Private firms will be able to review site plans for Jacksonville developments under a bill approved by City Council on June 23 to align city policy with state law.
Council approved Ordinance 2026-0363 with a 16-0 vote, with President Kevin Carrico and members Ken Amaro and Raul Arias absent.
The ordinance allows professionally licensed individuals in the private sector to review site plans for the city, aligning Jacksonville’s ordinance code with Florida Statute Section 553.791.
Under the bill, a private firm could not review a site plan for a property it owns or for which it provided any professional development services. Firms would submit their findings to the Planning Department, which would have 10 days to identify deficiencies in the submission.
If the department does not notify the applicant within 10 days, the submission would be automatically approved.
“It’s a very, very good bill,” Council member Tyrona Clark-Murray said, calling it “an example of great collaboration between the executive branch and the legislative branch” and adding that the bill does “the thing that I look for the most for us to do, which is to solve problems.”
Council member Rory Diamond introduced the legislation. He argued that compared to the city’s Planning Department, private firms take on more risk in approving site plans.
“As opposed to the review by public entities, which are protected from lawsuits by sovereign immunity, private entities, in undertaking review of permits, expose their license, their professional reputation, their insurance coverage and their livelihood,” the legislation reads.
Council approved multiple changes to the legislation, including:
• Private reviewers would have to certify to the city, under penalty of perjury, that they are familiar with all applicable state and local statutes related to their work. Reviewers would also have to take a course regarding applicable laws.
• Should a developer’s project include at least 1,000 feet of roadway that would become city-managed right-of-way, the reviewer would have to submit a draft of the site plan to the city 10 business days before filing the final affidavit and site plan.
Developers told the Land Use and Zoning Committee on June 2 that the bill would reduce overhead costs, savings they said could be passed on to buyers.
“These delays cost us $3,000, average, because every day is a missed opportunity to close for an affordable house,” said Jean Yoder, who works for Landon Homes. “They miss opportunities, we miss opportunities.”