by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Mayor John Peyton’s son Connor may have a child of his own by the time some of the City’s plans for the future come to fruition. That’s not to imply that government works slowly — it does, and Peyton admits so. It’s meant to show how far into the future Peyton and his staff are looking.
At Wednesday’s meeting of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, Peyton talked about several things but his 15-minute address focused on the City’s 2030 plan. He said it’s called “build-out 2030” and it’s the first time the City has looked that far down the road. Peyton referred to the plan as going from “land use to land re-use” and outlined five facets within the plan.
• Invest regionally — Peyton said the current method of having the developer come to the City and other entities including surrounding neighborhoods is antiquated and inherently slow. “We need to reduce the bureaucracy, which is a complete paradigm shift,” he said. “We need to do it a smarter way, which means breaking the county into livable areas and decide what it should look and feel like.”
• Think regionally – “People’s lives do not stop and start at the county line,” said Peyton. “What’s good for our neighbor is good for us. We have to think that way. Much of the growth is not in Duval County but in counties outside Duval. The notion of competing for jobs is not smart. Businesses know where they want to go, not the government.”
• Invest in the infrastructure — Peyton said his view of government is simple: it’s there to provide public safety and infrastructure. “We have an infrastructure deficiency, as do most cities,” he said. “But, the Better Jacksonville Plan was a great step. Now, we have to reshift our priorities.”
• Cherish and protect environmental lands — With 130 of 840 square miles devoted to public parks and preservation, Jacksonville has the biggest park system in the country, but Peyton said there’s room for improvement. “We need to take the parks up (to a higher level) and that will require tough, speedy decisions,” he said. “We are going to invest in the river and clean it up. It will take decades, but there is more to come.”
• Protect and cherish industrial land — “If we want to talk about growing the economy and attracting jobs, then we have to protect our industrial land,” he said, adding the City is in the process of auditing all its industrial land. “Is the current density approach right or should it be more like (the St. Johns ) Town Center?”
Peyton also talked about several other things including:
• A bill that would require Duval County residential status for anyone to sit on a City Council-appointed board or commission. The bill was authored by Council member Suzanne Jenkins and, if passed, would mean someone like Auchter Company President and NAIOP local chapter president Dave Auchter would have to resign from the JEDC. “Maybe Suzanne Jenkins will listen for a change because she’s the one leading this parade,” said Peyton.
• Crime. Peyton says increased police presence is working and the gun bounty program will work. “There is a culture of thugs in this community that pride themselves on the type of gun they carry. It’s their badge of honor. It’s their manhood,” he said, adding the solution is getting to the kids at an early age. ”You can’t arrest your way out of this. You have to stop producing and manufacturing thugs. The faith community is good at that, the government is not good at it.”
• The courthouse. “We scrapped the Taj Mahal, which was a $500 million building with a $190 million budget. We pulled the plug on a bad plan,” said Peyton, explaining one of the biggest problems was trying to accommodate so many users. “Imagine if you were building a home but didn’t have to pay for it. There would be a long list of things you’d like to have.”