December 2010.pdfCITY CALENDAR
DECEMBER 2010
Dec 7 *Cultural Arts & Recreation Advisory Committee / 6 pm
Dec 13 City Commission Meeting / 6 pm
Dec 21 Community Development Board / 6 pm
Dec 23/24 CITY OFFICES CLOSED
Dec 31 CITY OFFICES CLOSED
JANUARY 2011
Jan 10 City Commission Meeting / 6 pm
Jan 11 Code Enforcement Board / 6 pm
Jan 18 Community Development Board / 6 pm
Jan 24 City Commission Meeting / 6 pm
Jan 25 *Cultural Arts & Recreation Advisory Committee / 6 pm
Meetings are held in the Commission Chamber unless otherwise indicated.
* These events will be held at Adele Grage Cultural Center, 716 Ocean Blvd.
CITY OFFICIALS
Mike Borno, Mayor
John Fletcher, Mayor Pro Tern
Jonathan Daugherty, Commissioner
Paul Parsons, Commissioner
Carolyn Woods, Commissioner
Jim Hanson, City Manager
Alan Jensen, City Attorney
Donna Bartle, City Clerk
www.coab.us • (904) 247-5800
Holiday Celebration & Tree Lighting
The Beaches Town Center along with the Cities of Atlantic Beach
and Neptune Beach are sponsoring a holiday kick-off celebration on
Saturday, December 4th. The festivities will begin at 3 pm with a bike
parade through Town Center and everyone is invited to decorate their
bikes and join in the fun. There will be many activities to keep the
little ones busy including music, dance performances, face painting,
arts and crafts for all ages and carriage rides. The Mayors of both
cities will light the community tree and Santa and Mrs. Claus will
arrive by sleigh at 6 pm for the tree lighting and visit with the kids.
For more information, go to www.beachestowncenter.com.
Holiday Toy Drive
Light up a child's face and heart! To help make a child's holiday season
brighter, please drop off new unwrapped toys at the Atlantic Beach Fire
Station, 850 Seminole Road by Monday, December 13th. Collected
toys will be distributed to children in our north beaches area. Contact
Recreation and Special Events Office at 247-5828 for more information.
Visit our website www.coab.us/events for all the holiday events.
SPECIAL EVENTS
DECEMBER 2010
Dec 1 Mid -Week Market / Bull Park / 3 - 6 pm
Dec 4 Holiday Celebration & Tree Lighting / Town Center / 3 -8 pm
Dec 5 Songwriters Concert / Adele Grage / 6 - 8 pm
Dec 8 Mid -Week Market / Bull Park / 3 - 6 pm
Dec 11 Holiday Sing -Along / Bull Park / 6 - 8 pm
Dec 15 Mid -Week Market / Bull Park / 3 - 6 pm
Dec 16 North Beaches Art Walk / Town Center / 5 9 pm
Dec 22 Mid -Week Market / Bull Park / 3 - 6 pm
Dec 29 Mid -Week Market / Bull Park / 3 - 6 pm
JANUARY 2011
Jan 5
Jan 9
Jan 20
Lagniappe Night / Adele Grage / 7 pm
Songwriters Concert / Adele Grage / 6 - 8 pm
North Beaches Art Walk / Town Center / 5 - 9 pm
ABET Presents...Little Women
By John Ravold
December 3 - 4,10- 12,16 -18
This dramatization of Louisa May Alcott's classic novel about a
mother's love for her children and their appreciation is timeless in
its appeal. It delivers its message of hope and cheer in a way that
sends us from the theatre with a higher opinion of humankind than
we had when we entered.
Showtimes: Thursday, Friday & Saturday 8 pm / Sunday 2 pm
Admission: Adults — $15 / Senior, Student, Military — $12
Holiday Sing -Along
The City of Atlantic Beach will host its annual Holiday Sing -along on
Saturday, December 11th at Bull Memorial Park on 7th and East
Coast Drive in Atlantic Beach. A disc jockey will spin holiday tunes for
sing -along karaoke, and Santa will visit with the children. Adults and
children of all ages are welcome to join in and see if it will SNOW!
Visit www.coab.us/events for City of Atlantic Beach events.
TLANTIC
Interlocals Agreements
You have probably read news stories recently
about the Interlocal Agreement with the City
of Jacksonville. The term "Interlocal Agreement" refers to any
Agreement between a city in Florida and their respective county
government. Each of the beach cities has several Interlocal
Agreements with Jacksonville and each one is different.
The Interlocal Agreement that is most commonly referred to
results from the 1995 settlement of a lawsuit filed by Atlantic
Beach. The Agreement clarifies the relationship between the City
of Atlantic Beach and Jacksonville. Essentially, Jacksonville serves
Atlantic Beach citizens in the role of a county government.
The most important part of this Agreement is that it sets tax rates.
Property owners in Atlantic Beach are charged 3.2907 mills less
by Jacksonville than the rate charged to owners in other parts of
Duval County. Living in our city, you also pay the Atlantic Beach
property tax rate which is presently 3.1553 mills. The reason
that our residents get a lower rate from Jacksonville is because
Atlantic Beach provides our own police, fire, public works, parks
and several other services. If Atlantic Beach owners paid taxes
to both Atlantic Beach and Jacksonville for the same services,
it would amount to double taxation. Why pay any taxes to
Jacksonville? Because Jacksonville provides several services to
us including the court system, jail, Tax Assessor, Superintendent
of Elections, landfill and others. This Interlocal Agreement also
requires Jacksonville to pay Atlantic Beach most of the cost for
lifeguards and beach maintenance.
