City Fix for Developers Is Never Ending

[jaxlongtimer]

Once again, the City is owned by every 2-bit developer regardless of how bad the project is. Not only does the City destroy what makes Jax special, but it creates new problems that will haunt the City forever.

Per the below, the City is moving toward approving letting a developer build up to 243 homes on environmentally sensitive property near the Zoo that has only one access road over a frequently used and blocked railroad crossing (that runs along Main Street and which, per a picture, doesn't even have crossing arms).  For some reason, the City "traffic engineer" (see my post at https://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,37222.0.html re: this "profession") thinks this isn't a problem.

I guess some people are fool-enough to spend mid-6 figures+ to take the chance a fire truck or ambulance can't reach their home in an emergency plus be inconvenienced by such trains.  Some of the homes also back up to I-95 and/or a junkyard.  So much for peace and quiet. Go figure.

That the City would approve this shows a total lack of standards, once again, by our bought-and-paid-for City Council, Mayor and Planning Department.  It's so obvious how this works that my first test for candidates running for office is if developers are contributing to their campaigns.

Jacksonville City Council set to decide rezoning of Broward Point land behind railroad line

Steve Patterson
Florida Times-Union

The railroad tracks that cross over Broward Road have become a focus of neighborhood arguments against rezoning land in the Broward Point community (right) to allow construction of a 243-home development that couldn't be accessed if the tracks were blocked.

North Jacksonville residents are reaching for allies after a Jacksonville City Council committee endorsed plans to add hundreds of homes to a neighborhood whose only entrance is crossed by railroad tracks.

“[T]he residents of Broward Point feel betrayed and let down by our city government,” homeowner Dorothy Parker Gillette emailed all 18 council members, who will vote as a whole Tuesday on a rezoning bill that the Land Use and Zoning Committee approved this week by a 4-3 vote.

The rezoning would let homebuilder D.R. Horton create a new 243-lot subdivision off a part of Broward Road east of North Main Street that holds just 70 homes now.

CSX railroad tracks that parallel Main run across Broward, and a traffic engineer hired by the residents told committee members that traffic from the new development would greatly complicate getting in and out of the area, especially when trains are present.

“It’s going to create some very long queues that need to clear,” said Jeff Bucholz, the traffic engineer, whose report projected failing levels of service for drivers trying to leave the area and turn left onto Main Street.

Traffic engineers working for the rezoning applicants, members of the Broward family that has held the land for generations, projected diminished levels of service on the road but still within the city’s standards.

The dueling engineers used different methodologies, making the reports hard to compare head to head, said Laurie Santana, chief of the city’s transportation planning division.

The full council’s vote doesn’t have to be so focused, allowing arguments to emerge on any aspect of the rezoning for the 113-acre property surrounding an inlet on the north side of the Trout River.

Neighbors who oppose the rezoning have spent a lot of the past year raising concerns ranging from harm to property values to effects on wildlife in the property, which residents have been soliciting donations to buy and give to the nearby Jacksonville Zoo.




https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/local/2022/02/03/jacksonville-florida-city-council-vote-broward-point-rezoning-decision-horton/9307676002/?utm_source=jacksonville-Daily%20Briefing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_briefing&utm_term=hero&utm_content=FLORIDA-JACKSONVILLE-NLETTER65

[acme54321]

I'm on the fence with this one.  I get that the existing residents on that road don't want this new development in the woods behind their house.  I wouldn't either.  Other than a potential traffic increase getting off/on Main St. these arguments are a bit weak IMO.  The issue with emergency services exists now and the residents clearly don't have an issue with it or they wouldn't have bought there.  What makes this site any more environmentally sensitive than anything else in town?  It's some pine flatwoods like everything else around here.  That body of water is artificial, it was dug out sometime around when they built I95, completely destroying the natural salt marsh and wetlands that were back there.  Big meh from me on this one. 

[Charles Hunter]

Does seem a bit dense for the area, and only one access that crosses a busy RR track.
Is the developer going to add a traffic signal at Main Street?

[jaxlongtimer]

^ Acme, thanks for sharing the additional info.

I would still side with the residents and others opposed to this.

