New York City residents fleeing the socialist nightmare of that city’s newly elected Mayor Zohran Mamdani and seeking relief may find that living in Nassau County, FL is not the economic refuge they have been led to believe.
Two suits, brought by local developer Compass Group and the multibillion dollar industrial giant RYAM, threaten to financially cripple the city of Fernandina Beach, which has a perfect record of losing suits due to the City Commission’s ineptness, ignorance, and intransigence.
Compass, which successfully sued the city to rake back almost a half million dollars the city extorted from it when it built the Atlantic Ave. Marriott Hotel a few years ago, is again suing the city. This time because the city’s Board of Adjustment (BOA) repealed building permits the city had previously issued it to build triplexes on the site of the dilapidated “Tringali” property.
RYAM is suing to protect its multimillion dollar investment in an ethanol facility a local group says will endanger local citizens.
On top of all this impending financial disarray is “Paid Parking” in downtown Fernandina, a proposal opposed by all downtown businesses and most residents except City Commissioner and restauranteur Tim Poynter, and three other brain dead commissioners.
Things are only going to get worse. In addition to the law suits, the local DOGE (Defenders of Government Efficiency) organization that was created to “bring accountability, transparency, and common sense back to government” recently released a report outlining how both the city and county governments are preparing to considerably increase fees for new housing.
According to DOGE, the County is tripling the mobility fee for a single-family home — jumping from about $4,000 to over $11,000 per lot. That’s eleven thousand dollars for the “privilege” of pulling a permit on your own land.
Mobility fees are supposed to fund transportation improvements — new roads, widened lanes, turn signals, sidewalks, and the like — so that growth allegedly “pays for itself.”
DOGE explains that proposed impact fee increases will add to the expense increases ranging from a 55% increase to a 159% increase.
Impact fees are ways new development pays for its impact on government services and infrastructure. For example, the impact from new development on police, fire, schools, etc.
Is new development increasing its impact by over 100%? No. DOGE says it’s just government spending more to provide the same service. In fact, Fernandina was successfully sued for its impact fee scam a few years ago and forced to give back millions it illegally took from locals.
DOGE calculates that if all impact and mobility fees go as advertised, the base impact and mobility fees for a 2,000-square-foot house in Nassau County will total $26,997.89.
That’s just impact fees — not the building permit review fee or water/sewer tap fees. Once those are added, the total will exceed $37,000 for a modest 2,000-square-foot home before the buyer ever steps inside the home.
And those who think being inside the City of Fernandina Beach gets them off the hook — they need to think again. City residents will still pay the $11,332.29 Mobility Fee, plus the County’s Park and Recreation Land and Facilities Impact Fee and an Administrative Impact Fee.
For that same 2,000-square-foot home in the City of Fernandina Beach, the total added Impact and Mobility Fees will be $18,840.29 — before the City piles on its own impact and building permit fees. Another Question: Why are City residents paying a Park and Recreation Fee to the County when they are also paying one to the City? Can anyone answer that?
Developers will pay upfront, but buyers and renters will foot the bill in the end.
Higher mobility fees mean higher housing costs in a market already struggling with affordability. OK, so where’s affordable housing suppose to come from? Where are cops, servers, teachers, newlyweds, young graduates, etc. suppose to live? What about retirees on fixed incomes?
The businesses that employee them, not just homeowners, will also get clobbered
DOGE calculated the cost of a typical Zaxby’s restaurant, roughly 3,800 square feet. Under the proposed schedule, the Mobility Fee alone would be around…$475,000
That’s before adding in building permits, fire, police, administrative, and other impact fees. Imagine how much it will cost for a chicken wing there!
In short — building anything in Nassau County is becoming an expensive game only big corporations can play. For anyone wanting to purchase a home or open a local business — you are being priced right out of the market.
Those folks heading down here from New York may be in for a financial shock.
Those interested in learning more about DOGE and reading the report can go to its site at: https://nassaufldoge.com/issues/mobility-fee-madness-nassau-countys-latest-plan-to-price-out-homeowners/
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Speaking Of New Yorkers: Once the fleeing New Yorkers settle in hereabouts they’ll be on the prowl for a Kosher New York Deli and to their chagrin they won’t find one. Fernandina needs a Katz type deli like the one on the lower East side in Manhattan. Only on a smaller scale.
Each week, Katz’s serves 15,000 pounds of pastrami, 8,000 pounds of corned beef, 2,000 pounds of salami, and 4,000 hot dogs. In 2016 Zagat gave Katz’s a food rating of 4.5 out of 5 and ranked it as the number one deli in New York City. There’s nothing even close here.
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Veteran’s Day: Minnesota’s traditional state flag (shown above right) will fly along the East side of Shave Bridge this year along with 49 other state flags set up annually by American Legion Post 54 veterans to commemorate Veterans Day, Tuesday, November 11.
The traditional Minnesota flag was purchased and gifted to the Legion by Army veteran and Minnesota native Scott Sarazin, now a resident of Fernandina Beach. The Legion’s old Minnesota flag was becoming worn and tattered and was retired.
