The Downtown Development Review Board convened Thursday and approved the three action items on its August agenda.
DDRB is a committee of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission. In addition to having jurisdiction over the appearance of new construction and modifications to buildings and streetscape, the board also serves as the planning authority for the urban core.
The first item was final approval of a design that was first submitted in January 2010. The others were sign regulation waivers for a major corporation about to put its mark on the center of the city’s skyline and a similar exception for a small business on the edge of Downtown’s boundary.
The board granted conceptual approval Jan. 29, 2010, for a design for a pedestrian bridge across Julia Street linking the new Duval County Courthouse and the Old Federal Building where the State Attorney’s Office will be located after the unified facility opens in May.
Subsequent to that approval the design was rejected by the State Historic Preservation Office because it too closely resembled the design architecture of the buildings it connected.
The Old Federal Courthouse is under the jurisdiction of SHPO because it is eligible, based on its age, for listing on the National Registry of Historic Places.
In addition, the quit claim deed between the city and the federal government specifically requires that any improvements or renovations made to the building must be done in accordance with historic design guidelines and the approval of SHPO.
“SHPO wanted us to make sure the bridge doesn’t look like either building. They don’t want to confuse people” who might think the bridge was part of the original structure, said Dave Schneider, the City’s project manager for the courthouse.
The design proposed by SHPO after the denial of the original plan was described at the time by DDRB Chairman Jonathan Garza as “a subway car sticking out of the building.”
Schneider described the final approved design as “neutral but complementary.”
“It’s as close as we’re going to get to something that will conform to all parties,” said board member Chris Flagg.
State Attorney Angela Corey lobbied for the pedestrian bridge as part of the courthouse project for the security and safety of prosecutors traveling between their offices and the courtroom.
“I don’t care what it looks like as long as it’s safe,” she told the Daily Record before the meeting Thursday.
Schneider said he has to put the project out to bid as quickly as possible because construction of the bridge must begin by November in order to meet the May 29 opening date for the new courthouse.
Also approved was the final design for signage at Wells Fargo Center, the former Modis Building on the Northbank.
When the signage plan was presented to the board in July, it called for 15 signs on the building and property, including high-rise signage on the north and south faces of the top of the building.
Those signs were designed with yellow letters set against a red background panel, which the board said was inconsistent with the look of other high-rise signage on the skyline.
The signage plan approved Thursday specifies eight signs: Two high-rise signs, four street-level signs and two canopy signs on the Laura Street and Independent Drive sides of the building.
The design of the high-rise signs was changed to eliminate the red background panel in favor of backlit channel letters with the original yellow-and-red color scheme.
In addition, the board specified that the trees on the Laura Street side of the building be preserved, but may be trimmed to allow better visibility of the entrance to the retail branch bank Wells Fargo plans to open on that side of the building.
On another red-and-yellow sign regulation waiver, the board approved additional new signage for Jenkins Quality Barbecue Inc. at 830 N. Pearl St.
Owner Meltonia Jenkins-DuBois requested approval of a new sign on the roof of the south side of the building and a new ground-mounted sign at Pearl and State streets.
Both signs would be consistent with the yellow letters on a red background color scheme that has been on the restaurant since it opened in 1988.
Jenkins-DuBois told the board her family has been in the barbecue business in Jacksonville since 1957. With the economy in recession, “we have to do more marketing,” she said.
She said the signs would improve visibility for the restaurant which is between State and Union streets, both one-way thoroughfares.
Jenkins-DuBois said the new signs also would make the restaurant more visible for people coming from the new courthouse.
“I want to improve business so I can hire more people and pay more taxes,” she said.
The board approved the request for deviation.
Arriving from the City Council Finance Committee budget hearing while DDRB was in session, JEDC Executive Director Ron Barton gave the board a summary of the discussion at the hearing concerning the JEDC’s position in the City’s 2011-12 operations budget.
Barton’s resignation, given as standard procedure by department directors when a new administration takes office, was accepted by Mayor Alvin Brown.
Barton’s last date of City employment is Sept. 30
He said the Council discussion began as a motion to eliminate half of the commission’s budget and concluded Thursday with putting part of the JEDC’s proposed appropriation “below the line” pending Brown’s anticipated reorganization of City government.
Barton encouraged the board members to communicate with Council members about the functions performed by JEDC, including management of Cecil Commerce Center, the film and television and the sports and entertainment initiatives as well as general economic development and job creation.
“We’re not defending the organizational structure, we’re defending the work JEDC does,” said Barton.
The next meeting of the DDRB is scheduled for 2 p.m., Sept 29 in the second-floor boardroom at 1 W. Adams St.
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