First, aside from other issues already mentioned, these "new" developments are typically much more dense than the surrounding areas.  Looking at Google aerials, the existing lots appear to be much larger than those planned for this development. 

Second, having a total of 318 homes vs. the existing 75 is a 4 fold increase in traffic on the single entry point and what potentially could be backed up at the RR crossing.  Will the backup on the residential side block resident driveways?  Will the backup on the Main Street side block traffic on Main Street?

Third, I wonder if CSX will insists on upgrading the crossing with this development?  Who will be asked to pay for that?

Fourth, how long before the new residents complain about the trains (access, vibration, noise, emissions, safety, etc.), junkyard and I-95 that they didn't take into account when they naively bought their homes?  I have been around trains and they can shake a well constructed building some distance away.  The banging of rail cars, the engine noises and the whistle will carry over most or all of this development.  There is also very little buffer with the surrounding roads and industrial activity areas per the plan.  With water, these homes are not going to be cheap and the residents are going to expect an above-average lifestyle.  Unfortunately, developers know many (most?) people don't perform good due diligence on a neighborhood, relying on the developer and the City to have sorted that out before building.  Once the complaints come rolling in, it's usually the taxpayers who end up paying for any "fixes."

Fifth, what happens when JEA, City employees and trash services are blocked by a train?  Do they leave and come back?  Sit and wait it out?  Who pays for that lost productivity?

Sixth, it may be mostly man made, but over the years, nature has "reclaimed" that space, most likely relocating from the many other surrounding areas we have developed and/or destroyed.  Are we to eliminate every such possibility for wildlife?

Seventh, I would think this area would be very sensitive to resiliency issues.  I noted the development is leaving many areas "green" which I take to be wetlands and also adding numerous retention ponds.  I infer from this, along with its presence along the Trout River and your comments that this used to be salt marsh, that this is low lying land ripe for future flooding (likely to increase following the Port's dredging of the river nearby).

Eighth, what about upgrades to utilities in the area?  How will that be handled and serviced?

In the end, this is clearly a substandard location for a development like this.  The developer will build anywhere the City will let them regardless of future consequences to homeowners and/or taxpayers.  There is no standard in my mind if this is acceptable to the City.

[thelakelander]

Traffic aside, most of this property lies within a flood zone. We probably should not be building in these types of locations since we know better now.

[acme54321]

They'll have to bring in enough fill to build above the flood zone.

Like I said, I get the complaints but these issues are really no different than anywhere else in the county. 

The only legit complaint I see is that traffic volumes in that one road in and out will quadruple.  The junkyard,  railroad crossing etc are on the people buying the houses.  They can complain all day but imo that would just be their failure to do due diligence. 

I also suspect that the developer has the option to put in their own entrance and crossing but doesn't like the economics and red tape of that option.

My point is that this development isn't special.  What's special is the people that live along the river there with money and resources to push back because they don't like it in their backyard.

I assure you that the original people that lived in what was rural Riverside, Avondale, San Jose, Mandarin, Arlington, Oceanway, Argyle, Oakleaf didn't like it either.

[thelakelander]

They'll have to bring in enough fill to build above the flood zone.

I have no position on the other points. The resilience issue is one I'd raise some concern about though. We're currently buying people out of flood zones like Ken Knight Drive and South Shores. Kind of crazy that we'd continue approving new development in them. I get that they'd bring in fill. I suspect, that's not really a good thing either in the long run.

[Charles Hunter]

I don't think the developer has the option to add any new access to Main Street. That would require getting permission from CSX to add a new grade-crossing - and the railroads are much more stingy with their permissions. I don't know if it is still true, but at one time one of the RRs in town was requiring 3 closed crossings for every new crossing.

Probably the best that can be hoped for is for the developer to be required to upgrade the existing crossing to current standards (4 quadrant crossing gates, etc.) and add a traffic signal and proper left-turn lane on Main Street. The existing left-turn lane from Main to Broward is less than 70 feet, or only 2 or 3 cars at the standard of 20 - 25 feet per car. That seems inadequate for around 300 homes.

