The city of Jacksonville will relax requirements for parking and landscaping on industrial and commercial properties under action Oct. 28 by the Jacksonville City Council.
On an 18-1 vote, with member Michael Boylan casting the no vote, Council approved legislation that eases the requirements. Boylan voiced concerns that loosened regulations would cause increased blight in parts of the city.
The legislation, Ordinance 2025-0448, reduces requirements for parking to one space per 5,000 square feet of gross floor area from one per 2,000 square feet.
It also changes the city’s requirements for determining how much of an improvement project’s cost must be devoted to landscaping improvement.
The bill drew opposition from residents and Council members who said it would reduce tree cover and green space in the city.
The current formula, which applies to structures built before a code adopted in 2011, is the same for residential, industrial and commercial properties. Under Council member Randy White’s bill, the requirements would change for industrial and commercial properties, but residential property regulations would stay the same.
The proposed change would only apply to projects on properties with landscaping that is not in compliance with the 2011 code.
The city now requires property owners who are out of compliance and are spending 50% or more of the property’s assessed value on renovations over the course of three years to devote at least 20% of those renovation funds to landscaping.
For example, if the owner of a property valued at $100,000 made improvements that amounted to $50,000 over three years (50% of the assessed property value), it would be required to devote $10,000 (20% of the improvements) to landscaping to help bring it up to the 2011 requirements.
The ordinance adopted by Council would change those requirements so that property owners who are spending 60% of assessed property value on improvements over a two-year period must put 10% of costs toward landscaping improvements.
Under the new requirements, the property owner in the above example would pay nothing.
If that owner instead spent $60,000 on improvements, it would have to devote $6,000 for landscaping.
White offered amendments to his bill during an Oct. 20 Neighborhoods, Community Services, Public Health and Safety Committee meeting. Those amendments increased the time period of the improvements to two years from the previously proposed one year, and required property owners to spend 10% of the improvement costs on landscaping as opposed to 5%.
White said the most recent amendments came after a meeting involving the city’s Department of Public Works, Scenic Jacksonville, the Southern Group lobbying firm and the NAIOP commercial real estate redevelopment association.
During the Neighborhoods meeting, representatives from the Planning Department, Department of Public Works and the Southern Group agreed that while they weren’t completely satisfied with the compromise, they were willing to accept its terms.
Representatives from the Planning Department said they were drafting regulations that would create incentives for landscaping projects should White’s bill receive Council approval. Those regulations are not fully formed, and the Planning Department representatives did not offer further detail.
Business owners voiced support for the bill, saying current ordinance code dissuaded Jacksonville’s small businesses from making improvements to their properties.
Brittany Culbreth, the president of Emerald C’s Development Inc., said the current regulations place a burden on small-business owners. Unlike larger businesses, she said, they have fewer resources to put toward landscaping and other improvements.
“I just want to make sure that you understand the purpose is not to take away the trees and improvement of landscaping,” Culbreth told Council members during the Neighborhoods meeting.
“It’s the purpose to give a little bit more of a buffer to those who are small businesses.”