by David Ball
Staff Writer
City Council Member Richard Clark, chair of the Transportation, Energy & Utilities Committee, told Council President Daniel Davis Tuesday that it’s time to look at the long-term strategy of mass transit in Jacksonville, specifically transit oriented development.
“We can’t widen the roads anymore,” Clark said at the meeting with Davis and members of the Planning Department and Office of General Counsel. “We need to find a way to get cars off the streets.”
Clark expects the meeting to be the first of many to make sure all entities involved in developing future mass transit projects — planning department, City Council and JTA — are approaching it efficiently and with the same goals in mind.
“I want to take a big-picture look as we’re getting started in this,” Clark told the Daily Record. “My understanding of transportation oriented development is a simple one — how to get cars off the road and get people to use mass transit.”
Clark said the meeting was spurred by the Kings Avenue Station project, which is slated to be JTA’s first Transportation Oriented Development (TOD) located near I-95 on the Southbank.
The $60 million project is being developed by Chase Properties, which is leasing the land adjacent to the existing Kings Avenue Garage (that sits mainly unused) and Skyway station in order to build hotels, retail and possibly residential elements that incorporate pedestrian and mass transit and reduce automobile traffic.
Chase initially stated they would break ground in June, but JTA Director of External Affairs Mike Miller said work will likely begin by early September.
“In this case, we already have the Skyway station and we’ll be enhancing it with more connectivity to development,” said Miller. “We also plan to incorporate bus rapid transit, and we’re looking to expand the trolley to that station.”
JTA’s proposed $750 million bus rapid transit system — a system of dedicated highway-based and high-speed bus routes set to be built by 2025 — is one of the key components to transit oriented development, Clark said.
City ordinance 2007-803 lists 16 proposed bus rapid transit stations as being suitable locations for a transit oriented development zoning overlay district, which Planning Director Brad Thoburn said gives density bonuses to encourage mixed-use development.
“JTA is investing a whole lot of money in developing this system, and the transit doesn’t really work very well if people are spread out,” said Thoburn. “It’s sort of trying to figure out how to adjust land development patterns to support the transit system, so there’s more options than just the automobile.”
Another big issue is funding, said Clark, who devoted much of Tuesday’s meeting to discussion of fair share assessments charged to developers for impacts to roadways and transit infrastructure.
Miller said JTA, as the owner of the Kings Avenue Station development, can use its $811,000 fair share payment to improve amenities at the station itself instead of writing a check to the city and having it dispersed among bulk road improvement projects.
“We can install electronic signs alerting arrivals and departures, make improvements to intersections where buses come in and out and construct shelters...to enhance to the experience for our riders,” said Miller. “It’s all permissible under the new TOD act.”
Although improving mass transit in Jacksonville will take decades, Clark said he hopes to make some important progress while in his chairmanship this year.
“This is going to take years to come to fruition,” said Clark. “But I think we can set the goals, set the structure, and have the methodology in place...and to create the framework to allow that to happen.”