Fire services were consolidated with Jacksonville through a
separate Agreement in 1999. Atlantic Beach pays Jacksonville
for fire services which saves us money and provides better service.
There are several other Interlocal Agreements with Jacksonville,
most of which deal with individual grants and specific projects.
The City Commission and I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and
a Happy New Year. — Mayor Borno
HOLIDAY HOURS FOR CITY OFFICES
City offices will be closed on Thursday, December 23rd and
Friday, December 24th for the Christmas holiday.
Help the Environment and
Save Money with riorida-Friendly Landscaping
By putting the right plants in the right place, you can reduce the use of water, fertilizer and pesticides,
which saves money. By using the principles of Florida -Friendly landscaping, you can also conserve water,
protect our waterways from harmful runoff, reduce invasive species and attract butterflies and other
natural wildlife to your yard.
The City recently passed a Florida -Friendly Landscaping rule to encourage the use of Florida -Friendly
landscaping, which will help to conserve our water resources. If you install a new irrigation system or
replace more than half of your existing irrigation system, a hydrozone plan must be submitted to the
Building Department. This irrigation plan must show the high, moderate and low water use areas and
indicate the percentage of landscaped area using high volume irrigation. No more than 60% of the
landscaped area may use high volume irrigation.
Florida Yards has a great website on Florida -Friendly landscaping that includes a plant database with
beautiful photos, an interactive yard you can use to design your own landscape plan, plus a quick and
easy -reading tutorial on the nine Florida -Friendly principles. You can also download a free Guide to Florida -
Friendly Landscaping. Check it out at www.FloridaYards.org.
Remember Your Day: Only irrigate on your day, before 10 am and after 4 pm.
Odd numbered addresses - Saturday Even numbered addresses - Sunday
Nonresidential properties - Tuesday
Crime Prevention Tips For the Holiday Season
The Atlantic Beach Police Department wishes everyone a safe and happy holiday season. If you travel during
the holidays and leave your home unattended, make sure all doors and windows are properly secured. Have a
trustworthy neighbor or family member watch your house and pick up newspapers and mail. Valuables should
not be visible through the windows or doors of your home. Indoor and outdoor lights should be on an automatic
timer, so the house looks occupied. Take time to register for a vacation watch check at the Police Department.
When leaving your vehicle parked, at or away from your residence, remember to park in an area that is visible
to the public and well lit at night. Always lock all doors and windows and remove all valuables. Don't display
gifts beneath the Christmas tree that can be seen from windows or doors. After the holidays, don't advertise
gifts received by leaving boxes for the garbage collection. It is a good idea to destroy boxes and place in a
sealed, non -clear garbage bag, or flatten for closure in a recycle bin. Last but not least; remember to have a
designated driver when consuming alcohol. Don't drink and drive.
"Be an Angel" Gift Tree
Be an angel and gift a child with a holiday present. The City of Atlantic Beach "Be an Angel" gift trees
will be ready for "Angels" on December 1st. We have 60 children in our community in need of a gift
this holiday season. Please consider visiting the Adele Grage Cultural Center or the Selva Marina Country
Club to select a child from one of our trees and make this holiday "something special" for a child in
our community. Please return wrapped gifts to the Adele Grage Cultural Center at 716 Ocean Blvd. or
the Selva Marina Country Club at 1600 Selva Marina Drive, no later than December 15th. For more
information contact the Recreation and Special Events Office at 247-5828.
8 Tips to Holiday Waste Reduction
1. An estimated 2.6 billion holiday cards are sold each year
in the United States, enough to fill a football field 10
stories high. If you have Internet access, consider sending
electronic Christmas cards this year. Use pinking shears to
cut up old Christmas cards into gift tags.
2. Half of the paper consumed in the U.S. every year is used
to wrap and decorate consumer products. Shop for recycled -
content holiday wrapping paper. Save used gift wrapping
paper and reuse it next year. Make your own gift wrap
from butcher paper, reused brown paper bags, newspapers,
and newspaper comics pages. Christmas -theme fabric, with
Velcro strips attached, can become reusable holiday wrap.
3. Going to grandma's house for Christmas dinner? A
reduction of one gallon of gasoline consumed each holiday
season by every U.S. household would reduce greenhouse
gas emissions by 1 million tons.
4. About 40 percent of all battery sales occur during the holiday
season. Consider purchasing rechargeable batteries instead
of single -use household batteries. In 2006 alone, more
than 40 billion single -use batteries were sold worldwide.
5. Headed out to the mall for some holiday shopping? Take
along a reusable shopping bag and you'll help reduce the
number of single -use, disposable plastic bags distributed
each year by retailers.
6. Consider buying food and holiday snacks in bulk to reduce
packaging waste. But be careful about unused leftover food.
It's estimated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
that nearly 95 billion pounds of edible food, or 27 percent of
the U.S. food supply, end up being wasted each year.
7. Outgrown toys, clothes and furniture may be donated to
charitable groups like Goodwill Industries and The Salvation
Army. Instead of purchasing gifts, donate to a charity in the
gift recipient's name.
8. Consider a living Christmas tree, an artificial Christmas tree
or even a Florida -Friendly fruit tree this year. Nationwide,
it's estimated that 30 million used Christmas trees end up
in landfills. If you decide to go with a traditional cut tree,
compost it in your yard or put it out for City of Atlantic
Beach's yard waste pickup.
(Source: http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/PublicEd/Holidays/
NoWaste.htm)