The Jacksonville Land Use & Zoning Committee unanimously recommended approval Aug. 18 to change the land use and zoning of 1.26 acres at Riverside Avenue and Memorial Park Drive for the Riverside Village mixed-use redevelopment.
It now goes to City Council.
The property near the St. Johns River and Memorial Park comprises five parcels with four office and residential buildings in the Urban Transition Area of the Riverside/Avondale Zoning Overlay.
The parcels are at 1541 and 1551 Riverside Ave., 1715 and 1721 Memorial Park Drive and 1729 Memorial Park Terrace. No new buildings or expansions are proposed.
The property owner is Shiavone Properties Inc., led by Frank Schiavone.
Ordinance 2020-0332 would amend the land use from residential-professional-institutional to neighborhood commercial to allow redevelopment with residential and low intensity commercial retail and service uses.
Companion Ordinance 2020-0333 would rezone the property from commercial residential office to planned unit development.
The plan recommended for approval by the Planning Commission on Aug. 6 included one restaurant with 225 seats, allowing for 25 of those seats outside, and a second restaurant with 120 seats.
A revised restaurant seating plan offered before the meeting proposed 285 seats for the restaurants with 45 of the seats outdoors.
Nearby homeowners and community representatives voiced concerns about the potential increased traffic, lack of parking and pedestrian and bicycle safety. They also questioned the impact on Memorial Park and the number of seats proposed for the two restaurants.
The PUD as amended during the meeting would decrease restaurant seating from 285 to 260 seats; permit on-site alcohol consumption; limit hours for outside sales and service; prohibit bars, nightclubs and dance facilities; and prohibit outside amplified music.
The project now proposes seven apartment units at 1541 Riverside Ave.; a 200-seat restaurant with up to 45 of those seats outside at 1551 Riverside Ave.; a 60-seat restaurant with no outside seating and two apartment units at 1721 Memorial Park Drive; and two apartment units at 1729 Memorial Park Terrace.
No outside amplified music will be allowed with the exception of outside ambient music, described by the agent attorney Paul Harden as “elevator music,” at 1551 Riverside Ave.
Land use amendments and rezoning require approval by the full City Council.
The Land Use and Zoning Committee recommended approval for land use changes and rezonings for:
• Ordinance 2019-0317, which seeks to rezone the 48.53-acre Hodges property west of Hodges Boulevard between Butler Boulevard and Glen Kernan Parkway, across from Windsor Commons shopping center anchored by Publix.
The owner, Hodges Development Group Inc. and Kernan Hodges, originally sought to rezone the land for a mixed-use PUD, including up to 970 apartments, commercial retail, institutional and services establishments.
Attorney Paul Harden, the owner’s agent, requested the legislation to be amended to remove the residential use along with a corresponding site plan revision and referred back to Planning Commission for consideration.
• Ordinance 2020-0045, which seeks a large-scale land use amendment for the 36.76-acre Morocco Shrine Auditorium property at 3800 St. Johns Road S., between St. Johns Industrial Parkway South and Alumni Way.
It would change from public buildings and facilities and low density residential to regional commercial land use with a site specific policy for the proposed uses.
Those uses would allow an integrated mixed-use development for multifamily residential; housing for the elderly; educational facilities; student housing; recreation and open space uses; and nonresidential uses found in the community/general commercial land use category.
Plan limitations include up to 1,025 multifamily units and up to 115,000 square feet of public facility and nonresidential uses, excluding outdoor recreational uses. Existing wetlands and floodways on the property will be preserved.
• Ordinance 2020-0135, which seeks to rezone 3.3 acres at 4349 Barkoskie Road between Old St. Augustine Road and Mandarin Ridge Lane. It would change from commercial office to PUD to allow a 48-unit multifamily development within 12 quadraplex buildings with each building under separate ownership unified by a homeowners association.
• Ordinance 2020-0168, which seeks adoption of a large-scale land use amendment for 19.55 acres between Starratt Road and Hidden Creek Drive. It would change from community/general commercial to low density residential to allow a single-family development with 50- and 60-foot-wide lots. Companion Ordinance 2020-0169 would rezone the 30.24-acre property from PUD and residential low density-90 to PUD.
• Ordinance 2020-0279, which seeks a large-scale land use amendment for 2,167.51 acres known as The Trails, between the Clay County line and north of Normandy Boulevard and between Solomon Road and U.S. 301, in Southwest Jacksonville.
It would change from rural residential, agriculture II, agriculture III, agriculture IV and light industrial to agriculture IV, rural residential, community/general commercial and conservation to correct land use discrepancies, place land in conservation and allow rural residential and community/general commercial land use.
The requested land use areas are 1,284.08 acres for rural residential; 22.9 acres for community/general commercial; 41.07 acres for agriculture IV; and 819.46 acres for conservation.