by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
As the City responds to dwindling development rights on the Southbank, it’s taking a look around the state to see how other Florida cities are handling the same problem.
The Jacksonville Economic Development Commission and the City’s Planning Department conducted a statewide survey of other rapidly developing Florida cities. The results could help guide the City’s strategy for managing growth on the Southbank where development rights are in short supply.
On Dec. 13, the City Council designated the area as a Transportation Concurrency Exemption Area. That means developers are not bound to make the traditional improvements to help transportation infrastructure keep pace with development. Where a Southbank developer before might have had to pay to widen roads, now that same developer might win development rights by agreeing to expand the Riverwalk or by adding public green space to the project.
The TCEAs are in wide use across the state, according to the Planning Department report. Of the seven cities surveyed, only Daytona Beach doesn’t have one, while Miami, Gainesville, Orlando, Sarasota, Tampa and West Palm Beach all use them.
JEDC Executive Director Ron Barton said the TCEA, if used properly, can turn a lack of development rights into an asset. With developers lining up to enter the hot Southbank market, the City can offer development rights to those projects that advance the City’s master plan for downtown.
“We’re not always talking about trading off development rights for money,” said Barton. “Just as important is a well-thought-out urban design component for the projects.
“That could mean building a link to the Riverwalk or an expansion to the Riverwalk, adding green space or creating linkages to existing green space. Those are all a part of our vision for a better downtown.”
Without the TCEA, development in the surging Southbank market would have ground to a halt, said Barton. A number of high-capacity projects are expected to start construction in the area in the next few years. Those projects would have eaten up all the available development rights, said Barton.
“Without the exemption area, there’s definitely a problem. Without it, there’s probably a development window on the Southbank of about four years. Then we would have hit a brick wall,” said Barton.
The TCEA has drawn varied responses from developers, but Barton said the City isn’t trying to create barriers to development. He sees it as the City taking advantage of market forces to encourage desirable development.
“Our objective is not to throttle back capital investment into downtown,” said Barton. “But we recognize the supply-and-demand component. I don’t think it’s inappropriate to extract value out of an area where the City has invested a lot of time and effort to help build what is now a very attractive market. It’s government applying the free-market model and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”