http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-02-14/story/jea-drops-park-plan-new-jacksonville-power-plant
JEA drops park plan at new Jacksonville power plant
New idea: The $1 million set aside for the project might be used for a park at another location.
Posted: February 14, 2011 - 12:00amPhotos
BRUCE LIPSKY/The Times-Union
JEA has chosen to scrap a pledge it made years ago to build a park at its new Greenland Energy Center, a gas-burning plant off U.S. 1 near Bayard.Infographic
By Steve Patterson
There must be great places on Jacksonville's Southside to spend $1 million helping parks.
But JEA has decided a power plant isn't one of them.
The city-owned utility has chosen to scrap a pledge it made years ago to build a park at its new Greenland Energy Center, a gas-burning plant off U.S. 1 near Bayard that could start operating this summer.
JEA managers say they'll keep a promise to pay for park projects in that area - but want someone in city government to find places nearby to spend it.
"We were really ready to do something creative. But the more we thought about it, we thought it might really not be a very good park," said Nancy Kilgo, JEA's government affairs director.
The idea that it could be a park started a few years ago, when JEA needed government approvals to build the plant in a thinly developed commercial area east of Florida 9A.
The neighborhood's City Council representative then was Art Graham, who Kilgo said wanted the plant to somehow benefit the surrounding area. Graham has been a fan of bike paths, and JEA agreed to add one there, Kilgo said.
Later, the utility started thinking more about the cost of maintaining the area as parkland, plus potential security issues at the plant.
Upkeep costs had already played into JEA's choice two years ago to close access to a nature preserve on the Northside. And the Greenland plant is near a neighborhood of business parks and light industrial property, so it's not the most natural spot for outdoors fun, anyway.
JEA's governing board voted last month to give City Hall the $1 million it set aside for the park.
Parks managers can make some suggestions, but it will be up to the council to spend it, said Kelly Boree, the city's deputy director for recreation and community services.
No problem, said Councilman Dick Brown, who holds the seat Graham vacated and had some initial ideas within minutes of learning of the situation.
Genovar Park, an enclave in Bayard, might be a good target, Brown said, and the newer 9A/Baymeadows Regional Park farther north has a wish list of amenities that managers want to add.
Planners want to add basketball and baseball facilities, but the city's budget worries made that look unlikely.
"There's no money without that million dollars," Brown said.
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Okay, not the worst thing in the world. It seems to me this is really about loss of money for parks; that is, future assistance from JEA for maintenance of park space. But before agreeing to take the money so fast, why not take a breath? I think people of this forum have argued for some paths under utility lines. I don't know if a million is much, but between noting that some paths might be able to run alongside 9A (a future Interstate), in the middle of the city and even to potential future BRT stops, seems like strong cases could be made for winning matching funds. Thoughts?
The money should probably be used to improve maintenance at existing parks.
Agree!
...or here is an idea.
...use it for something electric related by sending the $1 million back to the citizens of Jacksonville to help subsidize private rooftop solar installation so we can break free from JEA's grip, become more enegery independent, reduce pollition, and reduce the need to have to build another power generation station.
Quote from: chipwich on February 14, 2011, 05:45:06 PM
...or here is an idea.
...use it for something electric related by sending the $1 million back to the citizens of Jacksonville to help subsidize private rooftop solar installation so we can break free from JEA's grip, become more enegery independent, reduce pollition, and reduce the need to have to build another power generation station.
Unfortunately, even $1 Million wouldn't make much of a dent. At roughly $45k a pop to do a residential install, that mil would get you 22 installs total.
Ask every Wal-Mart in Jacksonville (all 10 of them) to install solar on their roofs. Interesting impact there.
Quote from: urbanlibertarian on February 14, 2011, 10:59:04 AM
The money should probably be used to improve maintenance at existing parks.
Agree
The 1 million should be used to pay the utility bills for anyone who is unable to pay their bill... :)
Exactly.