The Landing owners issue ultimatum for future development

[spuwho]

I wonder what the city's offer and solution was?

Action News Jax contacted the city about the business partnership and they provided us with this statement:

Since taking office, Mayor Lenny Curry has continued to demonstrate his commitment to the development and improvement of downtown Jacksonville. As a notable and recognized landmark, the Landing should be flourishing and contributing to the area's economic growth and success. The mayor and his administration have met with Mr. Sleiman on several occasions to discuss opportunities and options for improvement. Sleiman Enterprises has demonstrated no interest in our offer and solution. Sleiman Enterprises is the obstacle. It is clear that the Landing is being mismanaged. The Mayor will not ask taxpayers to bail out a mismanaged development. Because there is pending litigation, there is no additional information to provide at this time."  - Marsha Oliver, Director, Public Affairs

That is pretty straight forward. I would say its going to court.

Hopefully people wont fall for the media blitz like the Rockville promoter pulled.

[Tacachale]

I wonder what the city's offer and solution was?

Action News Jax contacted the city about the business partnership and they provided us with this statement:

Since taking office, Mayor Lenny Curry has continued to demonstrate his commitment to the development and improvement of downtown Jacksonville. As a notable and recognized landmark, the Landing should be flourishing and contributing to the area's economic growth and success. The mayor and his administration have met with Mr. Sleiman on several occasions to discuss opportunities and options for improvement. Sleiman Enterprises has demonstrated no interest in our offer and solution. Sleiman Enterprises is the obstacle. It is clear that the Landing is being mismanaged. The Mayor will not ask taxpayers to bail out a mismanaged development. Because there is pending litigation, there is no additional information to provide at this time."  - Marsha Oliver, Director, Public Affairs

That is pretty straight forward. I would say its going to court.

Hopefully people wont fall for the media blitz like the Rockville promoter pulled.

Wow, that's a pretty strong statement. I guess we can rule out anything happening until Sleiman sells (or changes), or another Sleiman-friendly mayor takes office.

[thelakelander]

I think we get too much into the weeds when trying to pinpoint what every specific activity and option engage the river is (although accommodating tourism activities should play an important role as well).

The Montreal example of jet boat tours was a creative use that worked within their local urban context and river current conditions.  I did not mean to imply that this particular use would be feasible for Jacksonville.  In Jax, there may be a variety of uses well beyond our limited understanding of what's feasible within our local context.  I actually don't believe its our place to decide or micro manage every use that may be feasible within our setting. 

My perspective places more focus on clustering the investments we do make and stripping down the regulatory barriers that stop synergy and individual creativity to having an impact on the downtown setting. When market rate forces are allowed to have an impact on downtown's future, I believe we'll discover things we've never known were even possible in Jacksonville.  However, this approach means taking our hands out of the cookie jar and allowing others to have some crumbs, letting things evolve organically a bit more than they do today.  For whatever reasons, since the Haydon Burns era, politically we've struggled with situations that allow more citizens and market forces to come to the table.  Unfortunately, this results in us wasting millions of tax dollars being spent on the name of revitalization.

You're right when it comes to the tourist stuff, but I doubt most of the rest (piers, green space, playgrounds, kayaking spots) could or would be done without the public sector taking the lead and fronting most of the costs.

COJ should lead by making sure its public investments are inclusive of the general population and clustered together, within a pedestrian scale setting, in order to build synergy.  Yes, this would mean making public investments in the heart of a designated area a priority over those on the fringe.  Yes, it would mean identifying areas for green space, playgrounds, kayaking spots, etc.  It would mean taking a lead on reviewing and modifying regulations that slow the market or ridding itself of key sites and buildings at a discount to encourage greater and quicker redevelopment. However, it does not necessarily mean having to front the majority of capital costs or attempting to pinpoint how spaces should be used at the minute level.  It also doesn't mean making a determination of the feasibility of a private sector business, like a tour or charter fishing operation.

Probably why more of it hasn't been done.

