With Atlanta-based developer Jim Jacoby of JDI Marineland looking to offload properties in Marineland, Flagler County government and three state agencies are working to acquire 35 acres of JDI land in a joint purchase coordinated by the North Florida Land Trust.
Flagler County, the University of Florida, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection tried to buy the land in 2020 but were not successful. More recently, it was Jacoby who approached the Land Trust to restart discussions. The four entities would split the cost, which is not yet known. The county is conducting the required appraisals.
The land is zoned for mixed use, which could be housing or commercial development, or both. There’s long been rumors and speculation that JDI would build up the place, transforming the character of Marineland. The acquisitions would protect some 35 acres from development, immediately adjacent to a wildlife corridor, though it is unclear whether the University of Florida’s Whitney Laboratory for Marine Science would use its portion of land for conservation or expansion of its operations there.
“It’s got multiple partners pulling together to preserve this area and it’s got a lot of historic and ecological qualities for preservation,” County Commission Chair Andy Dance said. “The fact that we’ve been able to pull all the agencies together through the North Florida Land Trust is a great sign that we can come together on it.” Florida Forever would be part of the quartet of partners.
Based on current mapping, the land sale would divest JDI of all but one parcel in Marineland, a 76,000-square-foot square-shaped parcel on the ocean.
The acreage Flagler County would acquire would include land along the Intracoastal Waterway and acreage up to the Marineland Marina, owned and operated by the town, such as it is: Marineland has been teetering on political, if not quite yet financial, insolvency, with legally questionable maneuvers its acting mayor, Dewey Dew, pushed through recently to keep its town commission functional. (See: “An Ugly Town Meeting in Marineland as Questions Hang Over Legality of Mayor’s Unilateral Appointment of a Commissioner.”)
It’s not helping the town that Marineland’s Dolphin Adventure, its principal economic engine, is in bankruptcy and for sale. The potential Land Trust acquisition has nothing to do with Dolphin Adventure properties. “It’s certainly not something that Flagler County would pursue,” County Commissioner Leann Pennington said. “We should not be in the business of dolphins.”
The county’s Land Acquisition Committee placed the Jacoby parcel on its priority list, lining it up for potential purchase with the county’s Environmentally Sensitive Land dollars. That revenue is generated from a small property tax surcharge voters have repeatedly approved by referendum to finance acquisitions of properties to be preserved in perpetuity.
“This is exactly what the ESL is intended for,” Penningon said. “This is one of those properties I think everybody in Flagler County wishes to see preserved. To me, this is one of those gold standards of the ESL program.”
Whitney Lab has been seriously hampered by the poor condition of a 51-year-old sewer plant operated by JDI, on a portion of land that would be part of Flagler County’s acquisition. It’s operational, but it’s not being maintained.
If Flagler County were to be part of the purchase, the sewer plant would become county property. JDI is clearly interested in offloading that responsibility. Flagler County is more leery of taking it on, as it would essentially mean taking ownership of a rickety system in need of significant repair, assuming it can be repaired.
The county prefers to remove it once water and sewer lines extend all the way to Marineland as part of the county’s transition from septic to sewer across throughout the barrier island. They currently do so up to Mala Compra Road. It’s unclear when the funding would be available to extend the lines all the way to Marineland. In the county administration’s view, acquiring the sewer plant could be a spur for more state funding to pay for that last extension.
Last Monday, County Administrator Heidi Petito got the County Commission’s support to have an engineering firm evaluate the condition of the so-called package sewer plant and provide options to the county, “so that if we are looking to purchase the property,” Petito said, “we know what we’re up against as far as whether or not we would look to remove the system, whether we need to rehab it, maybe build a master lift station, do a interconnect to Palm Coast, or whatever options are out there. I’m not looking for us to get back into the utility business. That’s not it at all. But if we are to acquire the property, I think removing the wastewater off the barrier island makes a lot of sense.”
Pennington, the county commissioner, said Jacoby is not interested in a piecemeal approach to the sale. It’s all or nothing. Dance said ESL funds are sufficient at the moment to account for the county’s portion, though no sale price has been set.
“No one wants to see that area turn into housing development. So it’s important if we can contribute to it,” Pennington said.
Lisa says
Offload now? The forced crash just started! Don’t bail out “developers “ . Republicans are in charge so it will definitely crash!
Randy says
Sorry our local schools are 17 million dollars short due to Republican policy and the beaches need work but they didn’t budgeted for it either. the mayor was able to waste millions suing his own city though . The corruption has to stop! I do not support treason, child molesters, thieves, grifters, corruption and policies that screw over less fortunate humans just to give more money to the richest of people! So no republicans for me!
Spend the money helping humans!
