complete agenda - Florida Department of Environmental Protection

ITEM 4:
REQUEST: Consideration to ensure that a .43± acre public road motor-vehicle bridge
crossing easement within the Department of Environmental Protection, Office of
Greenways and Trails (OGT) managed land, Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail-Trail (trail
corridor), is in compliance with the Board of Trustees’ Incompatible Use Policy.
LOCATION: Duval County
Section 7, Township 2S, Range 25E
APPLICANT: City of Jacksonville (“City”)
CONSIDERATION: $1,000 for the net positive benefit compensation for the recreational
impacts to state-owned conservation lands.
DSL STAFF REMARKS: The City is requesting an easement over a portion of the trail corridor
for the purpose of installing a motor-vehicle bridge as part of a planned road extension
(Pritchard Road). The motor-vehicle bridge will provide for a grade-separated crossing of the
trail corridor, ensuring safe, uninterrupted use of the trail corridor by the public. The City has
asserted that a pre-fabricated motor-vehicle bridge can be installed while the trail corridor is
closed to public use over the course of one night. Consequently, temporary trail realignment is
not needed, and the City has withdrawn its original request for a temporary construction
easement that would have been used to locate the temporary trail corridor realignment. The
trail corridor is a 100-foot-wide, 172-acre former railroad corridor containing a 14.57-mile paved
multi-use trail corridor as well as a parallel natural-surface equestrian trail. The property was
purchased by the Board of Trustees from CSX Transportation in December, 1992 for $632,000
using Preservation 2000 funds. OGT subleases the property to the City of Jacksonville for longterm
management. In 2002, the City was awarded a $100,000 grant through the Recreational
Trails Program (RTP), funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for the purpose of
constructing the equestrian trail. (The City contributed an additional $100,000 to the grant
project as local matching funds). In order to comply with the terms of the RTP grant, the City’s
design plans for the motor-vehicle bridge must be consistent with OGT and FHWA’s guidance
for a motor-vehicle bridge above an equestrian trail. OGT recommends approval, contingent
upon a determination by OGT that the City’s final bridge design plans are entirely consistent
with the design guidance provided by FHWA and OGT, prior to the issuance of the easement.
Per section 253.034(4), Florida Statutes: “an easement in perpetuity may be granted by the
Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund if the improvement is for a
transportation facility.” As a former railroad corridor, the area is highly disturbed. According to
the management plan, FNAI determined that there are six state-listed species known to occur
near the trail corridor, but none have been documented within the trail corridor itself (including
the proposed easement area). The proposed easement will not have adverse impacts to any
larger adjacent conservation lands. City shall ensure that any inadvertent damage to the trail
corridor (including vegetation) will be repaired or replaced upon completion of construction.
DHR reports that there are no known historic or archeological resources immediately adjacent
to the area.
PUBLIC INTEREST: The proposed easement is in the public interest due to increased public
transportation needs in the Duval county area. All construction will be limited to times when the
trail corridor is closed during the evening hours.