$1.00 Wednesday, January 23, 2019 / 22 Pages, 2 sections • fbnewsleader.com Second rabies alert issued for Nassau County The Florida Department of Health in lowing boundaries: vaccinated. The public is asked to main- exposure to the saliva and nervous is the animal control agency for the city Nassau County issued a rabies alert for • St. Mary’s River on the north; tain a heightened awareness that rabies tissue from a rabid animal through a of Fernandina Beach and Nassau County northwest Nassau County on Tuesday • Prospect Landing, Murrhee Road is active in Nassau County. bite, scratch, or contact with mucous Animal Services is the agency for all morning. The alert was sent in response and U.S. 1 on the west; An animal with rabies could infect membranes such as the eyes, nose, or other parts of the county. to a cat that tested positive Friday, Jan. • Lessie Road on the east; and domestic animals that have not been mouth. The only treatment for human • Keep rabies vaccinations up to date 18, according to a news release. • West County Road 108 to the vaccinated against rabies. All domestic exposure to rabies is rabies-specific for all pets. This is the second rabies alert from south. animals should be vaccinated against immune globulin and rabies immuni- • Keep your pets under direct super- FDOH-Nassau County this month. Rabid animals can also be located rabies and all wildlife contact should zation. Appropriate treatment started vision so they do not come in contact Health officials urged residents to outside the alert area. Rabies is present be avoided, particularly raccoons, bats, soon after the exposure will protect an with wild animals. If your pet is bitten by avoid contact with wild and stray ani- in the wild animal population throughout foxes, skunks, otters, bobcats, and coy- exposed person from the disease. a wild animal, seek veterinary assistance mals after a raccoon in the western part the county. otes. Residents and visitors are advised to for the animal immediately and contact of the county recently tested positive All residents and visitors in Nassau Rabies is a disease of the nervous take the following precautions: Nassau County Animal Services at 530- for rabies. County should be aware that rabies is system and is fatal to warm-blooded ani- • Call a local animal control agency 6150, or the Nassau Humane Society The center of the latest rabies alert present in the wild animal population mals and humans. to remove any stray animals from your is at Kings Ferry and includes the fol- and domestic animals are at risk if not Rabies is transmitted through neighborhood. Nassau Humane Society RABIES Continued on 5A Sounds SUPER BLOOD WOLF MOON Accessory on Centre: dwelling unit regs could it be go back silenced? to boards JULIA ROBERTS News-Leader JULIA ROBERTS News-Leader Sounds on Centre, a free concert series that takes place the first Friday The Fernandina Beach City of the month from May to October, Commission has kicked some amend- has drawn thousands to downtown ments regarding accessory dwelling Fernandina Beach over its 12-year his- units back to the city’s Historic District tory, but whether the concerts will take Council and Planning Advisory Board place in 2019 or not is an unanswered after some residents of Old Town spoke question after the city of Fernandina to the commission about laws governing Beach’s Special Events Committee sug- the structures. gested the location and/or time for the The commission had on the agen- concerts be changed. da for its Jan. 15 meeting a second “We can’t, and we won’t,” event reading of amendments to the Land organizer Chuck Hall told the News- Development Code that would allow Leader. owners of ADUs to rent the extra space. Hall is the president of the Historic The PAB approved the amend- Fernandina Business Association, which ments last September, sending the produces the event. amendments to the City Commission In a letter Hall provided to the News- for approval. Leader, he wrote there were “two or Accessory dwelling units are cur- three” business owners – one the rently allowed in the city, but cannot owner of a restaurant and the other JOE JONES/SPECIAL FOR THE NEWS-LEADER be rented out. In addition to prohibit- the owner of a store – who complained The total lunar eclipse, the so-called “Super Blood Wolf Moon,” took place Jan. 20-21 over Fernandina ing charging rent for the structures, the about the increased traffic due to Sounds Beach. Photographer Joe Jones wrote the News-Leader that this stunning image was taken near Beach LDC also prohibits the structures from on Centre. “(There) is a lot of political Access 40 shortly after midnight on the morning of Jan. 21, capturing the totality. Jones used a special- having a kitchen and allows them only manipulation surrounding