The state’s new flag design has caused a brouhaha in the state about whether it reflects a shift in cultural values.
It features the unfamiliar eight-point star, a symbol Minnesota critics claim is more common in Islam than U.S. history. It is estimated that the state has between 70,000 – 140,000 foreign-born Muslims living there.
U.S. state symbols in state flags and banners have long favored the traditional five-point star, popularized in Betsy Ross’s design of Old Glory.
The American Legion Post 54 Veterans Day parade in Fernandina Beach, will be held Tuesday November 11, 2025, starting at 11:00 a.m. at Central Park. The parade route travels down Ash Street, turns right on 2nd Street, right on Centre Street, and ends back at Central Park.
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I hope the residents of Fernandina Beach realize that their hard-earned tax dollars are being flushed down the toilet and this wasted money need to be replaces by higher taxes or more streams of revenue. Elections have consequences as we see in Fernandina, I urge people please do your homework prior to casting your precious vote in elections because candidates do switch parties to garner votes and some influencers on the island are so easily fooled.
By the way, I have been to Katz’s multiple times years ago, great hot dogs!
As sexual attraction to the same sex has long been considered a mental illness by some professional groups this could explain one commissioner being brain dead. As to why Poynter is supporting paid parking I suggest he is hoping for the city to provide his restaurants with more parking while funding his reckless management of the city coffers. The other two simply do have a spine to stand up to the others. The recall vote may not rid the City of these four clueless commissioners, but if the vote is really close, it may put enough fear in them to where they will never be reelected by the citizens and change their way of management of the city for the remainder of the current terms. God help us if this recall vote doesn’t move forward and these four continue with the impression that they have the power to do anything they want without consideration of the voters wishes.
They are all barking up the wrong tree. It is not a revenue problem, it is an expense problem. A former city manager greatly kited the budget a few years ago and no succeeding commission or appointee has had the skill, imagination or guts to see, understand and do anything about it.
As far as using parking fees to motivate people to get out sooner, that seems self-defeating, as it means people will spend less time downtown, which means that they will spend less money there. One restaurateur/Commission member thinks that will increase turnover in his restaurants? :-). If you want people to spend less time in parking spaces, then put a time limit on it, as in “2 hour parking.”
I have heard that FB had paid parking before and dropped it. If true, ask why.
I have a bold suggestion, but I am not sure Dave will like it . . . We need Dave Scott as a Commissioner!
The waste is extraordinary and ridiculous, and most people don’t care until it hits their wallet.
Economic illiteracy describes what our local politicians and those that voted for them suffer from. The same applies to the folks in NYC. It is a worrisome and blighted ailment cured mainly by simply reading an introductory Economics book.
Heck, why not Dave Scott as Mayor!
BTW, what happened to the new Waffle House they announced last December at 1870 S. Eighth St. in the wooded vacant lot next to the Wells Fargo Bank? Victim of high fees? Too much government permitting interference with the city’s Technical Review Committee?
Heck, why not Dave Scott for president? Can’t mess things up anymore than Trump has!
Dave, regarding the Defenders of Government Efficiency (DOGE) organization in Nassau County, and I wanted to share some concerns I have about their approach. While their goal of improving government efficiency may sound positive, I believe there are significant risks involved.
First, the organization’s push for “efficiency” could result in cuts to essential public services that many residents rely on, especially in healthcare and education. Streamlining processes often comes at the cost of due process and fairness, and it could lead to decisions that disproportionately harm vulnerable populations.
Additionally, there’s a risk that DOGE’s efforts could be politically motivated, potentially advancing partisan agendas rather than prioritizing the broader public good. There’s also concern that their focus on reducing bureaucracy might open the door to privatization, which could undermine service quality by putting profits before people’s needs.
Ultimately, while efficiency is important, I worry that DOGE’s agenda may result in long-term consequences that hurt the community rather than help it. I’d love to hear your thoughts on these points, and whether you think there’s a balance that could be struck between efficiency and maintaining vital services.
Impact fees must be invested properly. They do not become the property of government and are to be held in trust for the payer and may only be spent to ameliorate the impact caused by the new development. Impact fees may not be spent for maintenance or to service existing debt. If challenged, their proper use must be proven by government to a preponderance of the evidence standard and if not used appropriately within a reasonable time must be refunded. The use of impact fees are governed by state law. The Yulee News has repeatedly requested an audit of the City’s use of impact fees. Nassau County should be added to the audit’s scope.
