The developers of a proposed apartment community on the site of Adventure Landing in Jacksonville Beach plan to move the project closer to Beach Boulevard to receive the necessary rezoning for project approval.
Meanwhile, the amusement and water park at 1944 Beach Blvd. will remain open until the end of the year.
The project was put on hold in December when Trevato Development Group asked the Jacksonville Beach Planning Commission for time to address concerns the city had about the project’s proximity to salt marsh, the freshwater wetlands and flood plain.
A public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Jacksonville Beach Planning Commission at Jacksonville Beach City Hall.
“We had multiple meetings with the planning staff and we have a better understanding of where they were coming from,” said Steve Diebenow, a partner at Driver, McAfee, Hawthorne & Diebenow who is representing Trevato.
“The reason it has taken so long is that they gave us homework to do and it took us eight months to do our homework.”
The project, which has been more than a year in rezoning, comprises 53.8 acres. Adventure Landing makes up 22.2 acres.
Trevato is continuing plans to build a 427-unit apartment community at the site. Its revised plans move the apartments closer to Beach Boulevard and north away from neighboring freshwater wetlands and the salt marsh. The garage will be redesigned and limited to Jacksonville Beach’s 35-foot height restrictions, Diebenow said.
There will be two parking spots per unit with a combination of surface and parking garage spaces.
Diebenow does not expect the average size of the units, 850 square feet, to change.
A 2,000-square-foot restaurant or coffee shop, with its own dedicated parking, is planned near Beach Boulevard.
There is no construction schedule or cost estimates at this time, Diebenow said.
The original plan was estimated to cost $80 million. It called for four three-story buildings with 8,000 square feet of leasing, club and fitness space, and a 400-space parking garage.
The new proposal increases the conservation and recreation areas from 6.83 acres to 19.43 acres while reducing the planned land zoned for Community Commercial and Low Density Residential uses by half the original request.
It will condense the mixed-use development portion to 10.9 acres, a 40% reduction the total land development as permitted by the city of Jacksonville Beach Comprehensive Plan.
Because there is no project timeline, Diebenow said Adventure Landing has been offered an extension to operate through the end of 2022.
“We are working on an extension that would take us into December of this year. I would anticipate that that’s the last one,” he said.
Owner Hank Woodburn confirmed that Adventure Landing will remain open until the end of the year. The park was supposed to have closed at the end of October 2021 but received several extensions.
“We are busy planning our Halloween festivities for the month of October and it is business as usual,” he said.
Once closed, Woodburn plans to move to a location in Duval or St. Johns counties and be open by late summer 2023 at the earliest. He estimated the new park will cost $10 million.
“It would be more than that if we had to buy all new stuff. But we have a lot of the equipment currently and that helps defray the expense,” Woodburn said.
Neighbors and nearby property owners said they would like to have a viewing platform near the marsh and retail uses between the apartment buildings.
Trevato is proposing to build a boardwalk leading from the apartments to a platform next to the marsh. The city has been invited to build a walkway along the marsh from Shetter Avenue to connect to the platform. If the city agrees it will be open to the public.
However, if there is no city involvement, it will be closed and become an amenity for the apartment residents, Diebenow said.
“I can say that this project is better today than it was the first time around,” Diebenow said.
“That’s primarily because we have addressed all the concerns that the planning director had regarding the flood plain, salt marsh wetlands and coastal high hazard areas.”
