by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Legal counsel for the Amsterdam Sky Cafe said Thursday her clients and the City have “agreed to disagree” on parking, at least for the time being.
Jody Brooks of Lewis, Longman and Walker, P.A. said guests arriving to tonight’s private, VIP party will have to figure out parking for themselves. Two years of negotiations between the the sports complex’s first private business and the City had basically produced nothing Brooks said.
The primary source of contention hasn’t changed. The Amsterdam claims, as part of the Sports and Entertainment Complex’s Planned Unit Development, that they are entitled to parking. The City’s attorney’s have consistently countered that the PUD does not legally obligate the City to provide land for the restaurant’s use.
Essentially the City has told the Amsterdam that they should have thought of parking before they started building near the new Veterans Memorial Arena.
“The City was willing to assist your client [the Amsterdam] in resolving the problem it has created for itself by not previously arranging for a parking agreement with any landowner,” said an e-mail from Assistant General Counsel Karen Chastain to Brooks.
The Amsterdam has pinned its arguments to the PUD, which states “required parking for each . . . parcel will be achieved through district-wide parking and the construction of . . . parking garages.”
According to Brooks and co-owner Mark Jackson, the PUD guarantees the Amsterdam access to parking in the area.
The City directed Brooks to negotiate with SMG. The group manages parking in the area as part of its management of the sports complex facilities including the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville and the new arena.
Jackson said previous conversations with SMG have not gone well. He said the Amsterdam is viewed as competition with concessions inside the stadiums and arena, which SMG also manages.
SMG General Manager Bob Downey said he never spoke to Jackson or Brooks. He said it would be difficult to arrange parking with the restaurant due to the hectic schedule of the surrounding venues. SMG and the Amsterdam would compete for spectator dollars he said.
“There aren’t too many businesses that would want a restaurant operating out there in direct competition with the businesses that are bringing people in,” said Downey.
With the restaurant in place, Downey said, spectators would be less likely to buy food inside the sports complex venues, costing SMG and the City money.
Managing the venues is a money loser for the City to begin with, he said. SMG helps the City make up the difference through concessions, advertising and parking.
City Council member Suzanne Jenkins, a supporter of the restaurant who will cut the Amsterdam’s ribbon today at 5 p.m., said the City’s treatment of the restaurant would send a negative message to other potential small business owners in the area. She said Jackson may be left with only one option.
“They’re going to have to sue the City,” said Jenkins. “I hate to say that but I don’t see what else they can do.
“In a town that’s supposed to be a friend to business and with a mayor who says he wants to run the town like a business, this whole situation doesn’t make sense to me. With The Shipyards coming, this would be a great place to have a business that’s going to bring people downtown and increase the City’s tax base. I don’t get why all these business people running the City don’t get it.”
As for tonight, Jenkins said she doesn’t know where she’s going to park for the ceremony.
“But I have a City sticker,” she said. “I’d like to see them try to tow me off.”