CW Boyer has been pretty successful in coordinating this type of funding and activity during her term with the private sector. For example, San Marco is going to end up with a nice shared use path that Baptist Health and the infill project at Hendricks will foot most of the bill for.  Another riverwalk segment is being built as a part of another apartment development in Riverside.  Then FDOT is footing the bill for the shared use path across I-95 as a part of that roadway expansion project.  These are all examples of public improvements being funded by the private sector and other existing funding pots, through coordination of projects.  When complete, the use of the facility will end up helping stimulate more mixed-use infill development in Northern San Marco and the Southbank. These options have always been around, it just took someone like CW Boyer to utilize the tool of coordination.

[CityLife]

The river is brown due to naturally occurring tannins... not the ocean or pollution.

Most of the waterways in Florida that people actually use look pretty much like that, too. The Gulf and the ocean in much of SE Florida are clearer, but the inland waterways (where most people boat) all have pretty much that same dark, tea-stain color because the same dynamics are at play. Not all are as dark as the St. Johns, but the Intracoastal, for instance, looks like that all the way down to Miami. So do the Caloosahatchee River, the Hillsborough River, and the Everglades. I don't think that the color of the St. Johns (or the fact that it flows north) has much, if any, impact on how many people boat on it compared to other factors.

You might want to leave Jax a bit more if you think the Intercoastal looks like it does in Jax all the way to Miami....

LOL, nice try, but that isn't what I said. I said the inland waterways have the dark tea color across the state because the same processes are at work. "Not all are as dark as the St. Johns", but even in places where the ocean is clearer, the Intracoastal et al are generally noticeably darker, and yes, that's true pretty much down to Miami.

You said, "but the inland waterways (where most people boat) all have pretty much that same dark, tea-stain color because the same dynamics are at play. Not all are as dark as the St. Johns, but the Intracoastal, for instance, looks like that all the way down to Miami."

I don't need to use a stock photo to know what I'm talking about. I currently live part time in South Florida, grew up visiting family all over South Florida and have a mother in law that lives 5 miles south of Ponce Inlet on the Indian River. The water is significantly clearer in all of these areas here than it is in Jax. I'm sure there are some discharge areas where water is murky, but there are many clear spots (and certainly many non-chocolate milk spots). Google Peanut Island and Disappearing Island, look at the amount of boats there on a weekend and get back to me about water quality not impacting boating....

Well, you've changed your tack so many times in this discussion that it's hard to reckon what you're trying to say Your initial point was that due to the dark water and the fact that the river flows north, local boaters have better options nearby. I don't believe either of those are significant factors, for the reasons I and others gave, but it does seem obvious that in Downtown Jax at least, there are a lot fewer boaters (and people in general) than in other parts of the region or elsewhere. Your subsequent argument that the water color contributes to fewer people boating in the Jax area compared to other parts of the state may well be true, but I don't know what your point is. Jacksonville isn't the vacationing hotspot that other parts of Florida are, either. We wouldn't have to compete with those places to build a working waterfront.

My initial statement was that the river near Jax is dark partially because it flows north (also partially due to tannin). Because of the sheer size and volume of the river flow, it does not allow salt water intrusion (clear water) into the river as much as other water bodies in the state that have less volume. Therefore, there aren't things like Peanut Island, Disappearing Island, and the numerous clear water sandbar hangouts that line the east coast of Florida. Whether or not we can agree on the root cause of the water quality differences, they are absolute and undisputable.

Due to the aforementioned water quality diferences, Jax is not a weekend destination for boaters (as NSB, St. Auggie, and South Florida are). Additionally, locals are less likely to own boats based on my experiences.

The entire point was that Jax is at a competitive disadvantage from a boating/water activation perspective in comparison to other parts of the state, and needs to do something unique and substantial to drive more users if it ever wants to activate the river...And as Lake has pointed out, all efforts don't need to be tailored to boaters to due accessibility reasons.

[thelakelander]

I wonder what the city's offer and solution was?

