A proposed agreement to raise JEA power lines over the St. Johns River to accommodate large container ships at JaxPort is set to be fast-tracked in the Jacksonville City Council after a March 14 meeting to vet the deal.
Council members Nick Howland and Will Lahnen called the meeting to question JaxPort and JEA officials over contracting, financing and other details of the $117 million project, a partnership between the city, JaxPort and JEA. Council member Chris Miller also attended.
At issue was Council Ordinance 2025-0194, an interlocal agreement in which the city would agree to join JEA and JaxPort in providing funding to raise six high-voltage lines near JaxPort’s Blount Island terminal from their current height of 175 feet to 225 feet.
According to a staff report on the ordinance, the city would contribute $3.5 million in previously allocated funds that had lapsed and would reclassify $17.5 million in funding for the project from a loan to a grant. The city also would reallocate $7 million in savings from funding it provided for the $420 million deepening of the harbor channel to allow for passage of larger ships.
The Florida Department of Transportation committed to providing $22.5 million, and JEA and JaxPort each are putting up $32.5 million.
The agreement would normally be considered on Council’s standard six-week cycle, but the process will be shortened to two weeks to allow the parties to lock in a guaranteed maximum price of $90 million from Houston-based contractor Quanta Infrastructure Solutions Group LLC. The remainder of the costs are for purchases of towers, cables, lighting and other materials involved in elevating the lines.
Since mid-November, when an original guaranteed price was established with a deadline of April 3 for the parties to finalize the deal, JEA and JaxPort officials have been working to negotiate the price downward, draft the agreement, conduct a financial study and work with their respective boards to approve funding for it.
By the time the JEA and JaxPort boards each agreed on their funding for the project in late February, the normal Council cycle would have extended beyond the deadline.
Howland said the March 14 meeting was designed to allow Council members to hold a detailed discussion on the agreement in advance of committee meetings scheduled for March 17 and March 18 ahead of a final vote by the full Council on March 25.
Howland and Lahnen are the respective chairs of the Council Rules and Transportation, Energy and Utilities committees. The Council Finance and Neighborhoods, Community Services, Public Health and Safety committees also will hear legislation on the agreement.
Council members’ lines of questioning included why the cost of the project more than doubled from a 2022 feasibility study that estimated it at $42 million to $54.4 million.
Kurt Wilson, JEA chief of staff, said the 2022 study from global engineering firm Worley Group was aimed at determining whether the project was technically possible and provide options for how it could be accomplished. It was not a construction or design contract.
After Quanta was contracted, Wilson said, it was discovered that the feasibility study underestimated the workforce needed for the project and omitted such elements as the cost of concrete for foundations of towers on each side of the river.
“The reality is those were big, $20 million chunks,” Wilson said.
In response to questioning from the Council members, Wilson said JEA is no longer contracting with Worley.
Citing warnings from Council auditors of city budget deficits in coming years due to such factors as commitments for economic development incentives and raises awarded in 2024 to first responders, Council members also raised questions about overruns. The city agreed to provide $5 million to cover extra costs, with JEA and JaxPort splitting anything beyond that.
Lahnen questioned whether the $27 million estimate for materials was solid, to which Wilson said he would “give it 99% confidence.” The towers and cables have been ordered, he said, with the steel coming from domestic producers and therefore not subject to any tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. He said uncertainties about other tariffs could affect other costs.
Joey Greive, JaxPort chief financial officer, said the project was needed to maintain the port’s viability as a stop for major global shipping companies. Today’s larger cargo ships require 205 feet of overhead clearance.
The St. Johns River channel also was deepened to allow for larger ships, a $420 million project and was funded by federal, state, city and private money. That project was completed in 2022.
In determining ports of call, Greive said, shipping companies compare costs of porting cargo ships at JaxPort versus trucking goods from Savannah, Georgia, and other ports. Raising the lines will allow companies to see a positive return on their investment in routing ships through Jacksonville, he said.
“The port’s mission is to create jobs and economic impact,” he said. “I think this is just one of those things that will release the handcuffs off of Jacksonville as an economic engine.”
After nearly an hour of questioning, Howland said he was satisfied with the responses from JEA and JaxPort.
“I hope this discussion shows that money no longer comes easily form the city of Jacksonville, but good projects will be funded,” he said. “And this is a good project.”
A JEA timeline for the project calls for completion in the summer of 2027.