[jaxlongtimer]

Like I said, I get the complaints but these issues are really no different than anywhere else in the county. 

.........

I also suspect that the developer has the option to put in their own entrance and crossing but doesn't like the economics and red tape of that option.

My point is that this development isn't special.  What's special is the people that live along the river there with money and resources to push back because they don't like it in their backyard.

.......

I assure you that the original people that lived in what was rural Riverside, Avondale, San Jose, Mandarin, Arlington, Oceanway, Argyle, Oakleaf didn't like it either.

"... really no different than anywhere else in the county."  Exactly!  The City lays down for any developer with no neighborhood character, history, traffic or environmental backbones.  So there is virtually no precedent set for higher standards for development.  Just give developers what they want because we give all developers what they want in this City.  We even go one step further and often subsidize their demands.

As noted by Charles, CSX decides if a road can cross their tracks.  And, nowadays, they want less than more.  Unless the developer is willing to pay for an overpass (see the Walmart development at the Avenues with a bridge over FEC tracks), this is a nonstarter.

"My point is that this development is special."  It's not special because people live on the water, it's special to anyone who lives around the property because it's in their "back yard" and impacts the quality of life they paid for.  These fights are in every part of town and most of them have nothing to do with waterfront (see San Marco, Springfield, Riverside, Mandarin, Northside, etc.)  People are getting tired of City Hall allowing developers to run roughshod over their neighborhoods.  With the value of land and houses today, these developers, including this one, are putting very large houses on very tiny 50 foot wide lots that are totally incompatible with the surrounding densities.  Instead of promoting these  new-style suburban densities, the City should encourage developers to build up the density in the urban core.  As long as they can build in areas like this there isn't going to be nearly as much demand for urban infill.

As to the original people in other once-rural areas, they most certainly put up resistance at times.  And, based on our developer friendly City Hall, they likely lost most every fight.  In that respect, nothing has changed and, therein, is the issue. 

I can tell you during my lifetime, I have seen plenty of people unhappy with the quality of development in this City.  But, they mostly don't resist because they have learned how long the odds are at getting City Hall to listen.  That's what you are seeing with this neighborhood now.  No mediation, no compromise, no consistency, no support available.  In a zoning fight, the City default is developers are "experts" and neighbors are "just concerned citizens" who don't really know what they are talking about.  So, it's a very stacked deck on top of the influence developers have over City Hall.

The solution is voters voting for candidates who sincerely care about this City, not ones who spend the most money on ads full of empty populist sound bites.  Until more people get more informed about City workings and exercise their votes accordingly, I don't expect much to change.  It's sad to see how little people here know about their City outside of anything related to the Jags.

We have a Citywide City Council election this month.   One candidate is a developer's friend, the other not so much.  Taking bets on how low the turnout will be.  With a low turnout, the developers will most likely win again.

[jaxlongtimer]

No surprise.  City Council approves Broward Point development.  Maybe the neighbors can win by discouraging future homeowners from buying from the developer with some supplemental "due diligence" information  .

Broward Point rezoning backed by Jacksonville City Council despite neighbors' complaints

With barely enough support to pass, Jacksonville’s City Council approved rezoning plans Tuesday evening to permit a 243-home subdivision in a neighborhood whose only entrance is crossed by railroad tracks.

The 10-8 vote positions the Broward Point area off the Trout River west of North Main Street to become the site of a D.R. Horton development that many neighbors argued would be incompatible with their upscale enclave of about 70 homes.

Neighbors had been seeking donations for a campaign to buy the property on Broward Road and donate it to the nearby Jacksonville Zoo, but the 113-acre site was already under contract for development that depended on the owners getting the rezoning....

[Below, picture of cars backed up at the RR crossing under current circumstances:]


https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/local/2022/02/09/jacksonville-city-council-rezones-railroad-blocked-site-243-homes/6709116001/

[fieldafm]

[Below, picture of cars backed up at the RR crossing under current circumstances:]


https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/local/2022/02/09/jacksonville-city-council-rezones-railroad-blocked-site-243-homes/6709116001/

Looks like the same kind of queuing at literally any neighborhood I've ever lived in from San Marco to Lakeshore in Jax... or even Decatur in Atlanta.   

