Cautionary Tales

Mayport and Ponce Inlet: Using Litigation to Preserve Working Waterfronts

Mayport Village

 (a)The Mayport Village has been negatively affected by current zoning districts which do not recognize the unique character of the community. For many years, zoning has allowed intensive and intrusive uses to locate in the Mayport Village and has not encouraged the kind of development that promotes and sustains a community which is stable and economically viable, and which consists primarily of a fishing village and a single-family/owner-occupied neighborhood. Standard zoning districts also do not recognize the small residential lots, waterfront land use, and other aspects of the unique development pattern of Mayport Village.
(b)The fishing community of Mayport Village is a unique and invaluable resource to the City and its citizens and should be preserved for future generations. (c)[Calls for]a comprehensive revitalization program that will include zoning districts tailored to the community. Jacksonville Ordinance Section 656.395

Mayport Waterfront Partnership

Oversees revitalization programs for coastal communities in Duval County
Represents the interests of the US Navy, National Parks Service, local government, community and business organizations Supports the revitalization of ecotourism, shrimping and fishing industries in Mayport Village

 Historic and cultural value

Traffic Loss of character Struggling shrimping industry Jacksonvilles ordinance (consists primarily of a fishing village unique and invaluable resource should be preserved for future generations)

Definition of Working Waterfront

(2) As used in this section, the term recreational and commercial working waterfront means a parcel or parcels of real property that provide access for water-dependent commercial activities, including hotels and motels as defined in s. 509.242(1), or provide access for the public to the navigable waters of the state. Recreational and commercial working waterfronts require direct access to or a location on, over, or adjacent to a navigable body of water. The term includes waterdependent facilities that are open to the public and offer public access by vessels to the waters of the state or that are support facilities for recreational, commercial, research, or governmental vessels. These facilities include public lodging establishments, docks, wharfs, lifts, wet and dry marinas, boat ramps, boat hauling and repair facilities, commercial fishing facilities, boat construction facilities, and other support structures over the water. As used in this section, the term vessel has the same meaning as in s. 327.02(39).

excluded from the definition.

Seaports are

Seaport
used for the purpose of harboring one or more ships used to transport passengers across the ocean to various other ports of call in domestic and foreign countries and returning them to the cruise terminal at the conclusion of their voyage.

Ponce Inlet

Pacetta, LLC; Mar-Tim, Inc.; and Down the Hatch, Inc. v. Town of Ponce Inlet March 20, 2012
Section 163.3177(6)(a)3.c. requires a FLUE to include criteria to [e] ncourage preservation of recreational and commercial working waterfronts for water-dependent uses in coastal communities. However, the statute does not suggest that a local government would be in violation if any restriction is placed on one or more of the many uses listed in the definition of recreational and commercial working waterfront in section 342.201(2)(b). The restrictions established in the challenged amendments do not prevent the Town from achieving the purposes of the statute.
84. Petitioners failed to prove that the 2008 Amendment or the 2010 Amendment is inconsistent with section 163.3177(6)(a)3.c.