Community Planning Collaborative met with the community on June 01, 2024 in the second of a series of meetings to gauge community wishes for the area around the intersection of Gregg and Lewis Streets.
Please note the next meeting is scheduled for August 24, 2024 from 10am - 11am at the American Beach Community Center. (Not July 27 as indicated in the presentation.)
Click the image above or here to read the presentation.
Feedback collected during the meeting
Included in the meeting presentation:
I. Introductions and Recap Scope of Crossroads Effort
II. Follow Up Evans’ Rendezvous
III. Follow Up NaNa Dune Land Use and Zoning
IV. Discuss Potential Scenarios for Crossroads Area
V. Next Steps
General discussion:
● General consensus - no on-street parking on Lewis, Ocean or Gregg. Want to ensure people do not park there.
● Questions - about County ROW ownership and what County owns, lots County owns, prior Evans’ plans, and clarification about potential to move parking primarily to Burney
● Discussion about potential concession stand/location
○ Would make more sense at Burney Park
○ Or why not at Lewis Street and Burney Park so people don’t have to walk too far
○ Place for a mobile food truck or concessionaire. Permanent concessionaire might not make enough money
○ If it was a permanent concession space, County could rent it to an operator for the summers and it could be open space rest of year (like a shade shelter)
● Sea turtles and gopher tortoises
○ Amelia Island Sea Turtle Watch is looking for a place to store their ATV and some equipment
○ There are less sea turtle nesting sites in the American Beach area because of
vehicle traffic, as noted from Sea Turtle Watch data
○ Would like to see interpretive signage about the environment and wildlife
○ Community has previously put out 30-40 signs about gopher tortoises a few
years ago and now they are almost all gone, so any signage needs to be more permanent
● Additional comments
○ ADA access at Lewis Street for people to access the beach
○ Visually appealing at beach access
○ Provide some seating/shade
○ Trees are covering the no parking signs on Lewis so people park all the time and there is no enforcement
○ Have more shelters at Burney Park - community has asked for this before
○ Community wants to be involved in any site redesign for Burney
American Beach Crossroads Planning
● Short-term actions that could be done to improve area
○ Trim vegetation around no parking signs on Lewis and enforce no parking
○ Fix broken gate at Lewis Street beach access
○ Develop and install signage around environment, history and wildlife. Ex: Green Book sites historic signage - community has historic marker committee
● Community members in attendance were asked to rank their top 3 items from the list of items we have consistently heard about the Crossroads area:
○ Close Lewis Street beach (Vehicular) access
○ Underground utilities
○ Low level street lighting
○ Historic buildings are an asset
○ Quiet, community gathering spot
○ Native landscaping
○ Space for beach rentals or small concessions
○ Better drainage
See below for all of the answers. Based on the responses, general consensus of those in attendance for top three priorities are:
● Close Lewis Street vehicular beach access
● Underground utilities
● Evans’ Restoration and Heritage Park/Preserving Historic Buildings
● Discussion about who needs to be involved
○ County can start working on a list
○ FL Department of Environmental Protection
■ Regarding closing access, restoring that area and moving new access to Burney
■ Commissioner Huppman shared feedback on moving the access and feasibility in short-term - DEP slow to respond, state laws that deal with beach driving. Expressed it may be a longer-term goal
○ County’s grant consultant
■ Assist with identifying grant and federal funding opportunities to help with
projects
● Next Meeting
○ Planned to be final meeting for now -have a wrap up meeting to discuss all
meetings to date
○ Consensus to change date from July 27 to August 24 to coincide with American Beach Property Owners’ Association meeting
Additional information is available on the County’s website.
Participants were asked to ranktheir top three priorities for the Crossroads area in the next 3-5 years.
Priority 1
Close Lewis Street access to the beach
Move tourism to Burney Park with improvements and enlargement at Burney end
Move car beach access to Burney Park
Underground utilities
Reuse older historic buildings for arts academy for Black artists
Close Lewis Street beach access to vehicles
Close vehicular traffic at Lewis Street beach access
Roundabout at Burney and A1A
Underground utilities
Close Lewis Street beach access to vehicles
Close Lewis Street beach access to vehicles
The redo of Evans
Close Lewis Street beach vehicular access
Eliminate beach driving
Beach driving banned/Lewis Street ramp closed
Close Lewis Street beach access to vehicles
Keep beach natural
Close Lewis Street to vehicular access
Priority 2
Develop the historic park next to Evans
Closing Lewis Street access to beach
Build attractive durable walk to beach from Lewis
Closing Lewis Street ramp
Using public space for walking trail of historic facts
Acquire funding (Grants) to move forward with Evans improvements
Preserve Evans
Master Plan for Burney Park with max capacity
Close Lewis Street to thru traffic but still have access to get to the beach
Preservation of historic buildings
Underground utilities
Redo of Lewis Street from Waldron to Ocean
Historic building preservation - Evans
Same as 1
Heritage Park established and developed
Change zoning of NaNa
Improve Burney Park
Underground utilities
Priority 3
Finish Evans
Protect sea turtles and gopher tortoises
Preserving historic buildings
Public art to celebrate A.L. Lewis, the community, Beach Lady
Finalize zoning change for Nana Dune
Quiet residential area not commercial
Add tree canopy throughout American Beach right of ways
Increase parking
Underground utilities
Quiet community/low-level street lighting
Park close to Evans
Low level lighting
Same as 1
Seating and concession area established
Underground utilities
Summary of Responses
Close Lewis Street vehicular beach access
Underground utilities
Evans Restoration/Preserving Historic Buildings and Heritage Park
Please direct any comments or questions to:
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Read more about Community Planning Collaborative on their website
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