On the subjects of affordable housing and infill development, most of the media attention focused on Downtown in the April 23 Jacksonville City Council meeting.
But after Council members gave approvals to the Lofts at Southbank, the mixed-use development that neighbors opposed for including self-storage, another debate on those topics ensued.
Like the discussion on the Southbank project, it followed a growing number of similar debates on affordable housing projects and raised questions about how far Council should go in allowing higher-density properties to be built amid single-family neighborhoods.
Project at issue
The project at issue was a town house development at 12636 and 12640 Ivylena Road in East Arlington.
Neighbors argued that it was too dense, would cause traffic problems, would reduce privacy for current residents by giving the two-story town houses sight lines into backyards and spoil the natural beauty surrounding the low-density neighborhood.
Council member Rory Diamond described the 64-town house development as a textbook “missing middle” project that would help address the affordable housing shortage in Jacksonville. He cited the Beaches communities as areas where the missing middle already exists, with single-family properties mixed with duplexes, fourplexes and apartment buildings.
“The future of Jacksonville can’t just be miles and miles and miles of single-family homes. The reason why is that single-family homes are now out of reach for most people who live in Jacksonville if they don’t already own a home,” he said.
‘Spot zoning’
Council member Matt Carlucci countered that the development was an example of “spot” zoning that didn’t fit with the existing neighborhood. He said the town houses, which the developer plans to market in the $300,000s and $400,000s, were not affordable housing.
“There’s no transition, there’s no compatibility with the surrounding areas,” he said. “The surrounding areas are low density residential, then – pop! – right in the middle we’re going to have 60-some units.”
Council member Will Lahnen, who represents District 3 where the development is sited, opposed the project on grounds that it was too dense for the area.
Carlucci urged Council members to respect Lahnen’s opposition and vote against the development. Noting that the Council had sided with developers on similar projects in recent months – the Lofts at Southbank and a staunchly opposed multifamily building at 10939 Biscayne Blvd. among them – Carlucci asked his colleagues to side with the neighborhood.
“People walk out of here Council meeting after Council meeting after Council meeting, and they lost. They’re losing,” he said.
“The people want a win occasionally. We’ve got to tighten up on our zoning practices to get back to the transitional and compatible flavor which they patently are not now. It breaks my heart every time another neighborhood walks out and loses.”
Diamond said missing middle development, as a tool to address housing affordability, wasn’t about the price of a specific project.
“Missing middle is not about cost, it’s about density,” he said. “We need more units per acre in Jacksonville. It’s a supply issue. Supply goes up, cost goes down. That’s why we do the missing middle.
“More units means more supply, more people get housing, and at the bottom end — basic economics 101 — the cheapest houses will be cheaper.”
At times, neighbors became emotional. One man stormed out after referring to Diamond as an “arrogant jackass,” and another left as security officers approached him for yelling “$400,000” from the audience when Council members referred to affordable housing.
Council voted 11-8 in favor of a future land use map amendment (Ordinance 2024-0144) and 13-6 in favor of a rezoning request to Planned Unit Development (Ordinance 2024-0145) for the project. The votes were for final approvals. The details:
Ordinance 2024-0144
Yes: President Ron Salem, members Randy White, Kevin Carrico, Tyrona Clark-Murray, Diamond, Terrance Freeman, Nick Howland, Reggie Gaffney Jr., Rahman Johnson, Chris Miller and Jimmy Peluso.
No: Ken Amaro, Raul Arias, Michael Boylan, Carlucci, Joe Carlucci, Ju’Coby Pittman, Mike Gay and Lahnen.
Ordinance 2024-0145
Yes: Salem, White, Carrico, Clark-Murray, Diamond, Freeman, Howland, Gaffney, Johnson, Miller, Peluso, Amaro and Joe Carlucci.
No: Arias, Boylan, Matt Carlucci, Pittman, Gay and Lahnen.
The approvals came after several amendments were attached to the project.
Among them, the developer agreed to reduce the number of units to 64 from 65, establish 15- and 30-foot-wide buffers on three sides, not build second-floor balconies and build an 8-foot fence on two boundaries.
The votes came after the Planning and Development Department staff recommended passage and the Planning Commission and Council Land Use and Zoning Committee voted in favor of it.
Noting that the city recently hired new planning director, R. Brett James, Matt Carlucci said he hoped to begin receiving “some different recommendations out of our planning department than we’ve gotten over (the past) four years.”