Action News Jax contacted the city about the business partnership and they provided us with this statement:

Since taking office, Mayor Lenny Curry has continued to demonstrate his commitment to the development and improvement of downtown Jacksonville. As a notable and recognized landmark, the Landing should be flourishing and contributing to the area's economic growth and success. The mayor and his administration have met with Mr. Sleiman on several occasions to discuss opportunities and options for improvement. Sleiman Enterprises has demonstrated no interest in our offer and solution. Sleiman Enterprises is the obstacle. It is clear that the Landing is being mismanaged. The Mayor will not ask taxpayers to bail out a mismanaged development. Because there is pending litigation, there is no additional information to provide at this time."  - Marsha Oliver, Director, Public Affairs

That is pretty straight forward. I would say its going to court.

Hopefully people wont fall for the media blitz like the Rockville promoter pulled.

Wow, that's a pretty strong statement. I guess we can rule out anything happening until Sleiman sells (or changes), or another Sleiman-friendly mayor takes office.

Yeah, this pretty much sums up the Landing's situation. Sleiman should maintain/paint/pressure wash the existing structure and sign long term leases for the space.  No $12 million incentive to demolish and rebuild will be coming anytime soon.

[FlaBoy]

I wonder what the city's offer and solution was?

Action News Jax contacted the city about the business partnership and they provided us with this statement:

Since taking office, Mayor Lenny Curry has continued to demonstrate his commitment to the development and improvement of downtown Jacksonville. As a notable and recognized landmark, the Landing should be flourishing and contributing to the area's economic growth and success. The mayor and his administration have met with Mr. Sleiman on several occasions to discuss opportunities and options for improvement. Sleiman Enterprises has demonstrated no interest in our offer and solution. Sleiman Enterprises is the obstacle. It is clear that the Landing is being mismanaged. The Mayor will not ask taxpayers to bail out a mismanaged development. Because there is pending litigation, there is no additional information to provide at this time."  - Marsha Oliver, Director, Public Affairs

That is pretty straight forward. I would say its going to court.

Hopefully people wont fall for the media blitz like the Rockville promoter pulled.

Wow, that's a pretty strong statement. I guess we can rule out anything happening until Sleiman sells (or changes), or another Sleiman-friendly mayor takes office.

Yeah, this pretty much sums up the Landing's situation. Sleiman should maintain/paint/pressure wash the existing structure and sign long term leases for the space.  No $12 million incentive to demolish and rebuild will be coming anytime soon.

What should our downtown priorities be that require incentives/subsidies from the city?

1) Laura Street
2) Convention Center?
3) What else?

[remc86007]

3. Residential development on the Northbank.
4. More residential development on the Northbank.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

What should our downtown priorities be that require incentives/subsidies from the city?

I agree 100% with most of Ennis's suggestions and it requires very little in the way of subsidy from the government.

1.)  COJ needs to get and stay the hell out of the way of trying to dictate private market business.  i.e. Food Trucks

2.)  Departments that are supposed to be stewards for smart growth need to grow a spine and actually do their job in ensuring 'smart' growth as opposed to building for the sake of building something.  i.e. Paramore Garage, Mobility Plan

3.)  The city needs to stop funding pie in the sky developement dreams up front.  I"m ok with back-end, performance backed incentives, but cash up front is about the dumbest thing I've ever heard of.  i.e. Shipyards I, II

4.)  There needs to be a better (if there's one at all) plan in place to start putting so many of their properties back on the tax rolls.    If they would stop trying to make an immediate profit (trying to sell dilapidated properties at market rates) and allow for a moderate, long-term income then they wouldn't still be stuck with so much under/non-performing property on the tax rolls.  i.e. See #1
 

[BridgeTroll]

The river is brown due to naturally occurring tannins... not the ocean or pollution.

Of course. I think the argument he was making was that it wouldn't be this color if it were flowing south from the ocean or something. Which doesn't make sense.

