FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. — Becky DeWitt set up a free food pantry in her Fernandina Beach yard right before Thanksgiving, which she said has now been running for months, mostly from community donations.
But after getting a visit from Fernandina Beach city code enforcement this week, she may have to take it down.
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“I am pissed, and I am heartbroken,” DeWitt said, “it doesn’t make sense. Make it make sense.”
DeWitt told us that city code enforcement got involved after a neighbor turned in a complaint about the food pantry. She said she didn’t realize it had violated city rules, claiming she set it up simply to help people in need.
We met with the neighbor who made the complaint. He didn’t want to do an on-camera interview, but told us he has seen a buildup of traffic on South 14th Street, where DeWitt’s home is located, because of people pulling up to collect from or donate to the pantry. He also shared concerns about people experiencing homelessness hanging around the area because of the pantry.
DeWitt said she will end up getting fined if she doesn’t take the pantry down and is planning to go to the city and ask for a change to its rules.
“It’s not beautiful, but it does beautiful things for a lot of people in this community,” said DeWitt.
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We looked through Fernandina Beach city code and found that it does not explicitly allow for single-family homes to have food pantries in their front yards, nor does Nassau County. We looked at Jacksonville and St. Augustine city codes for comparison and found that both city codes allow for these pantries to be used at single-family homes.
DeWitt said she plans on visiting with the city this week to advocate for a change in local rules so that she can keep her pantry up.
“I’m hoping that this can change that. And that the code will allow us to give back to our community, because that’s all we’re trying to do here,” DeWitt said.
If you live in Nassau County and have questions on what you’re allowed to do with your property, it’s recommended that you reach out to county code enforcement, unless you live in Fernandina Beach, in which case you can contact city code enforcement.
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