About 150 residents of the North Creek community in North Jacksonville met with city and Chick-fil-A representatives May 20 about a traffic study for the proposed fast-food restaurant across from First Coast High School.
District 8 Council member Reggie Gaffney Jr., who represents North Creek, sponsored the meeting at the Oceanway Community Center that was attended by numerous city staff and representatives.
Access to the restaurant along Duval Station Road is from Lady Lake Drive. Customers arriving by car would enter via the North Creek subdivision entrance on Bradley Cove Road or through the neighboring Publix Super Markets shopping center parking lot. There are several homes within a few hundred feet of the proposed Chick-fil-A.
A 658-page traffic study projected the restaurant would generate a total of 4,482 trips a day – cars arriving and leaving – but that would have a “nominal impact on traffic operations.”
The city is requiring a new traffic light at Bradley Cove and Duval Station roads with a continuous right-turn lane into the restaurant, which will have a double drive-thru.
NV5 Engineers and Consultants Inc. of Alpharetta, Georgia, conducted the study for Bohler Engineering of Tampa, which is listed in city documents as the site engineer for the developer, Chick-fil-A of Atlanta.
“I believe it’s an adequate study and they’re going to process the traffic and not cause the queue of cars into the neighborhood or onto Duval Station Road,” City Traffic Engineering Chief Chris Ledew told residents.
Residents were not convinced, questioning that traffic heading for the restaurant could back up onto Lady Lake Road and into the neighborhood or into the Publix shopping center parking lot to the east.
The restaurant’s drive-thru is designed to hold 38 vehicles.
“We believe this plan will better accommodate customers as well as our traffic on the site rather than having it spill out,” said Thomas Ingram, an attorney who represents Chick-fil-A.
In addition to traffic concerns, residents raised safety issues of First Coast High students crossing the road, trash, crime and declining property values.
One resident asked why the fast-food chain chose the 1.39-acre North Creek site over other larger potential development locations in North Jacksonville.
“We put a bunch of strategic dots on a map and we’re like, this is after all things considered, this is the ideal spot for us to be,” said Jennifer Santelli, principal development lead with Chick-fil-A corporate in Atlanta.
After the meeting ended, a resident continued to press Ledew on the traffic impact.
“You believe that the study is not valid, and there will be excessive queues and I do not,” Ledew said.
The meeting also was attended R. Brett James, city director of planning and development; Darryl Willie, Duval School Board; Dylan Reingold, city assistant general counsel; Laurie Santana, chief of transportation planning; District 2 Council member Mike Gay; a representative for Council member Joe Carlucci; Karen Bowling, chief administrative officer for Mayor Donna Deegan; and Ashley Cobb, senior lead adviser, public relations for Chick-fil-A.
Property owner RBSSSS LLC has applied to rezone the land as Planned Unit Development to allow construction of the restaurant on the vacant site near the Publix-owned Duval Station Centre.
Ramzy Bakkar, president of the Bakkar Group in Jacksonville Beach, manages RBSSSS. Documents included with the rezoning application say the developer is Chick-fil-A.
The Council Land Use and Zoning Committee is scheduled to meet June 4 to discuss the traffic study and vote on whether to recommend approval of PUD zoning to the full City Council.
In February, the Jacksonville Planning Commission voted 4-3 in favor of rezoning the property to allow for construction of the restaurant.
Editors Note: Jacksonville Daily Record Editor Monty Zickuhr is a resident of the North Creek community.