After nearly three hours of discussion, the Jacksonville Planning Commission failed to recommend approval or denial of a measure that would allow a Beach Boulevard grocery store to open an animal processing facility on its property.
The commission was split on whether to allow Apna Bazar, a Halal grocer at 11153 Beach Blvd., to open a slaughterhouse within a proposed expansion on its property.
While the commission recommended approval on a land use amendment, a vote on a rezoning request for the same property tied at a 3-3 vote, which under the procedural rules resulted in the item being deferred. Commission Chair Charles Garrison said the Jacksonville City Council Land Use and Zoning Committee could exercise an option to take up the item instead of it going back before the commission.
The Planning Commission acts as an advisory board for City Council on rezonings and land use amendments.
Months of hearings
The actions from the commission came after months of deferred hearings and a meeting between developers and neighbors. Area residents, along with animal rights advocates, have repeatedly spoken against the proposal.
Ordinance 2025-0487 requests a small-scale land use amendment from Community/General Commercial and Low Density Residential to Light Industrial on a 0.91-acre portion of the property, and from Low Density Residential to Community/General Commercial on a 1.38-acre portion.
For the overall 6.82-acre property, Ordinance 2025-0488 would change the zoning to Planned Unit Development from Residential Low Density and Community/General Commercial. A PUD is zoning created for a specific property to allow tailored uses, regulations and standards.
The Planning Commission passed the land use measure on a near-unanimous voice vote. Vice Chair Moné Holder was absent, and Commissioner Ali Marar recused himself. One seat on the commission is vacant.
For the rezoning request, those voting in favor were Garrison, Vice Chair Michael McGowan and Commissioner DR Repass. Commissioners Lamonte Carter, Amy Fu and Dorothy Gillette voted to deny. Again, Marar recused himself.
Marar registers his engineering firm at a home just more than a mile from the proposed facility on Cortez Road. Some opponents of the processing facility contended Marar has a personal and financial interest in the development. Marar indicated that he would have otherwise voted against the proposal.
Apna Bazar’s plan
Apna Bazar seeks to build a 30,000-square-foot addition and a 23,800-square-foot freestanding structure east of the store. Animals would be killed inside the freestanding structure, which also includes a warehouse, storage space and retail storefronts.
The grocer sells halal meats, which are prepared according to Islamic dietary laws. Those laws include restrictions on the process of slaughtering the animal, who can do it and the type of meat that can be processed.
The expansion would also include new storefronts attached to Apna Bazar. The site currently has a barber, doctor, grocery store, food court and more.
The Planning Department recommended approval of both measures, with conditions attached to the rezoning request. Those conditions included installation of soundproofing measures for the building where animal processing will occur, and that the grocer not store more than 50 poultry, 10 lambs, 10 goats and two cows on the site at any time. In addition, no exterior storage or operations would be permitted.
The Planning Commission added conditions, including barring the use of live animal processing from being transferred to future owners of the property.
Apna Bazar’s request for rezoning was its second since April 2024. Then, ownership withdrew a request for a zoning exception for land in Northwest Jacksonville from the Planning Commission after area residents and activists from around Jacksonville and Florida voiced disapproval to the development.
That request was for a 25,000-square-foot metal building on about 2 acres at 7709 Woodley Road west of New Kings Road. It was designed to provide products for other grocers. Similar establishments named Apna Bazar or Apna Bazaar operate in several Florida cities.
The project planned for Beach Boulevard would serve only Apna Bazar instead of being a processing facility for multiple grocers.
The case for the proposal
Representatives for Apna Bazar said the proposed processing facility would be safe and have no negative impact on the neighborhood and surrounding businesses.
Land use attorney Cyndy Trimmer and other representatives for Apna Bazar, including land use attorney Michael Sittner, architect John Allmand and engineer Eric Almond, said the facility would not generate contamination, pollution or excessive noise.
They said a U.S. Department of Agriculture employee would be on-site at all times to ensure the facility was kept sanitary and that all processed animals were fit for consumption.
Allmand said the facility would have cleaning systems and heavily insulated walls, keeping sound and odors from escaping the building. Allmand highlighted JEA, Environmental Protection Agency and water management district regulations he said would protect residents’ water from being polluted by the facility.
“This facility, really, is trying to be sensitive to the needs of the community and provide a service that doesn’t exist,” Trimmer said. “The request that’s before you today is to facilitate the expansion of that center, to offer more commercial opportunities that are focused on the needs of this community, and to provide a much-needed service in terms of having a whole new processing facility on site.”
Residents voice opposition
About 25 residents spoke against the slaughterhouse, many expressing distrust that the protective systems would work and saying any breakdown could pose risks to the community.
“There is nothing about this that is compatible,” said Kirsten Brewer, who lives on Cortez Road near the grocery store. “They paint this picture like it’s just wonderful. There’s going to be trees and birds flying and singing and it’s going to just be a wonderful place to come visit.”
“I’m concerned about being contaminated. Like somebody was saying earlier, when the animals are being shipped in, how are they going to contain the smells coming from these trucks with the animals coming in, or anything else that’s going to fly out of these trucks with animals in it,” said Rebeka Moran, who also lives on Cortez Road.
“Part of the slaughterhouse would be in my backyard, literally, because the residential [land] that they’re looking to get rezoned goes behind my property,” said Kimberly Robinson, whose home is adjacent to the Apna Bazar property.
Garrison ordered the removal of one speaker for making points that Garrison deemed racist and Islamophobic. Another man was removed from the meeting after protesting the speaker’s removal.
Ray Ratliff, a Kernan Boulevard resident, urged others not to make similar comments.
“That doesn’t help. None of it helps,” Ray Ratliff said. “Let’s just take it down. We all want to talk. The last thing we want to do is get this thing adjourned… That’s how this thing gets approved, is if we all act crazy.”
“You can come up and say just about whatever you want to, but when it goes over into racist and anti-religious, I will stop that right then and there,” Garrison said.
Commissioners weigh in
Repass said there were worse options for the development of the property. The owner of Apna Bazar, Mohammad Faisal, agreed to keep alcohol and adult entertainment away from the stores on-site, which Repass saw as a benefit to the neighborhood.
Garrison said he had visited Apna Bazar’s facility in Orlando, which operated the animal processing facility that supplied the Jacksonville location. The facility had been there for 25 years and was surrounded by $500,000 homes, Garrison said, and hadn’t had a negative impact on the community.
Commissioners who voted against the measure shared concerns similar to those of the residents who oppose the proposal.
“Design is one thing. Operating and maintenance is another,” Fu said. “I also have the same concern about this setting precedent, that obviously this type of streamline operation has economic values. What if this idea that’s being approved [is] going to pop up all over the town?”