Reacting to concerns that the Jacksonville Planning Commission’s citywide approach to development doesn’t take the unique needs of neighborhoods into account, City Council member Rahman Johnson submitted a proposal to restructure and expand the planning board.
During the April 3 commission meeting, Johnson presented his Project Plan R.I.T.E., which is described on its title page as “a people-powered planning process that is inclusive of all voices.” The anagram in the title of the proposal stands for Representation, Inclusion, Trust and Equity.
“It’s a working vision of how we might move the Planning Commission into the next era,” Johnson said.
“It’s not a mandate. It’s not telling anybody what to do, and it’s certainly not perfect. But it’s a spark, a paradigm, a starting place, because we don’t just need processes, we need possibility.”
The Planning Commission comprises nine members who make recommendations to City Council on zoning and land-use matters. It has final authority on such matters as exceptions, variances and waivers of minimum distance requirements from schools and churches for operations to obtain liquor licenses.
It covers the entire city except for Downtown, where the Downtown Development Review Board essentially serves a similar role.
Planning Commission recommendations go to the Council Land Use and Zoning Committee, of which Johnson is a member. LUZ then makes recommendations to the full Council.
Johnson’s plan came days after Council rejected legislation introduced by Council member Mike Gay to establish a planning board specifically for Northeast Jacksonville.
During public hearings for that panel, the Northeast Jacksonville Development Review Board, residents said the current planning process had resulted in overdevelopment of their neighborhoods, particularly with multifamily developments, and strain on roads, drainage and other infrastructure.
Arguing that local residents are best suited to decide what is best for their neighborhoods, dozens came to public meetings to voice support for Gay’s legislation.
Johnson, one of seven Council members who voted against the proposal, told Planning Commissioners he supported Gay’s intent in establishing “community-driven planning” for his constituents.
Johnson said he rejected the board over concerns it would trigger creation of boards in other regions that would form a “hydra, or a monster that has a head of a development review board in every part of the city.”
“That’s a path that does not lead to equity or improvement, but it leads to confusion and inconsistency,” he said. “I believe instead, the answer is yes with collaboration and listening and building together.”
A copy of the proposal obtained by the Daily Record shows that it would expand the nine-member Planning Commission to 15 voting members, including a member from each of the 14 City Council districts and an at-large member.
Commission members would continue to be appointed by the mayor, but with district Council members recommending nominees for the 14 district-oriented seats and the mayor choosing the at-large nominee.
A requirement for five members of the commission to be present for meetings to be held would be replaced by a quorum of the number of seats filled at any time. For instance, if two seats on the 15-member board were vacant, the quorum would be seven members instead of eight.
Johnson also would do away with the three alternative positions on the current commission. Those positions were designed to accommodate for absences or recusals by commissioners due to conflicts of interests, but Johnson argues that new quorum requirement in his proposal and the larger size of the commission would resolve those issues.
Johnson’s 12-page plan says it will facilitate diverse representation of members from urban, suburban and rural areas from across the city.
It’s also designed to increase the range of professional and life experiences of members beyond the current makeup, in which several commissioners have real-estate development or government backgrounds.
In addition to structural changes, Johnson also recommends that the Planning Commission consider holding some of its meetings during evening hours. The commission currently meets at 1 p.m. two Thursdays a month.
Johnson asked the Planning Commission to review his proposal. Commissioners accepted the plan without comment.
“I believe that not one person or one board or one department has all the answers,” Johnson said.
“A recently departed friend of mine, Cheryl Lawson-Wright, said one person doesn’t have it all, but together we can have everything. And I believe that our everything rests with the Planning Commission.”
In January, Planning Commissioner Charles Garrison initiated a task force to study what became known as the Blueprint for Responsible Growth, which he described as a strategic planning process that would balance neighborhood-specific issues with broader needs for affordable housing, resiliency and related matters.
The Planning Commission had been set to announce the task force, its members, its charge and other details at the April 3 meeting. That announcement was deferred.
Garrison did not attend the meeting. In an emailed statement on Johnson’s plan, he said he was encouraged by the ideas “because they reinforce what I’ve always believed, that planning decisions belong to the community.”
“It’s great to see a renewed push for putting neighbors and neighborhoods back at the heart of how we swap our city’s growth. These ideas align closely with topics I look forward to exploring openly and transparently through our Blueprint for Responsible Growth task force, where community input will guide meaningful, lasting change.”