Mayport residents opposed to cruise ship terminal

[thelakelander]

Residents opposed to terminal

By Special to the Times-Union

Long before the Mayport Waterfront Partnership was formed, the residents of this village were hard at work doing what we could to make our haven a better place to live.

Visioning sessions were held. We made all sorts of plans. We prioritized those plans as to which were doable right away, which were long range and which ones just weren't within reach.

We fought the drug trafficking problem that plagues many neighborhoods. We lobbied City Hall for a park for our kids to play in.

We whined until we got part of a sewer system, which benefited mainly the businesses along Ocean Street but not the residences that were our primary goal.

This cruise ship terminal issue was first discussed back in 1977 in a study done by the city of Jacksonville. So, it's not a new idea. The issue has surfaced from time to time over the years.

We were always told that the tide ran too fast along this stretch of the river, so the cruise ship folks would be looking elsewhere for a more suitable place to turn the boats around.

When the partnership started up, everybody got back into the swing of things. We made a lot of progress these past few years and things really started to take shape.

The sewer lines and pump station were completed, and we got a real sidewalk along one side of Ocean Street with the promise of one on the other side as well.

We got street lights along Ocean Street. They have proved to be a favorite target for vandals, but they are absolutely spectacular when you drive into the village at night. And, we are about to get an official sign designating Mayport as a historical place.

Recently, at the Mayport Village Civic Association meeting, which was attended by more than 50 property and business owners, the issue of this cruise terminal was the prime topic of discussion.

When asked if any of those present were in favor of having a cruise ship terminal and a parking ramp in the village, no one answered in favor! All residents present said we don't want it here.

I read an article in the Times- Union saying there was seemingly no opposition to the cruise ship terminal.

This has got to be a crock of bull, because nobody ever took the time to talk to me or any of my neighbors about whether or not we were willing to give up our homes and livelihood so some private outfit can come in and put up a boat dock and a parking ramp.

We do not want to scuttle generations of history, find new places to live and maybe even relocate businesses.

One thing I know for sure, my fellow Mayport neighbors are very much opposed to what we are hearing about proposed changes to this village.

DAVID FISHER,

vice chairman,

Mayport Waterfront

Partnership,

Mayport

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/101907/opl_209690121.shtml

[Jason]

How could the tourist draw of a cruis ship terminal be a negative for Mayport??

The buisnesses there draw almost completely from its own residential base.  Wouldn't more people frequenting the area help rejuvenate the sleepy town?

[thelakelander]

I think they want it to remain a sleepy residential village, as opposed to a heavily traveled tourism magnet.

[lindab]

Mayport residents have invested several years in working for a Waterfront Community designation which would enhance their fishing village heritage, small cottages, boating and fishing activities. This is their community and they fit snugly between the Navy, the ferry terminal, and the marshes and waterways of the river.

Cruise terminals with pretty Carnival ships sitting at the end of a pier and no other infrastructure are non-existent. They demand transfer facilities for food and water and fuel, waste removal. They need security lighting and port administration offices. Passengers entering and leaving the terminal need parking and roads to accommodate the flood of traffic. These terminals are a big deal. Port Everglades is immense but it can give us a preview of Mayport's future.

[thelakelander]

Cruise ship terminal hits more turbulence

Some Mayport village residents make it clear they don't like the proposal.

By DREW DIXON, Shorelines

MAYPORT - About two dozen Mayport village residents attended the Mayport Waterfront Partnership meeting and quickly turned to challenging a proposal to turn the area into a $60 million cruise ship terminal.

"You bring cruise ships in here and you're going to ruin the whole town," Clyde Ogilvie said at Tuesday's Waterfront Partnership meeting.

Ogilvie and the other residents are part of the Mayport Civic Association, which unanimously approved a resolution last week opposing the cruise ship proposal being researched by the Jacksonville Port Authority. Noting the increasing concerns, JPA Chief Financial Officer Ron Baker attended Tuesday's partnership meeting to try to allay concerns that a cruise ship terminal would wipe out one of the nation's oldest fishing villages, which was established in 1563.

Baker said the cruise ship terminal is only a proposal and there's no promise of executing the plan at this time and JPA is still reviewing what to do with the cruise ship industry in the long term. Cruise ships currently dock along the St. Johns River west of the Dames Point bridge.

"We do not have a solution to that," Baker said. "Anybody who says that the board has endorsed a solution and they've decided what they're going to do and where they're going to go, staff has not made a proposal to our board yet. We are in a due diligence period to look and see if the facts will allow us to do whatever it is we have in our minds to do."

