^^^Well here are some economic realities:
- Developer often has to pay to bring sewer/water lines thousands of feet. In some occasions, miles. Very very expensive and sometimes cost prohibitive to the point where it kills some housing developments outright.
- Houses need to be built to support population and job growth, and in "growth" areas, such as the westside/northwest Jax where city services haven't been extended in some directions as of yet, the houses can only be built to sell for upper $200s into upper $300s, maybe stretching into lower $400s, or they simply won't sell.
- Land owners need to and are lowering their pricing expectations, but they aren't going to literally give away their land
So unfortunately to meet housing production needs, sales price limitations, combined with the lack of services, sometimes on RARE occasion a community is built with septic or something like OnSyte distributed waste.
I am working on one deal right now that fits this equation, but it is not in Duval County. I am working on another deal on the westside and previously worked on another deal on the westside where the developer is extending water/sewer lines. In one case over 2 miles, in another case nearly a mile.
At the end of the day, septic isn't terrible. I grew up with septic, in Ortega of all places. Septic is still prevalent in relatively higher income areas as well, and isn't limited to poor minorities on the northside.
The difference is in maintenance. I suppose it is more challenging for a working class person to properly maintain a septic system, especially one that may not have been installed correctly. Heck, most mobile homes are on essentially self-installed septics and they are not fun to clean up when buying a former mobile home site, but they often work really well for those residents.
Means has a lot to do with this, I'm not denying it. But one can look at how people take care of their houses and immediate neighborhoods and draw conclusions as to how they may or may not take care of septic. For those on septic, with means AND deciding to properly maintain their personal possessions/homes, many I've talked to actually prefer a septic system to the city's system, for a host of reasons. All this to say that septic in and of itself isn't a terrible thing.