by Karen Brune Mathis
Managing Editor
Two Downtown advocates who disagreed on some of the issues facing the city core did agree on at least two needs at a Thursday night forum.
Those were the need for a new Downtown master plan and, with an imaginary $20 million to spend on just one project, the need to invest such funds to develop Downtown entertainment.
“We need a new vision. We need a new master plan,” said Ed Burr, a developer, chair of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce Downtown Revitalization Committee and a member of the private Jacksonville Civic Council, which issued a task force report focused on Northbank redevelopment.
“We do need one now,” agreed Ron Barton, executive director of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission. The Downtown Master Plan was approved by City Council in May 2000 and the Downtown Action Plan to implement it was created in 2007.
“We need to recalibrate,” said Barton. “We may have to even redefine what Downtown is.”
The two joined Jim Cloar, interim president of the International Downtown Association, on a panel discussion: “Downtown In-Depth Part 2: Downtown Governance.”
The Urban Land Institute North Florida district council and Downtown Vision Inc. presented it. The final Downtown program in the series will be “Downtown Activation,” scheduled 5-7:30 p.m. May 4. It is intended to allow participants to experience the First Wednesday Art Walk Downtown.
ULI Chair Rob Palmer moderated the discussion and opened it with a summary opinion of Downtown. He talked about its attributes, such as the St. Johns River, emerging housing and “great connected neighborhoods” such as Riverside and San Marco.
Palmer also said Downtown faces higher office vacancy rates, dwindling financial resources and struggling retail operators.
“We have a willingness in this community,” he said. “We want to do something more about Downtown rather than ‘let it be.’
“’It’ll do’ is just not going to make it for us,” he said.
In his opening statements, Burr said the 1968 consolidation of the City and County governments was great for the city, but the leaders at the time “weren’t worried about flight from Downtown.”
He said Downtown has not one primary City Council representative, but three who cover parts of it, as well as a mayor who doesn’t solely represent Downtown.
Because of that, the Civic Council recommended a Downtown Improvement Authority, which would have seven members, four appointed by the mayor and three by the City Council, with staggered terms. It would be an independent authority and would need $29 million a year to operate. Those funds would come from Tax Increment Financing and other sources.
Burr said private investors avoid doing business with government Downtown because of the process that requires agreements with the mayor’s office, the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission and then City Council “to get 10 votes” on the 19-member council.
“That’s a risk,” he said. “You can’t guarantee 10 votes at City Council.”
Burr also said that an independent authority would help bridge the changes inherent in a system that changes council presidents each year and a mayor and council members every four years.
“No one can tell you with certainty what’s going to happen because the political winds change every year,” he said.
In his statement, Barton said he couldn’t disagree with the proposals by the Civic Council and Burr and said he was an adviser to the task force from Mayor John Peyton’s office.
The JEDC operates within the mayor’s office and includes the functions of the defunct Downtown Development Authority. The commission is responsible for economic development throughout the county.
However, Barton presented five points about why a Downtown Improvement Authority might not be the answer.
Barton said that, first, citizens are the key to a revitalized Downtown. “An approach to exclude citizens is a recipe for a problem,” he said.
Second, he said the issue of Downtown development is a money problem, not one of governance. “We wouldn’t be here if the JEDC had access to $30 million a year,” he said.
Barton said the commission had access to just $5 million of Tax Increment Finance funds.
Third, he said, “don’t reinvest in a new wheel.”
Fourth, he said, “an independent agency is not the answer.”
“Downtown is everybody,” he said. “You have be transparent. You have to explain it. You have to be able to explain why it’s important,” said Barton.
Fifth, Barton said it’s a bad time economically.
“Just three years ago, we had $500 million of development tied up,” he said. Then the economy fell into recession and many of those projects didn’t happen.
However, Barton did say that the Civic Council, comprising about 50 business and civic leaders, is important “to help convince the citizens it’s in their best interest” to support Downtown.
“No one can move the needle better than your corporate leaders,” he said.
Palmer also asked questions of the panelists.
Asked about the need to minimize political involvement and ensure transparency with an independent authority:
• Burr said transparency “is always going to be there if it uses public dollars.” He said that a governance model needs to ensure constancy. “Downtown is every day, forever,” he said. Burr said that an independent authority would help to keep employers like Modis Downtown. Modis, which is owned by Adecco Group North America, recently left for Southside.
• Barton said that when the Civic Council chooses an “optimal model” for governance, “consider my resume the first in the box” as its director. Barton said that the City’s public investment policy, which governs incentives and other assistance, was designed to allow the JEDC to negotiate deals that meet with the approvel of City Council.
Asked whether the members appointed to a Downtown Im-provement Authority should have a vested interest Downtown through owning property or a business or in other ways:
• Barton said no. “You just alienated the rest of the community,” he said of such a rule. “This is about including Duval County.”
• Burr said yes. “This is about Downtown. This is a Downtown Improvement Authority with the goal of winning every battle.”
• Cloar also said yes. “You have to have a stake,” he said.
Asked where they would invest an imaginary $20 million for just one Downtown project, Barton and Burr agreed on entertainment, but Cloar disagreed.
Cloar, based in Washington, D.C., with experience in Downtowns in Tampa, St. Louis and Dallas, said he would put his $20 million windfall into residential development.
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