by David Ball
Staff Writer
Thursday marked the first official meeting of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission’s newly-formed Downtown Development Review Board, and the group cut its planning teeth during approval of a much-debated zone change request.
The nine-member, mayor-appointed board that replaced the former Design Review Committee also heard and approved an exception for a monument-style sign at the proposed DuPont Testamentary Trust building on Forest Street in Riverside, as well as approved a deviation from design standards and final review of a new storage building at Fire Station No. 4 on Duval Street.
The DDRB will continue the DRC’s job of reviewing design and build criteria for Downtown projects, but it will also perform Planning Commission duties to review rezoning and zoning exceptions, variances and waivers for any project within the Downtown Zoning Overlay District.
The new responsibilities bring a new set of guidelines regarding the noticing of meetings, the allowance of public testimony during hearings, the disclosure of ex-parte communications and other issues in keeping with the state’s Sunshine Law.
Thursday’s design issues went smoothly for the board, which includes six members who had also served on the DRC. New members Logan Rink and Tim Miller were absent from the meeting, as was DRC veteran Rose Zurawski.
However, the discussions heated up for an application to change zoning of a 2.6-acre property between Jackson and Dora streets along Riverside Avenue from Planned Unit Development (PUD) to Commercial Community General-1 (CCG-1).
“This is really a housecleaning thing,” said applicant Tom Ingram of the law firm of Pappas Metcalf Jenks & Miller. “We are proceeding in accordance with the normal procedures. The design is still along the same lines you’ve seen in the past.”
Ingram said the development is planned to be a mixed-use project containing commercial office, retail, residential and hotel uses. He said the existing PUD zoning was too restrictive to allow that kind of development, and that CCG-1 was more in keeping with the intended use.
The Planning and Development Department recommended approval of the application, although some DDRB members, as well as ex-officio member and Council Member Bill Bishop, had some problems with a CCG-1-zoned property surrounded by Commercial Residential Office (CRO) zonings.
“The entire block, if you will...is essentially one project,” said Bishop. “To me, it makes sense to make it CRO like everybody else.”
JEDC staff liaison Jim Klement said the Downtown Zoning Overlay would allow flexibility to develop the same project with CRO as with CCG-1, but the CCG-1 zoning language was “more fluid” and clear.
“The uses are very specific in CRO, like it will say ‘medical office’ or ‘dental office,’” said Klement. “In CCG-1, it says uses like ‘retail establishment.’”
But the specific uses allowed in each zoning district matter legally, said Assistant General Counsel Jason Teal.
“In approving the zone change, you are essentially approving the laundry list of uses in CCG-1,” said Teal. “I haven’t heard a direct answer (from the applicant) to why they are looking for CCG-1...and without a good reason, it’s somewhat troubling.”
Acting Board Chair Roland Udenze said he’d rather wait until the planning department comes back with explanations of the differences in each district, although the majority of the board didn’t want to hold up the project.
After further discussions, including a proposal to change the rest of the parcels in the project to CCG-1, board member Jim Bailey, owner of Bailey Publishing and Communications, said, “We need to focus on the parcel at hand and not on the ‘what if’ of the other parcels. It is our responsibility to address them individually as they come before us.
“If you look at the staff report, it meets all the criteria,” said Bailey, who ended the debate with a motion to approve the application as presented. “I really don’t have a problem with CCG-1.”
The motion was passed unanimously, with new member Montasser Selim abstaining. The board’s recommendation to approve will be forwarded to City Council for final approval.
The board’s last item of business was to nominate new officers for the coming year. The board will vote to appoint a chair, vice chair and secretary at its next meeting in November.
An application to rezone a Riverside property (shown above) from Planned Unit Development to Commercial Community General-1 was the first planning issue tackled by the newly-formed Downtown Development Review Board on Thursday.