Dave, a minor correction. RYAM has multiple legal actions against the city. Two of them (one in county court, the other in federal court) are related to the city’s failure to follow due process, and the third is the takings claim. It’s my belief, not that I can prove it, is that the city did not want RYAM’s application to go before the Technical Review Board, hence the hasty disapproval. And why would they not want the TRB to review it? Because there is nobody in the city government who is qualified to judge the technical merits of the proposal. They hid behind the specious claim that the comprehensive plan does not permit chemical processes, thus the denial. And RYAM is correct in asserting that ethanol is a natural fermentation process. Heck, even the left-leaning Wikipedia article on ethanol states this. The city likely could never find an outside expert who would risk their license to state otherwise. Nor could the city quantify the risks compared to, say, the number of gasoline or propane tankers that travel the island, the storage of 10s of thousands of gasoline, or even the tankers of anhydrous ammonia, chlorine, and tank cars of liquid sulfer that are used in the production of the cellulose products. Nope, they caved to the most vocal crowd without allowing RYAM to present their plan. So once again, BOHICA, right in the wallet.
CoCoNUTS Harry, please tell us how Trump has messed up things. He has closed our borders, got the ICE Agents and Border Patrol doing their job. The military has the best recruitment in years. Criminal illegal aliens are being removed. He has removed the nuclear threat from Iran. Hostages are home. Nations are now talking. Local Police and Sheriff’s Departments, State Police, and Federal Agents are working together. Trump did not shut down the government. This was Shummer and his boy Hakeem Jeffries. The respect of other nations is the highest in decades. The flow drugs from South America is being reduced by bombing drug boats in International Waters. Trump is going a great job.
Mr. Brown, I’ll take a shot at a brief answer to your question.
Trump’s first term presidency was an absolute disaster for this country. His policies weren’t just misguided—they were outright harmful. From tearing families apart at the border to stripping away protections for vulnerable communities, his immigration record was one of cruelty and chaos. He pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal, destabilizing the Middle East and alienating allies, all while cozying up to dictators. His “America First” agenda was nothing more than a thinly veiled excuse for isolationism and self-interest.
But his second term? It is already a complete unraveling of American democracy. By pardoning the January 6 rioters, including violent criminals who attacked police and tried to overthrow an election, Trump not only sent a message that insurrection is acceptable—he celebrated it. His complete disregard for the rule of law and the sanctity of the democratic process has set the country on a dangerous path toward authoritarianism.
Trump isn’t just dividing the nation—he is weaponized division. He encourages violence, undermines trust in our institutions, and is making a mockery of the office he holds. His presidency is a long, painful descent into corruption, incompetence, and lawlessness. America deserves better.
Mr. Brown, thank you for sharing your perspective. While I may not agree with all of your points, I appreciate your engagement on the issue. It’s clear that you care deeply about the direction of the city and want to hold elected officials accountable.
Regarding the comment on sexual attraction and mental illness, I think it’s important to clarify that being gay or queer is not a mental illness. Modern psychology and medicine—backed by organizations like the American Psychological Association and the World Health Organization—have affirmed that sexual orientation is simply a natural variation of human diversity. It’s key to focus on fostering understanding and inclusivity for everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation.
As for the paid parking issue, while I understand the concern about potential conflicts of interest, I think it’s worth discussing the broader context of urban planning. Paid parking can often help with congestion and make cities more pedestrian-friendly, though I recognize that the specifics of how it’s implemented can be a point of contention. A constructive dialogue is essential to address these concerns.
I also agree that holding officials accountable is crucial, whether through recall votes or at the ballot box in the next election. It’s essential that our representatives listen to the community and govern responsibly. I think we can both agree on the importance of ensuring that elected officials work in the best interests of all citizens.
Dave, let’s continue this conversation with respect and focus on finding solutions that serve the common good. I see you deleting rude comments from the left, however, you seem to tolerate rudeness from the right. Why?
Anyone still defending Trump after his ties to Epstein has clearly sold out their last shred of integrity. The same people who scream about ‘law and order’ are now bending over backward to shield a man who spent years in Epstein’s circle, turning a blind eye to everything from underage trafficking to blatant corruption. If you really believe in ‘family values,’ maybe try holding the man you worship accountable for once. But we all know the truth—this isn’t about values or justice. It’s about power, and anyone still making excuses for this monster is complicit in his actions. You don’t get to claim the moral high ground while carrying water for a man who trafficked in corruption and scandal for decades. At this point, it’s not just hypocrisy—it’s criminal!
Many celebrities, politicians and wealthy people have done things in their dumb and stupid years that were not conforming with standard behavior. However, I’m not sure that a lot of the stuff that come out of the Epstein chaos, is true and factual as to what each persons behavior was in those days.. there have been so many conflicting reports about who did what from those days that I have my doubts that a lot of it was true and now that one person is serving a lengthy prison sentence and the other one is dead. How can anyone believe that the truth has been told about that situation?.
As to President Trump, I’m not the least bit concerned about what may or may not have happened in years past, but I am concerned what he does as President of United States. second term, he has accomplished things that no one has been able to accomplish and he is doing what I consider to be a very good job as our President. He is working hard for the American people and he’s finally a president putting America first.
To “The real Jake”: Has the house voted to release the “Epstein Files?” Can you please point me to where you are getting your “facts” from? Until it has been released, then you really don’t know what you’re talking about, just speculation. And to Charles Brown’s point, who knows what is true and factual and what is made up?