The point that I was trying to make (not clearly), is that as a massive river it dumps a substantial amount of water into the ocean and does not allow for the type of salt water intrusion that other water bodies do throughout the state. The Jupiter Inlet, Ft. Pierce Inlet, Ponce Inlet, etc have very low flow water bodies going into the ocean, and thereby have clear water upriver from the mouth, particularly at high tide. Semantics and root causes aside, the water in the SJR is about as dark as it gets and does affect usage...There's a reason people travel around the world to visit the Caribbean and South Pacific, and not Mississippi. There's a reason Destin is a huge tourist spot and Wakulla County isn't.

Jax is at a competitive disadvantage from many other coastal areas of the state from a boating perspective. IF the city wants to really activate the river, imo it needs to do something special. If I was wrong, we wouldn't be having this discussion.....

Duval does pretty well with regards to boat registrations... 26,764

https://www.flhsmv.gov/pdf/vessels/vesselstats2016.pdf

[CityLife]

The river is brown due to naturally occurring tannins... not the ocean or pollution.

Of course. I think the argument he was making was that it wouldn't be this color if it were flowing south from the ocean or something. Which doesn't make sense.

The point that I was trying to make (not clearly), is that as a massive river it dumps a substantial amount of water into the ocean and does not allow for the type of salt water intrusion that other water bodies do throughout the state. The Jupiter Inlet, Ft. Pierce Inlet, Ponce Inlet, etc have very low flow water bodies going into the ocean, and thereby have clear water upriver from the mouth, particularly at high tide. Semantics and root causes aside, the water in the SJR is about as dark as it gets and does affect usage...There's a reason people travel around the world to visit the Caribbean and South Pacific, and not Mississippi. There's a reason Destin is a huge tourist spot and Wakulla County isn't.

Jax is at a competitive disadvantage from many other coastal areas of the state from a boating perspective. IF the city wants to really activate the river, imo it needs to do something special. If I was wrong, we wouldn't be having this discussion.....

Duval does pretty well with regards to boat registrations... 26,764

https://www.flhsmv.gov/pdf/vessels/vesselstats2016.pdf

Did a quick comparison of boat ownership in coastal counties around the state, but excluded PBC to Monroe, because they are a different world. I also excluded Class A boats, which are smaller than 15' and Class 3, which are larger than 40'. So basically compared ownership rates of 15-40' boats by percentage of county population. Some boats in these classes likely do offshore fishing, but many also likely frequent waterfront dining and entertainment. When you consider that these boats may carry 8-20+ people, they can obviously make a large dent in activating waterways.

Duval 1.7%

Charlotte(Punta Gorda)-9.6%
Martin-8%
Bay (PC Beach) 5.5%
Okaloosa (Destin/FWB)-5.5%
Lee (Ft Myers)-5%
Collier-4.4%
SJC-4.3%
Brevard-3.4%
Volusia-3.2%
Manatee-3.4%
Sarasota-3.8%
Pinellas-3.2%
Escambia-3%

There is obviously an offshore fishing factor (see Martin and Charlotte) at play, but Jax doesn't compare well with SJC, Volusia, and Brevard, which have similar offshore conditions. Jax has the same median/HH income as Brevard, and is substantially higher than Volusia, so it isn't a wealth issue....

[Jim]

The river is brown due to naturally occurring tannins... not the ocean or pollution.

Of course. I think the argument he was making was that it wouldn't be this color if it were flowing south from the ocean or something. Which doesn't make sense.

The point that I was trying to make (not clearly), is that as a massive river it dumps a substantial amount of water into the ocean and does not allow for the type of salt water intrusion that other water bodies do throughout the state. The Jupiter Inlet, Ft. Pierce Inlet, Ponce Inlet, etc have very low flow water bodies going into the ocean, and thereby have clear water upriver from the mouth, particularly at high tide. Semantics and root causes aside, the water in the SJR is about as dark as it gets and does affect usage...There's a reason people travel around the world to visit the Caribbean and South Pacific, and not Mississippi. There's a reason Destin is a huge tourist spot and Wakulla County isn't.

