Florida’s $100 Million Wave Pool Gets Unanimous Approval

Surfer.com | 26 February, 2025

Jacksonville surf park, eTown, powered by Wavegarden, gets 18-0 vote from city council.

Remember when Austin Powers was frozen? He went into the ice in 1967, then came out in 1997, with no clue as to the current workings of the times. Cellphones, technology, a lack of free love and promiscuity. Imagine doing that today, cryogenically freezing oneself, and coming back decades from now. From a surfing standpoint, with things going the way they are, it would be quite different.

Namely, with the rise of wave pools and new projects popping up practically on the daily, the world of synthetic surfing would be much more prevalent, with manmade waves breaking across the globe.

One of the latest pools in the United States, which recently got unanimous approval from the city council, is eTown, located in Jacksonville, Florida. According to the Jacksonville Daily Record, “Council voted 18-0 on legislation granting a rezoning request for the 55.27-acre mixed-use development in eTown, where plans by global surf park creator Aventuur and area partners center on a wave-generating lagoon that offers up to 1,000 waves an hour. Council member Tyrona Clark-Murray was not present for the vote.”