By Julia Roberts
Attorneys for the city of Fernandina Beach will have at least two more weeks to research and plan a response to a Bert Harris claim notification from Rayonier Advanced Materials.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has approved an air quality permit which would allow the company to build a second-generation bioethanol plant that would use spent sulfite liquor, a product of its process at the Fernandina Beach plant, as the basis for ethanol fermentation. The proposed plant would be capable of producing approximately 7.5 million gallons of bioethanol for sale each year.
The public has voiced opposition to the project, citing environmental concerns as well as questions regarding transporting the product and the potential for an environmental disaster with the volatile chemicals used in the process. There are also questions as to how the plant could be built in the city, as its Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code forbids the manufacture of chemicals in city limits. The city asked an outside law firm to study the issue and give the city commission an opinion. That opinion was that, under current regulations, the plant could not be built. The city therefore denied a building permit for the project.
However, RYAM has filed legal action in an attempt to move forward with the project, which includes two lawsuits and a letter to the city that the company intends to file a Bert Harris claim. Under the Bert Harris Act, a claim exists if a governmental entity inordinately burdens an existing use of real property or a vested right to a specific use of real property. RYAM’s action says the city, by refusing to issue a building permit for the bioethanol facility, has caused the value of its property to decline to the tune of $6.6 million.
The city hired a legal firm, Weiss Serota, which specializes in governmental law, to represent the city in the matter. An attorney from Weiss Serota and the city’s attorney, Teresa Prince, presented the commission with a list of actions the city could take at the Oct. 8 city commission meeting; the commission voted to delay taking action on the Bert Harris claim, pushing it until the Oct. 21 meeting.
At the Oct. 21 meeting, several speakers addressed the commission, expressing concerns about the safety of the proposed plant to the environment and public health as well as the legality of the Bert Harris claim.
Commissioners did not discuss the claim at the meeting, as the matter is ongoing litigation, but voted unanimously to move the matter to the Nov. 4 city commission meeting in order to allow Prince and Weiss Serota to continue to research the matter in order to reply to the claim.
jroberts@nassaunewsline.net
