A Beach Boulevard grocery store and retail center that drew backlash over two plans to operate a slaughterhouse received Jacksonville City Council approval for a revised proposal to expand its property without an animal processing facility.
Council approved Apna Bazar’s amended rezoning and land use amendment requests on separate votes during its Feb. 10 meeting. The owner of the market at 11153 Beach Blvd. sought to create additional space for a shopping center.
The land use amendment, contained in Ordinance 2025-0487, changes 1.81 acres of the property to Community/General Commercial from Low Density Residential. That measure passed 14-3, with members Rory Diamond, Mike Gay and Will Lahnen voting no. Council President Kevin Carrico, whose District 4 includes the Apna Bazar property, and member Terrance Freeman were absent.
Ordinance 2025-0488 rezones 6.82 acres to Planned Unit Development from Residential Low Density-60 and Commercial Community General-2. A PUD allows uses, regulations and standards tailored to a property. That ordinance passed 13-3, with members Ken Amaro, Rory Diamond and Mike Gay voting no. Carrico, Freeman and member Ju’Coby Pittman were not present for the vote.
Council limited the uses of the application even further in the PUD application, approving an amendment by Council Vice President Nick Howland to restrict hours, traffic and water use on Apna Bazar’s property.
“I watched LUZ last week, and it was clear to me that there still are a lot of concerns from the community,” Howland said. “I spoke with representatives of the community and with representatives of the applicant and told them that if they could get together and resolve those concerns, I would introduce a floor amendment.”
Through the PUD, Apna Bazar is allowed to operate commercial retail sales and service establishments; auto sales; auto repair; service stations; commercial, recreational and entertainment facilities; fruit, vegetable, poultry or fish market; and more.
The PUD does not grant permissions for slaughterhouses, live animal processing, adult arcade amusement centers, racetracks for animals or vehicles, restaurants that serve alcoholic beverages, nightclubs and more. The PUD also limited Apna Bazar’s hours from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Slaughterhouse removed, application rereferred
In April 2024, Apna Bazar withdrew a proposal to establish a slaughterhouse at 7709 Woodley Road in Northwest Jacksonville west of New Kings Road. That withdrawal came after dozens of area residents voiced opposition to the project.
In August 2025, the business requested a land use amendment and rezoning to build a meat processing facility on its property.
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 slaughter it and the type of meat that can be processed.
After neighbors voiced discontent with plans to include the slaughterhouse at the Beach Boulevard market, Apna Bazar owner Mohammad Faisal said he would abandon the proposal.
When he followed through by withdrawing the request for the slaughterhouse, the written description of the PUD was changed to eliminate all references to the animal processing facility. With the changes, the PUD would permit the expansion of the existing building and additional warehouse space, as well as new retail storefronts.
The Feb. 10 vote was the second time City Council took up the issue. During a full Council meeting in November 2025, Carrico, whose district includes the Apna Bazar property, negotiated a verbal agreement between the developer and area residents during a full Council meeting.
Through the negotiation, the Light Industrial application was downgraded to Community/General Commercial, and the matter was rereferred to the Jacksonville Planning Commission, the Land Use and Zoning Committee and full Council.
Residents support amendments to bill, decry process
During the Feb. 10 Council meeting, residents spoke for more than 90 minutes about the revised version of the requests, with several opposing it. Complaints included that the expansion would create traffic congestion and encroach into the adjacent residential neighborhood.
Not all speakers were critical. Some residents along Cortez Road told Council members they supported amendments made to the bill.
Kimberly Robinson, who lives adjacent to the Apna Bazar property, said she was in favor of the development after Apna Bazar placed a 25-foot setback from her property line into its PUD request.
Attorney Cyndy Trimmer, a representative of Apna Bazar, said the amended plan allowed strictly for a shopping center expansion.
“All industrial has been removed. Everything involving animals has been removed and is explicitly prohibited,” said Trimmer, of Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Diebenow.