by David Chapman
Staff Writer
Despite the nationwide housing slump and economic slowdown, there is an indication that one part of Jacksonville will see its fair share of growth within the next several years.
With large tracts of undeveloped land and an emerging port infrastructure at the new Dames Point terminal, Jacksonville’s Northside is garnering residential and industrial developers’ attention, as evidenced by the surge in the number and size of the area’s fair share agreements the past three years.
State law mandates that infrastructure must be in place to meet the impact a development would have on such aspects as the area’s roads. Developers have the option of either building the roads themselves or paying their “fair share” of the roads costs and then proceeding with development.
Since 2004, the number of fair share agreements with the City, and the number of agreements greater than $500,000, has increased. Most of those agreements are for projects in the Northside, which is a shift from the Southside and Arlington areas that saw large numbers of agreements from 1999-2003.
The surge in City Council-approved dollars the past couple of years — $23 million in 2006 to more than $102 million in 2007 — is a combination of several factors, according to City officials.
“The roads have more failing links, they cost more now and the overall need for a lot of roads are all big factors to the increase,” said Brad Thoburn, assistant director of the Planning and Development Department. “It’s (Northside) catching up. That area has a lot of growth potential and the road network has a lot of needs.”
Jeff Clements, chief of research for the City Council, sent out a memo to Council members recently outlining the last several years of the fair share agreements and noted some of the trends.
“I think it’s a good sign that things are going in the right direction,” said Clements. “It means that area (Northside) has more people interested in it on several levels, even in times of economic slowdown.”
Though the Northside will have a landmark port project and strong industrial identity, the majority of the 2008 fair share applications have been for residential uses; other applications include commercial and light industrial projects.
Although fair share agreements help to ensure necessary infrastructure is built, they can have their drawbacks, said Thoburn.
Once fair share agreements and building permits are approved, developers can build as normal, but that doesn’t mean the roads in the agreement are constructed in a timely fashion by the City. In other words, development doesn’t usually slow just because a road isn’t built.
“It routinely happens,” said Thoburn. “Additional congestion is a problem. Fair share agreements put money in the bank even with no chance of roads being built in a timely manner.”
Thoburn noted that while fair share agreements do help with road construction from the private sector, he doesn’t view them as a long-term solution. He believes something such as mobility fees customizable to each sector could be a farther reaching answer.
Thoburn noted that fair share agreements were suitable in potential cases (such as the Northside) where developers are thinking about the future instead of the present. With attractive large parcels of undeveloped land, he said many developers simply want to begin the permitting system by entering such agreements and will build when market conditions become more favorable.
Since June 2007, 22 fair share agreements have been approved totaling over $45 million, according to records provided by the Planning and Development Department. That would eclipse the total of every year the fair share agreement program has been in place with the exception of 2007. The largest fair share monies secured came from a multi-use home and condominium project on the Northside for $21 million.
As with many of the companies and projects listed, Thoburn said the developers of that project are keeping an eye on the future.
“They want to have an agreement in place,” said Thoburn. “and they’ll just sit on it until the market picks up.”
Fair share agreements approved in the past several years (sector 2.1 and 3.4 are located in the Southside/Arlington area, while sector 6.1 and 6.2 are located on the Northside):