Jax is at a competitive disadvantage from many other coastal areas of the state from a boating perspective. IF the city wants to really activate the river, imo it needs to do something special. If I was wrong, we wouldn't be having this discussion.....

Duval does pretty well with regards to boat registrations... 26,764

https://www.flhsmv.gov/pdf/vessels/vesselstats2016.pdf

Did a quick comparison of boat ownership in coastal counties around the state, but excluded PBC to Monroe, because they are a different world. I also excluded Class A boats, which are smaller than 15' and Class 3, which are larger than 40'. So basically compared ownership rates of 15-40' boats by percentage of county population. Some boats in these classes likely do offshore fishing, but many also likely frequent waterfront dining and entertainment. When you consider that these boats may carry 8-20+ people, they can obviously make a large dent in activating waterways.

Duval 1.7%

Charlotte(Punta Gorda)-9.6%
Martin-8%
Bay (PC Beach) 5.5%
Okaloosa (Destin/FWB)-5.5%
Lee (Ft Myers)-5%
Collier-4.4%
SJC-4.3%
Brevard-3.4%
Volusia-3.2%
Manatee-3.4%
Sarasota-3.8%
Pinellas-3.2%
Escambia-3%

There is obviously an offshore fishing factor (see Martin and Charlotte) at play, but Jax doesn't compare well with SJC, Volusia, and Brevard, which have similar offshore conditions. Jax has the same median/HH income as Brevard, and is substantially higher than Volusia, so it isn't a wealth issue....

You are correct, it's not a wealth issue.  But it certainly isn't a north flowing, tannin color issue either.

ALL of those counties either integrate their water systems into public and private life or advertise them for retirement/tourism on levels way beyond Duval. Further, each one of those counties has 90% of their population within 3 miles of their ocean/bay/river, etc...  Start at St Johns Town Center and you are 6 miles to the Intracoastal and 7 to the St Johns River (west or north). Many of those counties even have canals built into their communities.

The St Johns River is a blackwater river.  You cannot change that unless you remove all vegetation nearby the entire river and its tributaries and significantly alter the chemical composition of about 2 dozen elements that naturally occur in it.

[CityLife]

I think the stats pretty clearly show that it is a water quality/clarity issue. The distance to waterways excuse is not a good one. The SJR and its numerous tributaries, as well as Intercoastal have enough land to accommodate hundreds of thousands of residents within 3 miles. People that recreationally boat generally will choose to live on or near the water. If boat ownership was as high in Jax as it is in poor Volusia county, there would be an additional 15,000 15-40' boats in Duval.

I never said Jax should or even could do anything to change the water color. That is obviously not an option. Merely have been pointing out that Jax is at a competitive disadvantage from the rest of the state and has to go above and beyond in terms of waterfront placemaking/dining/entertainment IF it wants to activate the waterfront for boaters. To argue otherwise is foolish.

[FlaBoy]

The river is brown due to naturally occurring tannins... not the ocean or pollution.

Of course. I think the argument he was making was that it wouldn't be this color if it were flowing south from the ocean or something. Which doesn't make sense.

The point that I was trying to make (not clearly), is that as a massive river it dumps a substantial amount of water into the ocean and does not allow for the type of salt water intrusion that other water bodies do throughout the state. The Jupiter Inlet, Ft. Pierce Inlet, Ponce Inlet, etc have very low flow water bodies going into the ocean, and thereby have clear water upriver from the mouth, particularly at high tide. Semantics and root causes aside, the water in the SJR is about as dark as it gets and does affect usage...There's a reason people travel around the world to visit the Caribbean and South Pacific, and not Mississippi. There's a reason Destin is a huge tourist spot and Wakulla County isn't.

Jax is at a competitive disadvantage from many other coastal areas of the state from a boating perspective. IF the city wants to really activate the river, imo it needs to do something special. If I was wrong, we wouldn't be having this discussion.....

