Boaters want Hurricane Matthew damage to dock at The Jacksonville Landing fixed

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — It's called the River City, but some say boating here isn’t always easy.

The dock at The Jacksonville Landing is still damaged in multiple places a year and a half after Hurricane Matthew busted the concrete.

The slabs bob in the waves, making it unsafe for boaters to dock.

As Melissa Reynolds floated toward The Jacksonville Landing, it didn’t take her long to realize there was a large part of the dock where she could not tie down.

“I said, 'We can’t park there. We have to go past the gate,'” Reynolds said. “It’s kind of disturbing to see that the dock is like this because I’ve lived here all my life and I came here as a kid. And to see parts of it messed up like this is kind of heartbreaking.”

On Tuesday afternoon, Reynolds found enough space to tie off.

But another boater told Action News Jax that he and a group of more than a dozen other boaters were unable to dock there for the Oyster Jam Music Festival on Saturday.

“With events that come up, going into the summer, we need to have it fixed, because boaters like us now are going to want to come and dock and be able to take part in the festivities and everything. And we’re not going to be able to because we’ll be limited to how many boats we can dock here,” Reynolds said.

Action News Jax asked city spokesperson Tia Ford twice on Tuesday when the dock will be fixed.
Ford said she is looking into the issue.

In the meantime, the city has padlocked the entry to the busted part of the dock.

Cox Media Group