Baker said the current facility for cruise ship docking is temporary and was never designed to be a permanent facility. He also said Mayport village is only under conceptual consideration and it would be about two years before any work could possibly be done, and that would come only after extensive regulatory and legislative approval.

But many residents remain skeptical. Sandra Tuttle, a native of the village, said the JPA shouldn't even consider Mayport as a cruise ship terminal and the port agency should move those operations to downtown.

"Take your mess to Talleyrand," Tuttle said, prompting laughs from the crowd. "Don't bring it to Mayport because we're not going to take it sitting down."

Then Mark Williams, a charter boat captain and landowner in Mayport village, challenged the port's connections to Vestcor Cos., a development firm that has purchased seven parcels of land in the village. Williams said Vestcor is promoting the cruise ship terminal concept, which in turn would bring profits to the company if some of the land is sold to JPA for the terminal and parking development.

"Vestcor is making the calls," said Williams, who stood up and shook his index finger. "Vestcor is making these [property] purchases right now. They're not speculating on this. You can believe they've got investors they're paying money back for the properties they've already got right here.

"They're not making quarter-million-dollar deals for no freaking reason. You can believe they're not going to speculate in this village - not one penny unless they've got something going for them," Williams said.

Vestcor Chairman John Rood has said his company wants to sell some of its property in the village to the JPA for development of a cruise ship terminal. That would allow the relocation of planned condominiums on land that Vestcor is currently negotiating for purchase in other areas of the village away from the waterfront where the condos could be constructed.

Rood was blunt, as quoted in an Oct. 6 Shorelines article. "My preference right now, if we could reach an agreement, would be to sell it to the port for a terminal because I have additional land that we would develop into condominiums." But he also said Vestcor would develop condos in Mayport village even without the cruise ship terminal.

It was Rood who first suggested to the JPA this summer that a terminal be considered at Mayport village after visiting with cruise ship company officials in the Bahamas, where Rood is the former U.S. ambassador.

Baker this week down-played Rood and Vestcor's influence over any JPA investigation into the possibility of a cruise ship terminal at Mayport.

"Have we been approached by people to look at what could possibly happen at Mayport? The answer to that is yes," Baker said, adding JPA has also been approached by interests on the north side of Jacksonville. "The question is, do we have a contractual relationship today with Vestcor? And the answer to that is no, we do not.

"You'll have to ask Vestcor why they're doing what they're doing. ... People that work on our behalf are people who we have contractual relationships with. I can't speak for Vestcor."

Dean Singleton, a Waterfront Partnership board member and owner of Singleton's Seafood Shack in the village, said he's still skeptical and he's out to protect the fishing industry. He said the cruise industry would destroy the shrimping industry that has operated out of Mayport for generations.

"Say they put an 800- to 1,000-foot [cruise] ship out here. There will not be a shrimp boat in Mayport," Singleton said.

Another partnership board member, Tyler Greenwell, said there's too much anxiety surrounding a proposal that's far from being finalized.

"What we need to do is look at the facts," Greenwell said. "There's been so much misrepresentation, I think, of what's getting ready to happen here. We need to give the people that are in the process of doing whatever it is they're going to do an opportunity to categorically say, 'This is what we're going to do.' "

Baker said he and the JPA will do everything within the agency's power to keep the village residents informed and he acknowledged the JPA should have communicated with the residents earlier about the cruise ship terminal proposal.

Baker also offered to attend every monthly Mayport Waterfront Partnership meeting until the cruise ship terminal proposal runs its course.

drew.dixon@jacksonville.com, (904) 249-4947, ext. 6313

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/102007/nes_209759822.shtml

[raheem942]

Cruise ship terminal hits more turbulence

Some Mayport village residents make it clear they don't like the proposal.

By DREW DIXON, Shorelines

MAYPORT - About two dozen Mayport village residents attended the Mayport Waterfront Partnership meeting and quickly turned to challenging a proposal to turn the area into a $60 million cruise ship terminal.

"You bring cruise ships in here and you're going to ruin the whole town," Clyde Ogilvie said at Tuesday's Waterfront Partnership meeting.

Ogilvie and the other residents are part of the Mayport Civic Association, which unanimously approved a resolution last week opposing the cruise ship proposal being researched by the Jacksonville Port Authority. Noting the increasing concerns, JPA Chief Financial Officer Ron Baker attended Tuesday's partnership meeting to try to allay concerns that a cruise ship terminal would wipe out one of the nation's oldest fishing villages, which was established in 1563.

