated "the blue house" for legal purposes in the draft agreement.

A 10-foot vegetative buffer between the rear/western boundary and the side/northern boundary of the blue house will be established to include four shade trees, four understory trees and a continuous, unbroken hedge, double staggered to form a solid visual screen.

Another buffer will be created on the wooded, undeveloped OHPA property next door at 516 N. 3rd Street. That property was designated "the wooded lot" for legal purposes.

The draft settlement states a 10-foot preservation of native, existing vegetation on the western/rear boundary of the "wooded lot" and a 30-foot buffer west of the lot would be maintained.

The port operator's office at 501 N. 3rd Street and OHPA's wooded property next door.

A final version of the agreement will be presented to OHPA for approval at its May 14 meeting followed by a vote of the City Commission in June.

The 22,000 square-foot tent, used to store ship containers, was constructed last August at an alternative location and without the required building permits from the city.

The port operator had filed a petition for relief in accordance with Section 70.51 of the Florida Statutes, which requires a public mediation and hearing be held.

According to the Kelly Gibson, the city's director of planning and conservation, Nassau Marine Terminal sought the building permits after the warehouse had already been erected. She said the port operator also had not received permits for the original site of the warehouse on the port complex.

The application was denied because the warehouse was in violation of the city's Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code. One issue was the requirement of a 30-foot buffer from adjoining structures in the city's Historic District. The port operator ignored that requirement.

The city's notice also stated the building permit was denied because the tent is located in a "flood hazard area."

A follow up hearing is scheduled for June 15 at City Hall in the event either OHPA or the City Commission approves the settlement or seeks to have provisions of the settlement changed.