by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
After a City design committee refused to support the City’s cost-cutting Duval County Courthouse design, the mayor’s office is preparing to appeal to the Downtown Development Authority to get construction back on track.
The Jacksonville Economic Development Commission’s Design and Review Committee refused approval last week on a domeless version of the courthouse. The mayor’s office believes removing the dome will cut more than $2 million from the project’s runaway budget, which has grown to an estimated $268 million from the original $190 million. The ornate dome has been a frequent target for critics, many of whom criticized the original design as too extravagant.
Removing the dome may help the City’s bookkeepers, but the DRC found the new design unacceptable. Two days after the DRC’s decision, City Chief Operating Officer Dan Kleman directed the General Counsel’s Office to look into an appeal. Mayor John Peyton will need the DDA to overrule the DRC to obtain construction permits.
The Sept. 22 DDA meeting will present Peyton with the first opportunity to appeal. If, as JEDC and City officials expect, the mayor’s office presents at that meeting, the DDA board would consider the request like any of its action items. DDA managing director Al Battle, who also sits on the DRC, was the lone member to vote in favor of Peyton’s design, but he won’t have a vote on the DDA. The voting will be left up to the seven board members.
Although the votes will come from different people, both bodies will evaluate the project using the same criteria. DDA board chair Bob Rhodes said the DDA would evaluate the project using the design specifications in downtown’s master plan and zoning overlay.
“We will use the same legal basis for the decision,” said Rhodes.
One member of the board has already voiced his support for the mayor’s design. David Auchter, also a vice president at the Auchter Company, said the DDA would evaluate the project by different criteria than the DRC. The DDA considers the project’s importance to downtown and its relation to the City’s master plan for the area, he said.
“We’re certainly respectful of the DRC’s recommendation and we take it seriously,” said Auchter, who noted that DDA board vice chair Denise Watson chairs the DRC. “But we also look into the larger context of its effect on the area as a whole.”
While the absence of the dome will take away from the building’s aesthetic appeal, Auchter said the DDA’s decision would also take into account the budget implications of the new design.
“We have to remember we’re operating with taxpayer dollars,” he said. “We need to strike a balance between attractiveness and being cost conscious.”