Duval does pretty well with regards to boat registrations... 26,764

https://www.flhsmv.gov/pdf/vessels/vesselstats2016.pdf

Did a quick comparison of boat ownership in coastal counties around the state, but excluded PBC to Monroe, because they are a different world. I also excluded Class A boats, which are smaller than 15' and Class 3, which are larger than 40'. So basically compared ownership rates of 15-40' boats by percentage of county population. Some boats in these classes likely do offshore fishing, but many also likely frequent waterfront dining and entertainment. When you consider that these boats may carry 8-20+ people, they can obviously make a large dent in activating waterways.

Duval 1.7%

Charlotte(Punta Gorda)-9.6%
Martin-8%
Bay (PC Beach) 5.5%
Okaloosa (Destin/FWB)-5.5%
Lee (Ft Myers)-5%
Collier-4.4%
SJC-4.3%
Brevard-3.4%
Volusia-3.2%
Manatee-3.4%
Sarasota-3.8%
Pinellas-3.2%
Escambia-3%

There is obviously an offshore fishing factor (see Martin and Charlotte) at play, but Jax doesn't compare well with SJC, Volusia, and Brevard, which have similar offshore conditions. Jax has the same median/HH income as Brevard, and is substantially higher than Volusia, so it isn't a wealth issue....

What is the rate in similarly sized counties such as Hillsborough or Palm Beach? What is the rate in much larger counties like Miami-Dade and Broward?

Pinellas, which is a boating destination, and similarly sized, is only at 3.2%. I don't think anyone is blaming the clear water in Pinellas for their rate being nearly half that of Lee County. It is an interesting topic to figure out some correlating factors.

[Tacachale]

The river is brown due to naturally occurring tannins... not the ocean or pollution.

Of course. I think the argument he was making was that it wouldn't be this color if it were flowing south from the ocean or something. Which doesn't make sense.

The point that I was trying to make (not clearly), is that as a massive river it dumps a substantial amount of water into the ocean and does not allow for the type of salt water intrusion that other water bodies do throughout the state. The Jupiter Inlet, Ft. Pierce Inlet, Ponce Inlet, etc have very low flow water bodies going into the ocean, and thereby have clear water upriver from the mouth, particularly at high tide. Semantics and root causes aside, the water in the SJR is about as dark as it gets and does affect usage...There's a reason people travel around the world to visit the Caribbean and South Pacific, and not Mississippi. There's a reason Destin is a huge tourist spot and Wakulla County isn't.

Jax is at a competitive disadvantage from many other coastal areas of the state from a boating perspective. IF the city wants to really activate the river, imo it needs to do something special. If I was wrong, we wouldn't be having this discussion.....

Duval does pretty well with regards to boat registrations... 26,764

https://www.flhsmv.gov/pdf/vessels/vesselstats2016.pdf

As it happened, I had a spreadsheet of the current county population, so here are the registered boats per capita per (I think) every county. Counties in our CSA are highlighted; the state average is 4.5%:

