Lawmakers add projects to state budget. What made the cut for Jacksonville area?

David Bauerlein, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union
·8 min read
A ground-breaking ceremony on Feb. 9 for the Hicks Honor College residence hall at the University of North Florida could be followed by construction of a new student support and academic building on the campus. The proposed 2024-25 state budget contains $40 million for that building. UNF wants to boost enrollment to 25,000 students.
A ground-breaking ceremony on Feb. 9 for the Hicks Honor College residence hall at the University of North Florida could be followed by construction of a new student support and academic building on the campus. The proposed 2024-25 state budget contains $40 million for that building. UNF wants to boost enrollment to 25,000 students.

The University of North Florida's expansion plans and Flagler College's Ponce de Leon Hotel renovations emerged as two big winners in the state budget approved by the state Legislature.

On the other side of the ledger, Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan's request for $63 million in state support for developing two downtown riverfront parks hit a dead end in the annual jockeying for local projects.

Deegan said the outcome on the parks wasn't a surprise. She said the city shifted its focus to lobbying for other projects after learning the park funding wasn't going to happen. The city already has banked some of what's needed for Riverfront Plaza and Jacksonville Shipyards West Park, and Deegan said the city will keep adding money for them.

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Deegan said the city also has applied for nearly $140 million in federal grants to take "full advantage of all the money that's out there."

Compared to last year, state lawmakers had a tighter budget to work with so there are fewer member-sponsored projects and those that made it often got less funding than requested, said state Rep. Wyman Duggan, R-Jacksonville.

"I'm just enormously pleased we were able to get so many resources for Northeast Florida," said Duggan, chairman of the Duval County Legislative Delegation.

He said those will support needs for health care, veterans, mental health, and economic development.

Here are the biggest local projects added by lawmakers to the proposed 2024-25 budget (HB 5001).

UNF student academic building: $40 million

UNF would get $40.2 million for construction of a 60,350 square foot building between the Thomas G. Carpenter Library and the University Green. UNF wants to increase enrollment to 25,000 students by 2028. The student support and academic building would have study space, learning centers, tutoring, career development and other academic enhancements.

It's the second year in a row that legislators have added money for UNF campus construction. A year ago, they put in $26.9 million for Coggin College of Business expansion and $7.4 million for Brooks College of Health remodeling.

"UNF should have more students than it does for a major state university in a major metropolitan area," Duggan said.

He said state lawmakers have responded to that growth-oriented message from UNF President Moez Limayem. "The success over the last couple of years in terms of funding are a result of those efforts on his part and the delegation working in support of that," Duggan said.

Hotel Ponce de Leon: $35 million

An extensive renovation of Hotel Ponce de Leon at Flagler College in St. Augustine is in line for $35 million, its second big chunk of money after the Legislature put $35 million toward the structural modeling last year The work will preserve the National Historic Landmark building that houses several hundred Flagler College students and is a tourist destination.

People walk by the main building of Flagler College in St. Augustine in 2018. The building, completed in 1888, was once the Ponce de Leon Hotel and was designed by New York architecture firm Carrere & Hastings.
People walk by the main building of Flagler College in St. Augustine in 2018. The building, completed in 1888, was once the Ponce de Leon Hotel and was designed by New York architecture firm Carrere & Hastings.

JaxPort cargo cranes: $26 million

JaxPort will get a second helping of state support for the cranes that load and unload cargo from ships. The $26 million in this year's proposed budget comes on top of $30 million a year ago for purchase of two cranes. This year's installment would purchase another crane and do modernization work on several existing cranes.

UF Health Jacksonville financial relief: $15 million

The state would make a one-time payment of $15 million to UF Health Jacksonville, the city's main hospital for treating poor patients who cannot pay for their health care. The state funding would help UF Health Jacksonville plug a deficit for its cost of providing uncompensated health care.

Ocearch base in Mayport nets another $5 million

The Ocearch research and operations center in Mayport will get a $5 million appropriation for the second year in a row. Ocearch is well-known for tracking sharks and other marine life. The organization picked Mayport as its base of operations in partnership with Jacksonville University and the city of Jacksonville. The latest round of money would go toward building Ocearch's headquarters in Mayport, purchasing a catamaran and the first year of operating costs.

Penny, a female white shark, was 10 feet, 3 inches long and weighed 522 pounds when she was tagged off Ocracoke, North Carolina, in April 2023.
Penny, a female white shark, was 10 feet, 3 inches long and weighed 522 pounds when she was tagged off Ocracoke, North Carolina, in April 2023.

Nursing programs at Jacksonville University and FSCJ

Expansion of college-level nursing programs remains an important goal for local lawmakers. The proposed budget contains $10 million for Jacksonville University's Grow Florida Nurses program and $2.8 million for Florida State College at Jacksonville nursing program facilities.

Edward Waters University campus security: $5 million

After a white man killed three Black people near the Edward Waters University campus in a racially motivated shooting in August, Gov. Ron DeSantis directed $1 million to the university for upgrading its campus security.

The proposed budget follows up on that by adding $15 million for enhancing security at three historically Black colleges and universities that have dealt with hate crimes in the past five years. Edward Waters University, Bethune Cookman University and Florida Memorial University will each get $5 million to boost physical security and cybersecurity while improving communications systems.

