The City Commission met with the Historic Fernandina Beach Association June 10 to discuss how the two could work together more closely to create a long-term vision for downtown and the Historic District overall. The meeting covered a variety of topics, such as waterfront redevelopment, maintenance of the downtown area, events for downtown, and the most important item: participation in the Florida Main Street program.
The Main Street program could provide a vast amount of expertise and resources to our downtown, and has been used very successfully in other towns around the state. I’m really hopeful that the city and the HFBA can work together to bring this program here.
Only a few towns are accepted annually to the program; we were unsuccessful a few years ago in our effort to become part of the program. However, thanks in part to our new Community Redevelopment Area, we are better poised to be a candidate for this program.
You can find out more by browsing at: www.flheritage.com/preservation/architecture/mainstreet/.
Street musicians allowed
Finally! After weeks of waiting and meeting with the city officials, we finally have hammered out a deal that will allow performers back onto the downtown streets.
As you may know, the HFBA has been working with the city to place acoustic musicians and performers along Centre Street for entertainment. Our pilot program in April was a big hit, but we had to work with the city to create a better ordinance to secure our right to play downtown, and to protect the rights of other performers and citizens, too.
So, come on downtown every Friday and Saturday evening from 2 until 8 p.m. to enjoy some acoustic music from our street musicians. Oh, and if you are a musician interested in joining us, just call me!
My Charleston trip
We recently returned home from a short visit to Charleston, S.C. I wanted to mention the efforts they go through there to preserve their Historic District. Two things really piqued my interest.
One was the tree ordinance. They have fantastic old live oaks there, much like ours here, and they are really serious about keeping them alive. While our penalty is a serious inch-per-inch diameter replacement cost ($5,000 for a grand old oak), Charleston has a penalty of $100,000 per tree cut down without permission.
The second thing I thought was interesting was their determination to keep their old buildings, even when they seemed less-than-perfect. Example: There was a huge earthquake there many years ago, and scores of homes were damaged to the point of being far from straight and level. When you look at one house from the street, it leans so far over as to appear to be falling.
The city will not allow them to tear down these structures, and people still reside in them. The buildings look strange, but the city says it’s all part of the historic record.
We could learn a thing or two from other cities that have taken very serious steps to historic preservation.
Album debut Thursday
Local singer-songwriters, Robert Sanders and Michael Howerton of the band Whitby Quinn invite all to the CD release of their debut album She’s Gone.
The release party is set for 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday at the Frisky Mermaid in the Florida House Inn. They will be signing copies of the CD at the show. Listen for yourself at www.whitbyquinn.com.