3-D Property Values

A simple 3-D map showing property values on Amelia Island. The elevations are corrected by dividing the total valuation by acreage, producing an elevation that is 'value per acre' instead of total value. Tallest polygon is the Ritz, followed by Smurfit paper company. Source of data is Nassau County property appraiser (valuations and polygon shapes).

Recreation Plan Map Series

Using the Air Force's General Plan Submittals (AFI 32-7062)as a model, I created a "Composite Constraints and Opportunities" map as a basis for future recreation planning in the county. Currently in the draft stages, the map shows opportunities such as environmental priorities, Florida Forever projects, and Florida Trust applications. Since recreation uses can be placed virtually anywhere, the only constraint we could come up with was Industrial future land use (the county was not wanting to sacrifice any potentially job-creating/economy-building land uses).
Existing parks could be interpreted as opportunities and constraints depending on the needs of the specific planning district. For example, if a larger park is needed then showing the points is an opportunity. If the goal is to spread out resources, then the park points would become a constraint to avoid.

3-D Analysis

Using ESRI's 3-D analyst, I collected LIDAR points (one foot elevation points obtained by flying a plane equipped with a laser). This data was tranformed into countours, then a digital elevation model was created with the pixels colored to
represent different elevations. This model was then drapped by a 2009 aerial photography. As you can see, the program stretches the aerial photo to fit the shape of the digital elevation model. Making the aerial partially transparent, allows the elevation colors of the model come through.
This analysis shows that the area to the east of the St. Mary's River, assumed to be higher than the river, is actually lower than the bottom of the St. Mary's River.
The consequences of which are obvious.

Complex Geoprocessing Job

My most recent work for Nassau County involved a complex geoprocessing project using ArcGIS (version 10). The State Department of Community Affairs (DCA) required that we calculate all of the acreage of our current 2010 Future Land Use Map (FLUM) and compare with the acreage contained in our proposed 2010 FLUM. One challenging
aspect of the process was determining which parcels were "developable" and which
parcels were not developable. Simply querying the property appraisers database for "vacant" property would have yielded inaccurate results since many properties are considered to be developable even though they are not vacant (such as agricultural land, pasture land, etc.).
Another challenge was calculating the development potential of the individual parcels. Even though it sounds easy, the individual properties have different development potentials depending on what they deed acreage size is. This, of course, is different than the calculated size once the FLU categories have split the parcels into multiple pieces. To overcome this, a join between tables had to be created between the property appraisers original table and the new, recalculated table. To make things even more interesting, the Property Appraiser data has the same polygon for multiple condos. On amelia island, this resulted in a 400 acre descrepancy for the "high density" FLUM. Therefore, these records had to be collapsed into one, re-assigned use values, and then merged with the main project file. There were many other processes and steps that had to be taken, but these
were some of the biggest issues. Output from the model were several pages of acreage outputs, for urban and rural densities (developable vs. developed)

Mixed Use PUD

While working as Director of Planning for Taylor and White Engineers, I designed this 150 acre mixed-use PUD for the west side of Jacksonville on Beaver Street. Unfortunately, the owner went bankrupt before the zoning was approved by the Planning and Development Department. It was an ambitious plan to turn a former dairy into a PUD containing a commercial core, and residential elements of various densities. The plan included land dedicated for school site and a fire/police station. Land was also dedicated for a JEA facility to provide water and sewer service. As with most rural (and suburban) projects, traffic concurrency was a limiting factor.

GIS Mapping Nassau County

I am currently heavily involved with amending the Nassau County Zoning Map. This means going through zoning files for the past 10+ years and repairing the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Boundaries based on legal descriptions. It has been quite an undertaking and so far has consumed about 6 months of work with still more to do. Software being used is ESRI Arc Map editor.

Sonic Restaurants

While Planning Director for Taylor and White, Inc., I oversaw the land entitlement and project management for the installation of several Sonic Restaurants in North Florida including Jacksonville, Yulee, Amelia Island, Green Cove, and Perry. Issues with placement involved master planning (leaving space for future development), signage restrictions, utility access, zoning exceptions, and one rezoning. All restaurants that were not pulled by client were successfully permitted through land entitlement processes.