New MOSH museum: $5 million

The Museum of Science and History's planned new museum, known as the Genesis Project, will get $5 million form the state. MOSH has been raising money from private donors for the museum that would go on the downtown riverfront near the sports complex, replacing the current building on the downtown Southbank.

This is a rendering of Turtle Mountain, a planned exhibit at the new Museum of Science and History.
This is a rendering of Turtle Mountain, a planned exhibit at the new Museum of Science and History.

Other local projects

Here are other Jacksonville area projects in the 2024-25 budget

$10 million: St. Johns County Road 2209 central segment

$7.5 million: State Road 16 phase 1 in St. Johns County

$7.5 million: St. Johns County all hazards training facility and unified command center: $7.5 million

$7.5 million: St. Johns County central public safety station

$6 million: Jacksonville Classical Academy charter school for new building for athletics and theater production

$5 million: St. Augustine - West Augustine septic to sewer conversion

$4.4 million: St. Johns County EPIC sober living transitional housing expansion

$4 million: City Rescue Mission's McDuff Avenue campus

$3.86 million: St. Augustine Beach for Mickler Boulevard ditch erosion

$3.7 million: Nassau County Road 108 extension

$3 million: Wigmore Street vehicle overpass

$2.5 million: Clay County Road 217 bridge safety improvements and replacement

$2 million: St. Augustine Beach for Mizell stormwater treatment

$2 million: K9s for Warriors

$2 million: Fernandina Beach downtown resiliency seawall construction

$1.95 million: Hilliard water supply expansion

$1.75 million: Tag! Children's Museum of St. Augustine

$1.72 million: Cornerstone Classical Academy charter school building expansion

$1.52 million: Five Star Veterans Center for housing integration and building expansion

$1.5 million: Acree Road on the Northside to attract federal money for railroad overpass

$1.5 million: Clay County Moccasin Slough boardwalk and tower

$1.5 million: Clay County Road 209 safety improvements

$1.5 million: Clay County Road 218 extension of four-lane road

$1.5 million: Clay County Road 220 extension

$1.5 million: St. Augustine Beach Oceanside Circle roadway resilience

$1.5 million: St. Augustine Beach ponds

$1.4 million: St. Augustine Youth Services — community outpatient children's center

$1.35 million: Sulzbacher Center — Enterprise Village

$1.1 million: Town of Baldwin sewer and water main work

$1 million: Fernandina Beach 200th anniversary beautification and preservation improvements

$1 million: Nassau County essential housing community

$1 million: Gateway Community Services — addiction stabilization and detoxification building

$1 million: Wolfson Children's Hospital's Bower Lyman Center for medically complex children

$1 million: Clay County Utility Authority technology upgrades

$1 million: Dunn Avenue at V.C. Johnson Road intersection improvements

$1 million: USS Orleck Naval Museum to expand public access to different parts of the ship in downtown

$950,000: Ability Housing capacity fund

$900,000: Baker County Courthouse for Americans with Disability Act and security improvements

$850,000: Timucuan Parks Foundation for Healthy Parks initiative

$750,000: Clay County for Black Creek Bike Trail

$750,000: Florida 16 extension in Clay County

$750,000: Clay County fire station No. 15

$750,000: Clay County fire station No. 21

$700,000: UF Health Jacksonville maternal and fetal care program

$700,000: YMCA of Florida's First Coast Immokalee Unique Abilities Center accessibility expansion

$578,688: Ascension St. Vincent's nurse residency program

$577,514: Jacksonville Sheriff's Office mobile investigative command vehicle

$500,000: First Coast High School pedestrian signal

$500,000: UF Health Jacksonville forensic interview center

$500,000: Clay Behavioral Health Center community crisis prevention team

$500,000: Delores Barr Weaver Policy Center: Girls Matter Continuity of Care

$500,000: Neptune Beach stormwater improvements

$500,000: JEA for St. Johns River Power Park site transportation study

$500,000: Clay County Regional Sports Complex

$482,000: Growing Green Jobs Jacksonville

$450,000: Smart North Florida pilot prgram

$425,000: Green Cove Springs for Spring Park shoreline resiliency

$400,000: Nassau County Sheriff's Office K-9 unit regional training facility

$400,000: Clara White Mission's White Harvest Farm

$375,000: Nassau County for 911 console replacement

$312,500: Atlantic Beach for Marshside septic tank elimination

$250,000: Atlantic Beach dune protection and beach access improvement

$193,500: Elevation Academy in Clay County

$125,000: Clay Behavioral Health Center accessibility project

$125,000: Nassau County Youth Alternative to Secured Detention

$100,000: Historic Eastside community preventative mental health and wellness initiative

$15,500: Light Up Amelia Bicentennial

What's next for the budget?

Member-sponsored projects added to the budget always get scrutinized by Florida governors. Gov. Ron DeSantis will decide which ones he'll zero out using his line-item veto power.

Times-Union staff writer Hanna Holthaus contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: UNF, Flagler College, JaxPort and Ocearch funded in Florida budget