by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Jacksonville Economic Development Commission Executive Director Ron Barton presented a plan Thursday to the JEDC to mitigate blight among Downtown parking lots.
The proposal, if enacted by City Council, would require owners of affected properties to meet higher standards for appearance and safety and require any property used as a parking lot to be licensed as a business.
Before he completed his presentation, commissioners expressed skepticism.
Primarily aimed at surface parking lots in the vicinity of the new County Courthouse, the proposed changes would apply to almost 50 percent of Downtown’s total acreage west of the sports complex.
Of 263 surface parking lots in the plan, Barton said 32 percent are “acceptable” and the remainder “need some, or a lot, of help.”
In addition to parking lots, the proposed amendment to the zoning code would also require owners of vacant lots to remove foundation slabs, grade the property and plant grass, even if the property is not to be used for parking.
Commissioner Jack Meeks, who lives and owns a business in Springfield, asked what the City’s recourse would be if a property owner refused to comply with the regulations.
Barton said the reason for requiring a license to operate a parking lot would allow the City to “send a badged employee to shut down the illegal lot.”
Meeks responded that when he has requested the City to enforce municipal code violations, even in cases of possible public safety or health violations, the City has been reluctant to enforce the code due to lack of resources.
Commissioner Randle Shoemaker-Crump, who is senior vice president and major claims counsel for Fidelity National Title Group, said, “It’s not fair to ‘slap down’ on parking lot owners. We should offer incentives for owners to improve their lots.”
Barton said that owners of the lots “are not rational investors” and “most bought the property 20 years ago at $2 a square foot and then didn’t do anything with it during the hottest real estate market in history.”
He also asked, “Why should we give a tax credit to someone who hasn’t invested in their property in 20 years?”
Commissioner Barbara Moore, division president of Lennar Homes, said perhaps owners of surface parking lots are providing a product the market prefers over parking in covered garages, which usually are more expensive and located outside the urban core.
“We have to listen to what the buyers are telling us. Some people will only pay for cheap parking,” she said. “How downtowns worked 20 years ago is not how downtowns work today. Now people want to park close to their destination.”
Before hearing the parking lot presentation, commissioners approved a Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund for Embraer Aircraft Holding Inc. that could set the stage for the company to open an aircraft assembly plant in an empty hangar at Jacksonville International Airport.
Embraer also is considering sites in Nashville, Tenn., and Hartford, Conn., for the facility. The product involved is the Super Tucano light attack aircraft, a two-seat turboprop plane that’s currently used by five air forces, including those in Brazil and Colombia.
Embraer President Gary Spulak said the company has submitted a Request for Proposal to the U.S. Department of Defense for a program at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to help the government of Afghanistan build an air force for counterinsurgency operations.
If the Defense Department awards the contract to Embraer and if the company selects Jacksonville for the assembly plant, 50 jobs would be created at an average salary of $49,500, plus benefits, which would qualify for a tax refund of up to $150,000. The state’s share of the refund would be $120,000, with the City responsible for the $30,000 balance.
In addition, the Jacksonville Aviation Authority has agreed to provide $2 million in improvements to the former Piedmont Airlines hangar at JIA for the assembly plant.
“We have a strong partnership with Jacksonville already,” said Spulak. “Our company sees Jacksonville as the location of choice, particularly for defense contracts.”
The proposal will be presented to City Council for its approval.
356-2466