[MusicMan]

Agree....the train in San Marco, which came to a complete stop at 4 37 pm, was blocking Emerson, St Augustine, and Atlantic Blvd.
At least 300-500 vehicles would have been affected.

[jaxlongtimer]

Agree....the train in San Marco, which came to a complete stop at 4 37 pm, was blocking Emerson, St Augustine, and Atlantic Blvd.
At least 300-500 vehicles would have been affected.

We should add that those backups were so bothersome, that taxpayers are now paying most of $35 million to address the issue.  So, I guess backups aren't so tolerable over time after all.

Decades ago, the same frustrations led to the overpass being built at University Blvd. West near Bowden Road.

Don't be surprised to see these future residents demanding taxpayer paid fixes here at some point, especially when an emergency vehicle is held up by a train and someone's house burns to the ground and/or dies as a result.

[For those interested, it appears those voting with the neighborhood were:  Becton, Boylan, DeFoor, Ferraro, R.Gaffney, Morgan, Pittman & Priestly Jackson.]

....Councilman Al Ferraro, District Two, has witnessed the train come to a complete stop. That is why city leaders agreed to give the Florida Department of Transportation nearly $980,000. The purpose is to install new tracks. Ferraro admitted how he was once caught behind a train.

"The idea of this [project] is that the trains are still going to come through," Ferraro explained. "They're just not going to be parked out there."

It's an estimated $35 million dollar project. Something the city of Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority and FDOT agreed on. The councilman said changes would "free up businesses for ordinary traffic."

https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/local/san-marco-trains/77-414fa9bd-94fa-4c7c-836a-caa7e94a3d23

.....A federal grant was applied for in the fall of 2018 to pay for the bulk of that project. The Federal Railroad Administration awarded $17.6 million in mid-2019 for 50 percent of the total project cost.

Led by the Florid Department of Transporation, a multi-agency effort involving the Jacksonville Transportation Authority, city, CSX and FEC Railway were then required to match the remaining funds. Ferraro and two other City Council members co-sponsored a bill, approved a few weeks ago by the full council, that pays the city's $978,875 portion of the total $35.2 million project. The FDOT will fund $13.7 million, with JTA, CSX and FEC kicking in equal $978,875 allocations to match the city funding.

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/traffic/2021/10/14/jacksonvilles-annoying-san-marco-train-could-park-elsewhere/5953787001/

https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/traffic/2021/10/14/jacksonvilles-annoying-san-marco-train-could-park-elsewhere/5953787001/

[Florida Power And Light]

It’s always more about the Citizens than the Developer.
Local Land Use And Zone Map. FLUM
The citizens enjoy a very powerful role in establishing development parameters, and defending against substantial revision *** request *** .
Fascinating how this very basic concept and tool has been lost in the Shuffle.
Is this Proposal a FLUM revision request or simply development rights long ago “ Vested”?
The ‘ Public’ is dumb.This thread is Dumb. Good environment for “ Development “.

Thousand Friends Of Florida should absolve itself.

[jaxlongtimer]

Here is another City bone for developers:   https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/dia-considering-tax-break-for-corner-lots-proposed-dollar77-9-million-artea-apartments

Corner Lot wants to build 340 apartments for about $78 million.  That comes out to about $230,000 a unit.  Investors are currently paying in the range of $250K to $400K+ (Vista Brooklyn just sold for $410K/unit) all day long for existing (and often older) complexes in Jax nowadays.

At the bottom end of that range, they have a near 10% return the day they cut the ribbon and likely far more (30% at 300K/unit).  Why do they need $6.3 million (developer wanted $10 million!) from the taxpayers?

What other business gets this kind of favored treatment?  What if I want to build a 4-plex?  Or a single family home that I want to rent to myself  ?  Will the City help me out with a 10% incentive?  If I want to start a new business, will the City provide 10% of my capital needs? 

Why are apartment developers treated better than any other business?  (For the answer, just follow the money... from developers to campaign accounts).

The only incentives I can see supporting are for differentials in costs between historic renovations and building new and affordable housing offered at below market rates.