Centre Street, one of the areas affected by paid parking in Fernandina Beach. | Michelle Corum, Jacksonville Today
Published on January 27, 2026 at 3:36 pm
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Opponents of paid parking in Fernandina Beach have filed another request for a judge to issue a temporary injunction blocking the plan.
And just days after the request was filed, a petition drive was begun to recall two of the city’s five commissioners to stop them from possibly voting to override a public referendum in which voters could discontinue paid parking.
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The Citizens Against Paid Parking political action committee and a city resident filed the amended request for an injunction Friday, after Nassau County Circuit Judge Marianne Aho had dismissed the first one on Jan. 5.
The judge said at the time that the request for an injunction was premature because the city had not yet approved the parking plan. The City Commission approved the plan the next day.
The amended complaint asks a judge to block the parking plan because, the complaint says, it “violated a plethora of Florida and federal laws, as well as circumvents the will of the voting public.”
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“If this court were to deny the requested temporary injunction, the city would further misappropriate funds and other resources to the paid parking program and engage in irreparable violations of Florida and federal law,” the complaint says.
The proposal’s history
The five-member City Commission set a priority last year to develop sources of revenue other than taxes, pointing to the need due to the city’s growth — 7,800 people in the 1970s to over 13,900 now.
A city report projected revenue of $1.5 million to $2.5 million annually if paid parking were instituted. The added revenue would help fund projects like a new $20 million to $25 million seawall, demolishing Brett’s Waterway Cafe to expand existing docks and rebuilding aging downtown infrastructure, the city said.
The plan for paid parking covers all public lots and spaces along Centre Street from Ash Street to Alachua Street. It also includes Front Street east to — but not including — 8th Street.
It also includes public parking lots at the marina. But there are no physical parking meters. Instead, signs direct people to pay through a smartphone app.
City residents, including property owners and residents within the city limits, can get two annual parking permits at no cost and more for $24 each. There will be a 20-minute grace period, allowing people to briefly park to run an errand without paying, city officials said.
The parking lawsuit
In its amended complaint, the Paid Parking PAC said the plan violates the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act. That is because clergy and workshippers at four churches in the paid parking zone have to pay to park for weekday events, which the complaint called “a substantial burden on the exercise of religion.”
The injunction request says paid parking also violates the state Constitution, which says that no law should be implemented “penalizing the free exercise” of religion.
The complaint says the plaintiffs are not bringing the action as an academic exercise, “but rather from a pressing need to halt an illegal, unwarranted, and undesirable outcome.”
Recall petition
A petition drive was organized in an attempt to recall commissioners Tim Poynter and Genece Minshew so they could not vote to overturn the public referendum, if voters defeat the paid parking plan.
The referendum could be held in August or November depending on whether there are more than two candidates running in the same seat, according to city officials.
In a post online last week, one of its organizers said that their mission “is to break the supermajority” on the commission if they end up voting on the referendum’s result.
“This is the last thing we want to do. Let me repeat that: THIS IS THE LAST THING we want to do!” Roger Martin wrote. “But we feel we have no choice! Commissioners have stated they will override the vote if it passes in November to ban public parking — so much for the idea of representative government.”
Under state law, any member of a governing body may be removed from office by registered voters. Voters are eligible to sign a recall petition and then vote in a recall election.
If enough valid signatures are collected, then the chief judge of the judicial circuit will set a day for a recall election, unless the officeholder resigns.
State statutes outline the only grounds for removal of elected officials: malfeasance; neglect of duty; drunkenness; incompetence; permanent inability to perform official duties; and conviction of a felony involving moral turpitude.
Parking opponents have scheduled petition signings at multiple sites on Saturday and from Feb. 3 through 7, according to the “Recall FB 2026” Facebook page.
