Legislation to protect customized zoning districts in the city of Jacksonville is headed toward a full City Council vote after being revised by a Council committee Nov. 4.
Ordinance 2024-0373, which would have required a two-thirds Council majority vote to create or approve a rezoning to Planned Unit Development within a zoning overlay district, was approved by the committee after being amended so that the threshold would be 11 votes versus two-thirds. The Neighborhoods, Community Services, Public Health and Safety Committee approved the revised ordinance on a 4-2 vote.
Committee chair Joe Carlucci and members Ken Amaro, Michael Boylan and Tyrona Clark-Murray were in favor, with members Chris Miller and Ron Salem voting no. Member Jimmy Peluso had an excused absence from the meeting.
For the 19-member Council, an item requiring a two-thirds majority vote needs at least 13 votes to pass if all members are present. Under the revision, the 11-vote threshold would be in place at all times, including when members of the Council are absent.
At-large Council member Matt Carlucci introduced the original version of the ordinance soon after Council approved rezoning for the Lofts at Southbank, a mixed-use development that drew opposition from residents in San Marco and the Downtown Southbank for including self-storage.
Self-storage is not an approved land use in the Downtown zoning overlay, which applies to the Lofts at Southbank site at Prudential Drive and Hendricks Avenue. Council voted 11-8 in April 2024 to rezone the property to Planned Unit Development, which provided an exception to allow self-storage.
Matt Carlucci said he filed the legislation after seeing Council approve rezonings that ran counter to the intent of the overlays, including the Lofts at Southbank. He said that creating the specialized codes takes a great deal of time for residents, city staff and others, and therefore it should take more than a simple majority vote to approve nonconforming projects.
In mid-October, the Council Rules Committee and Land Use and Zoning Committee both rejected the version of the legislation that included a two-thirds majority requirement.
The revised ordinance will not return to committees, but instead will be up for a full Council vote Nov. 12.
Joe Carlucci, whose District 5 includes the Lofts at Southbank site, introduced the amendment lowering the two-thirds requirement to 11 votes. The revised vote count translates to a majority vote plus one among the Council.
Joe Carlucci said he was seeking a middle ground that would boost protections from overlays but address concerns among some Council members that two-thirds was too high of a bar.
Matt Carlucci, Joe Carlucci’s father, told members of the Neighborhoods committee that he preferred the two-thirds requirement but supported the 11-vote revision.
“Sometimes in politics and in life you have to take two steps back to take one step forward,” he said during an interview after the meeting.
Describing the revision as a “very, very good compromise,” he said he believed the amended ordinance would provide some additional protection and that the legislation had served as a way to broaden understanding of overlays among Council members and the public.
Salem questioned whether the majority-plus-one requirement would change for meetings when the full Council isn’t present. When he was told that it would not, he raised concern that 11 votes would be excessive during meetings with reduced member attendance.
“I’m just leery of going above the majority 10-vote threshold,” he said. “The example I use is the budget. It’s $2 billion, roughly, and it’s 10 votes (for passage). I’m just concerned about any time we alter that.”
The legislation includes an element introduced by Boylan to establish guidelines and a process for creating an overlay, including requirements for noticed meetings and the keeping of public records such as minutes and communications.
Boylan voted in favor of the ordinance after receiving confirmation from staff that his proposed provisions for creating an overlay could be filed as stand-alone legislation if Council rejects Matt Carlucci’s bill.