The archaic zoning code appears to be on no policymaker’s agenda in Jax.
I’m familiar with that interchange - remember staying at one of those hotels in the early 2000s during FL/GA weekend. How this gets denied is baffling to me, unless the department knows something about this developer’s track record. Plenty of affordable housing providers are the worst kind of opportunist - bilking the poor and exploiting their limited options. Multi-family developments need ongoing property management and refurbishment - especially given the living intensity. It’s important not to swap out one kind of blight for another. However, I read nothing in the piece suggesting the planning commission looked into this developer’s other projects in other cities and whether they remained well-kempt.
Having lived in Manhattan many years, to me density betokens beauty and vibrancy. In auto-centric Jax, density often looks unsightly and haphazard. If neighborhood groups could trust a comprehensive set of design standards county-wide, perhaps they wouldn’t be so opposed to more liberal land use policies.