Orange County (Orlando) - 2%
Broward County (Ft. Lauderdale area) - 2.3%
Osceola (Kissimmee) - 2.3%
Miami-Dade County - 2.4%
Palm Beach - 2.6%
Duval - 2.8%
Hillsborough (Tampa) - 3%
Sumter (North Central FL) - 3.7%
Alachua (Gainesville) - 3.9%
Seminole (Sanford) - 4%
Polk (Lakeland) - 4.2%
St. Lucie - 4.3%
Leon (Tallahassee) - 4.4%
Pasco (Tampa Bay area) - 4.7%
Escambia (Pensacola) - 4.9%
Gadsden (inland Panhandle) - 4.9%
Manatee (Bradenton, SW Florida) - 4.9%
Pinellas (St. Pete) - 5.1%
Flagler (Palm Coast) - 5.2%
Hernando (Tampa Bay area) - 5.2%
Volusia (Daytona) - 5.3%
Marion (Ocala) - 5.4%
Sarasota - 5.4%
Brevard (Space Coast) - 5.9%
Hardee (inland Heartland) - 5.9%
Clay County - 6.1%
Hamilton (inland Panhandle) - 6.2%
Collier (Naples) - 6.3%
Madison (inland Panhandle) - 6.3%
St. Johns - 6.3%
Suwanee (North Central Florida) - 6.3%
Columbia (North Central Florida) - 6.5%
Lee (Ft. Meyers/Cape Coral) - 6.5%
Union (North Central FL) - 6.5%
De Soto (inland Heartland) - 6.6%
Lake (Clermont; Central Florida) - 7%
Indian River - 7.3%
Hendry (inland Heartland) - 7.5%
Nassau - 8%
Santa Rosa (coastal Panhandle) - 8.4%
Bradford (Starke, North Central FL) - 8.6%
Walton (coastal Panhandle) - 8.6%
Baker - 9%
Highlands (inland Heartland) - 9%
Jefferson (Panhandle) - 9%
Glades (inland Heartland) - 9.2%
Okaloosa (Destin, coastal Panhandle) - 9.2%
Jackson (inland Panhandle) - 9.7%
Washington (inland Panhandle) - 9.7%
Bay (Panama City, Panhandle) - 9.9%
Gilchrist (North Central Florida) - 10%
Lafayette (North Central Florida) - 10.5%
Putnam (Palatka) - 10.5%
Holmes (inland Panhandle) - 10.6%
Levy (coastal "Big Bend") - 11%
Calhoun (inland Panhandle) - 11.2%
Martin (Stuart; South Florida) - 11.2%
Citrus (coastal "Big Bend") - 11.4%
Okeechobee - 12.6%
Liberty (inland Panhandle) - 13.1%
Charlotte (Punta Gorda, SW Florida) - 13.9%
Dixie (coastal Big Bend) - 15.8%
Wakulla (coastal Panhandle) - 16%
Taylor (coastal Big Bend/Panhandle) - 16.6%
Gulf (goastal Panhandle) - 19.4%
Franklin (coastal Panhandle) - 28.7%
Monroe (Florida Keys) 37.5%

Probably a few surprises for everyone here. Stray observations:

*Larger, urban counties have the lowest rate of boat ownership. Of the 7 big urban counties, Jax ranks outranks landlocked Orange (Orlando), as well as Miami-Dade, Broward (Fort Lauderdale), and Palm Beach. We just behind Tampa, and everyone is well behind Pinellas (St. Pete).
*Unsurprisingly, rural counties have the highest rate of boat ownership.
*Suburban and exurban counties around the major metros also have higher rates. Jacksonville's suburban counties have especially high rates.
*Other than the Palm Beach-Dade area, South Florida has fairly high rates of boat ownership, but the Panhandle seems to have the highest, probably because it's more rural.
*Oddly, there doesn't seem to be a strong correlation between counties being on the coast and high boat ownership. Again, this is likely because inland counties are more likely to be rural. The Orlando area does have especially low rates, and in a lot of cases rural counties on the coast have higher rates than inland rural counties nearby. Bigger boats are mostly found on the coast.
*Some places that are tourist/retirement meccas rank highly - Monroe (the Keys), Charlotte, Bay (Panama City), Okaloosa (Destin), but others (Volusia, Brevard, Sarasota) don't rank nearly as highly as might be expected. I imagine this has a lot to do with the availability of other options in a lot of tourist and retiree-heavy areas.

[CityLife]

Taca, your data is essentially irrelevant in terms of this discussion. I took out the Class A Boats (below 15') because these are mostly Jon boats and small solo or 2 person fishing vessels. These people are hunting fish inshore and will go wherever (see ownership rates of inland county's). They also generally don't frequent waterfront dining/entertainment establishments. In other words, they aren't cruising, sand bar hopping, going to restaurants, etc.

As I said earlier, I excluded PBC to Dade, because it's not apples to apples. Many of the upper income residents here have boats registered in the northeast or keep their boats in the Keys or Caribbean.