The majority of “jobs” today pay way less than the cost of living! That means many “citizens” cannot maintain shelter and food without assistance!
Obviously people who think homeless should just get “jobs” are just ignorant and fail to understand basic math and economics. You know we could house the entire dc metro homeless per day at 1/3 the cost of deploying the Guard….
I personally just paid over 300$ to turn the water on here locally. That alone is over half a weeks work at 15$ per hour!
For our 2 pointless oil wars in Iraq and Afghanistan we lost over 10 trillion! That would have been enough for free college, free healthcare, free daycare, paid parental leave and still have billions for other things! Stop the republican grift!
Even though the fascist have blocked government websites from publishing the scientific data. It’s hotter than ever before in human existence and pollution is going up up up!!even faster than republicans can dismantle the regulators , gut the regulations, and cut the research funding , and make huge efforts to rig elections before they even begin.
The cons prefer manufactured issues that aren’t actual problems to begin with like immigrants , dc crime, mail in voting, and whatever else orange pedo and faux news make up that week.
Stand up for your rights!
Atwp says
Keep voting Republicans, this what you get. Did you hear about the Canadians leaving Florida? That’s right the Republicans are governing the State and the Country, what should we expect?
Lance Carroll says
Wow..
“Randy,” slightly off base as to Marine land property issue.. Although, things smell a bit fishy to me.
Sincerely,
Lance Carroll
Larry says
Hoping the land purchase goes through so the property can be protected.
Thank you to all the agencies and people involved in this purchase. We appreciate what you do.
JimboXYZ says
So, JDI was the big winner in 2020 for the growth movement with no funding/money. Everything Grow has been a miserable failure of debt. Let them keep that, the developer isn’t doing anythign with that land because it would require a new STF and we all know from the $ 1/2 billion fiasco of Palm Coast is the same project of debt that won’t ever pay for itself, a dump of responsibility. The State isn’t ponying up grant money for that even. Wait JDI out until they donate the land rather than buy it from them. That will become JDI’s motel on US-1 that nothing meaningful has ever be done with ? Nobody is buying that property beyond the county or any of the usual suspects that lost that land buy sweepstakes in 2020, which means the rest of us get stuck with what JDI is unwilling to develop for what it takes to be compliant with sanitation regulations alone.
“If Flagler County were to be part of the purchase, the sewer plant would become county property. JDI is clearly interested in offloading that responsibility. Flagler County is more leery of taking it on, as it would essentially mean taking ownership of a rickety system in need of significant repair, assuming it can be repaired.
The county prefers to remove it once water and sewer lines extend all the way to Marineland as part of the county’s transition from septic to sewer across throughout the barrier island. They currently do so up to Mala Compra Road. It’s unclear when the funding would be available to extend the lines all the way to Marineland. In the county administration’s view, acquiring the sewer plant could be a spur for more state funding to pay for that last extension.”
There’s a huge difference between delusional development vs actually having the resources for funding to make it actually happen. Biden-Harris was no different than Bush-Cheney for creating bailout messes. What a quarter century it has been ?
Greg says
Oh my God, almost fell out of my recliner! Buy and not build is so out of character. Can’t pay to protect the dunes, but have cash to buy and let it sit. Crazy.
Robbie says
There was a shell midden on that property just to the south of the marina. I don’t know if any of it remains. Some of the oyster shell was used to make the roads in the Marineland Acres subdivision in the Hammock. I have some pottery shards that I found on display at the Flagler Beach historical Museum.
Tim says
Out of money due to republicans corruption and enrichment of a few people! This is gonna get ugly I don’t think Nazi pedophiles are gonna give up easy, cause that would mean prison or death for their crimes! Are the Epstein files at boldens house or is that just republican retaliation and intimidation!
disgusted says
Why not donate the property to Flagler County, the developer sure has made a fortune off of his other holdings. Building more homes in a major flood prone area is ridiculous, but developers tend to be greedy. Its about time they learn they can’t buy up every inch of Florida for cheap and then make huge profits off it, even though they have the full support of our Legislatures to do so. The system is rigged towards developers, who donate huge amounts to the politicians, get all sorts of tax breaks and still expect a payday at the end of it.
Norman Roy says
As a Life Long Conservationist/Conservative Republican and a Charter member of RIFCO.org (which has protected “The Last Green Valley” from Developers who would have DESTROYED many Beautiful Farms, Ranches, and Woodlands) I completely SUPPORT the purchase of the 35 acres to protect this Beautiful Land. This is a ONCE in a Lifetime Opportunity to Protect this Beautiful Land. Flagler, St Johns, Putnam, Marion Counties need to work together to organize a RIFCO.org type group. Who will HELP me?