Baker said the cruise ship terminal is only a proposal and there's no promise of executing the plan at this time and JPA is still reviewing what to do with the cruise ship industry in the long term. Cruise ships currently dock along the St. Johns River west of the Dames Point bridge.

"We do not have a solution to that," Baker said. "Anybody who says that the board has endorsed a solution and they've decided what they're going to do and where they're going to go, staff has not made a proposal to our board yet. We are in a due diligence period to look and see if the facts will allow us to do whatever it is we have in our minds to do."

Baker said the current facility for cruise ship docking is temporary and was never designed to be a permanent facility. He also said Mayport village is only under conceptual consideration and it would be about two years before any work could possibly be done, and that would come only after extensive regulatory and legislative approval.

But many residents remain skeptical. Sandra Tuttle, a native of the village, said the JPA shouldn't even consider Mayport as a cruise ship terminal and the port agency should move those operations to downtown.

"Take your mess to Talleyrand," Tuttle said, prompting laughs from the crowd. "Don't bring it to Mayport because we're not going to take it sitting down."

Then Mark Williams, a charter boat captain and landowner in Mayport village, challenged the port's connections to Vestcor Cos., a development firm that has purchased seven parcels of land in the village. Williams said Vestcor is promoting the cruise ship terminal concept, which in turn would bring profits to the company if some of the land is sold to JPA for the terminal and parking development.

"Vestcor is making the calls," said Williams, who stood up and shook his index finger. "Vestcor is making these [property] purchases right now. They're not speculating on this. You can believe they've got investors they're paying money back for the properties they've already got right here.

"They're not making quarter-million-dollar deals for no freaking reason. You can believe they're not going to speculate in this village - not one penny unless they've got something going for them," Williams said.

Vestcor Chairman John Rood has said his company wants to sell some of its property in the village to the JPA for development of a cruise ship terminal. That would allow the relocation of planned condominiums on land that Vestcor is currently negotiating for purchase in other areas of the village away from the waterfront where the condos could be constructed.

Rood was blunt, as quoted in an Oct. 6 Shorelines article. "My preference right now, if we could reach an agreement, would be to sell it to the port for a terminal because I have additional land that we would develop into condominiums." But he also said Vestcor would develop condos in Mayport village even without the cruise ship terminal.

It was Rood who first suggested to the JPA this summer that a terminal be considered at Mayport village after visiting with cruise ship company officials in the Bahamas, where Rood is the former U.S. ambassador.

Baker this week down-played Rood and Vestcor's influence over any JPA investigation into the possibility of a cruise ship terminal at Mayport.

"Have we been approached by people to look at what could possibly happen at Mayport? The answer to that is yes," Baker said, adding JPA has also been approached by interests on the north side of Jacksonville. "The question is, do we have a contractual relationship today with Vestcor? And the answer to that is no, we do not.

"You'll have to ask Vestcor why they're doing what they're doing. ... People that work on our behalf are people who we have contractual relationships with. I can't speak for Vestcor."

Dean Singleton, a Waterfront Partnership board member and owner of Singleton's Seafood Shack in the village, said he's still skeptical and he's out to protect the fishing industry. He said the cruise industry would destroy the shrimping industry that has operated out of Mayport for generations.

"Say they put an 800- to 1,000-foot [cruise] ship out here. There will not be a shrimp boat in Mayport," Singleton said.

Another partnership board member, Tyler Greenwell, said there's too much anxiety surrounding a proposal that's far from being finalized.

"What we need to do is look at the facts," Greenwell said. "There's been so much misrepresentation, I think, of what's getting ready to happen here. We need to give the people that are in the process of doing whatever it is they're going to do an opportunity to categorically say, 'This is what we're going to do.' "

Baker said he and the JPA will do everything within the agency's power to keep the village residents informed and he acknowledged the JPA should have communicated with the residents earlier about the cruise ship terminal proposal.

Baker also offered to attend every monthly Mayport Waterfront Partnership meeting until the cruise ship terminal proposal runs its course.

drew.dixon@jacksonville.com, (904) 249-4947, ext. 6313

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/102007/nes_209759822.shtml

ok first of mayport is opposed to any thing big they want to stay a samll fish ing  village with shrimp and hookers........a sailors paridise i think that we should do it any ways its not like thoses loser can afford to go on a cruise  so there base market is west of the intercoastal anyways trust me ....i used to live their and thoses idots wouldnt apporve of jesus building a homeless shelter there ....so lets completely disrequard thoese beach folks