this cancella- ized telescope and high-resolution digital camera. “There were several neighbors out and about watch- in certain zoning areas. tion, too,” Hall stated in the letter. ing the beautiful event on what was a clear and wonderfully crisp night,” Jones added. The amendments would allow for The special events committee is owners to charge rent and for the units made up of Captain David Bishop, to have kitchens, require a separate Fernandina Beach Police Department; entrance, and allow ADUs to be built in Jack Dickison, Police Auxiliary Corps; the C-3 Central Business District and Arlene Filkoff, executive director, I-W Industrial Waterfront zones. Fernandina Beach Main Street; Steve Proposal to use old hospital site At the Tuesday meeting, the com- Filkoff, Police Auxiliary Corps; Mary missioners asked that an amendment be Hamburg, public information officer; added which would require that ADUs Gil Langley, managing director, Amelia only be rented if the principle structure Island Tourist Development Council; for affordable housing questioned on the property is homesteaded, which Rex Lester, director, Streets and requires that the property owner use Parks Maintenance; Randy Maxwell, PAMELA BUSHNELL the principle structure as his or her pri- Facilities Department; Chief Ty Silcox, News-Leader mary home. Fernandina Beach Fire Department; Joe Another requested addition to the Springer, manager, Fernandina Harbor The Affordable Housing Advisory amendments would remove the I-W Marina; and Nan Voit, director, Parks & Committee met Jan. 16 to finalize from the area where ADUs can be built, Recreation Department. goals for 2019 based on the recently because the I-W is a waterfront area and Hamburg said the committee has completed Nassau County Housing inappropriate for the structures, accord- not denied a permit for the event, but Needs Assessment. ing to the commissioners. suggested that the changes be made in One goal stirring controversy is The biggest issue discussed at the response to complaints by “a handful” of the Nassau Board of County Commis- meeting was the limitations on ADUs downtown business owners. sioners’ recent authorization for the in Old Town, the historic district locat- Two blocks of Centre Street are committee to “explore” use of the old ed in the north section of the city. The closed during the once-a-month con- Humphreys Memorial Hospital site amendments would not make changes certs. on North 14th Street as a possible in that area, so renting ADUs would “They said that people have told location for affordable housing. The remain illegal, as would having kitchens them that they avoid downtown dur- property, owned by the county but in the structures. ing Fridays because they can’t drive located within the city of Fernandina Some residents of Old Town on Centre Street,” Hamburg told the Beach, is already zoned for multifamily addressed the commission to say they News-Leader. “They said they are dead residential development. were unaware of those restrictions and from 6 until 8 p.m. and that then they A workshop hosted by the AHAC had not been informed that they were are either slammed, or no one comes in, on the concept of a community land not allowed to build a kitchen in them. which makes it difficult to know how to trust as it might apply to the North Patricia Taylor said she bought a staff for those nights.” 14th Street site property was held in two-bedroom cottage in Old Town and Hamburg said that the decision to December. then built an accessory structure with a cancel the series would be up to Hall, AHAC Chairman Justin Taylor studio apartment above it that includes not the city. reported “some pushback” from the PEG DAVIS/NEWS-LEADER a kitchenette. Hall said the Special Events community on use of the site for hous- The county property that used to hold Humphreys Memorial “To my knowledge, those plans have Committee is not made up of concert ing. Taylor shared that one county Hospital on North 14th Street is being considered as a site for an been approved no less than three times affordable housing development. A recent study found a critical SOUNDS Continued on 6A AFFORDABLE Continued on 11A need for affordable housing on Amelia Island. ADUS Continued on 11A INDEX Looking Back 25 Years Business, 4a oBituaries, 2a A third-grade class at Atlantic Classified ads, 9B PeoPle/PlaCes, 7B Elementary raised $30 for their editorial, 7a PoliCe rePort, 9a teacher after the School Board fishing/tides, 4B Puzzles, 7B offered a pay increase of only 2.4 legal notiCes , 8B sPorts, 1B percent during contract negotiations. Jan. 19, 1994 News-Leader, 165th year. No. 7, Copyright, 2019 NL Wednesday 01.23.indd 1 1/22/19 4:12 PM 2A Wednesday, January 23, 2019 NEWS News-Leader OBITUARIES Weekly update James Hudson Hargreaves Jr.