What is Jacksonville Port Authoritys relationship with city and state government?
The original Jacksonville Port Authority was created by a special act of the Florida Legislature in 1963 to develop, maintain and market Jacksonville’s port facilities. At that time, those assets included the deteriorating wooden docks near downtown at what is now called the Talleyrand Marine Terminal and a rattlesnake-infested spoil site known as Blount Island. Chartered by the state of Florida, the Port Authority was created as a government entity that would operate in a business-like fashion. In 1968 the Legislature put Jacksonville’s public airports – Jacksonville International Airport, Craig and Herlong Airports – under port authority control. Cecil Field, operated for 58 years as a Naval Air Station, became Jacksonville’s fourth public airport in October 1999. In 2001, the Jacksonville Port Authority’s marine and aviation operations had grown large enough that, at the request of the Jacksonville City Council, the Florida Legislature passed a bill to divide the port authority into
