Citing a risk to Jacksonville’s historic buildings by owners who either don’t bother to take care of the structures or deliberately let them deteriorate in order to skirt preservation regulations, the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission launched a task force to examine the issue.
The Task Force on Demolition by Neglect was established Sept. 10 with instructions to review city code provisions and solutions adopted by other cities, make recommendations to the commission on how to address the issue and consider methods to identify buildings at risk.
In the document creating the task force, the commission defines demolition by neglect as “the abandonment of a building or structure by the owner resulting in such a state of deterioration that its self-destruction is inevitable, or where demolition of the building or structure to remove a safety hazard is a likely result.”
The document says demolition by neglect “can be the result of benign indifference or a deliberate strategy to circumvent historic preservation restrictions against demolition.”
It’s identified as a loophole in historic preservation regulations, which are designed to protect historic structures from demolition and from alterations that aren’t befitting their historic integrity.
Commission members Bill Hoff and Julia Epstein will serve as chair and vice chair of the task force, respectively. Other members are commission chair Michael Montoya and member Becky Morgan.
The task force will hold public meetings on dates determined by Hoff. It has been asked to issue a report to the commission by Jan. 31, 2025.