Homeowners wanted it. Neighbors supported it. Nassau County staff endorsed it. And, even the Amelia Baptist Church, which wanted to sell its adjacent property for development, didn't object.
When the Nassau County Planning and Zoning Board cast a 6-0 vote last Monday to deny Canopy/Scenic Road status to Shadow Woods Lane near the roundabout at A1A, the meeting room was in shock.
The Amelia Baptist Church previously proposed partnering with a developer to build two condominium buildings on the riverfront at the end of Shadow Woods Lane and also expand its campus near the roundabout which borders the road. The church has since withdrawn those plans.
Canopy/Scenic Road designation would have set limits on Shadow Woods Lane for the width of the road; the setting of classes of vehicular travel, including weight and height limitations of vehicles; and, tree protection. No trees, except as identified in Florida's Most Invasive Species List which have attained a diameter of eight inches or more at a point four and one‐half feet above average ground level within the zone shall be removed.
"The application for Canopy Road designation from all of the residents of Shadow Woods Lane should have been an easy approval. It met all of the criteria in the county ordinance. Instead, the approval was derailed by a board member who would not accept the answers from county professionals that it was indeed within the parameters of the ordinance," said Lyn Pannone, president of Amelia Tree Conservancy. "At the rate we’ve been going the last few years, Amelia Island will be just like Hilton Head or any other Florida city along the coast, treeless and jammed with traffic. Jacksonville Beach anyone?"
Opposition to the designation was led by board member Ron Flick, a Fernandina Beach developer who is currently embroiled in a dispute with the city over plans to build townhouses on land known as the Tringali property.
Members of the Planning and Zoning Board are appointed by county commissioners. The majority are associated with property development or real estate transactions.
During the nearly two hour hearing, Flick repeatedly raised issues with property rights, right-of-way access and development issues despite county staff providing answers to the contary.
"We had to have an appeal to deal with it (Canopy designation). We have a poorly written regulation that put two people who did not intend to be opposed to one another, you put them in a position to be opposed to one another," Flick asserted in citing a previous case involving a neighborhood and the Tyler Plaza shopping center in Yulee.
"I think the (Shadow Woods) application is short of information that needs clarification before it becomes a canopy road. I think the application is premature," he continued.
Despite the denial, the Shadow Woods Lane canopy petition will now go before the Nassau County Commission for a vote.
Michael Robilotto, who has been working for months with Amelia Baptist Church to find solutions for uses for the Shadow Woods Lane church property, said on Facebook " I spent the last two days trying to process what exactly happened at the Planning and Zoning Board meeting on Tuesday evening. What I saw was as amazing as it was demoralizing."
He maintained that the Planning and Zoning Board vote essentially voided the intent of the Canopy/Scenic Road ordinance.
"If this road cannot be protected as a Canopy Road for the reasons enunciated at this meeting, I am at a further loss to understand how Gerbing Road was approved or how any other similar road to Gerbing or Shadow Woods will ever be approved in the future," Robilotto wrote. "Inasmuch as these are the exact types of roads that are the most likely to have a canopy worth protecting, I am of the opinion that the actions of the Board in this matter served to gut the Canopy Road Ordnance. This cannot be allowed to stand."
Shadow Woods Lane activists said they would approach the county commission after the August elections. They have hired attorney Teresa Prince to rebut arguments that were made by P&Z Board member Flick.
"I am absolutely speechless. Those of you who know me must be shocked. Suffice it to say, tonight we were blindsided by the developers who sit on the Nassau County Planning and Zoning Board," said Jane Collins, a neighbor on the Preserve Buccaneer Trail Facebook page. "What we all need to do is to realize the power those who sit on boards have and that if we aren’t vigilant, they will pave paradise, whether we like it or not."
Lisa Giza, an environmental science teacher at Fernandina Beach High School who lives on Shadow Wood Lane, told the board, the loss of trees greatly impacts wildlife on the island.
"When we have postage stamps for wildlife to live on and they no longer have corridors to traverse, it can be devastating for them," she said.
Comments