Proposals to modify land use and zoning regulations to allow for construction of duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes as infill development, including in established neighborhoods, await the Jacksonville City Council in early 2025.
A three-ordinance packet of legislation to facilitate construction of so-called missing middle housing is scheduled before the Council Land Use and Zoning Committee on Jan. 7 after a flare-up between Council and the Jacksonville Planning Commission prompted Council to cut the commission out of the process.
That action puts the ordinances on track for a final Council vote as early as Jan. 14.
Supporters say the legislation, introduced by Council member Rory Diamond, will help meet growing demand for housing in Jacksonville and provide more diverse options of housing stock for residents at various income levels.
Detractors say the bills are being rushed and would leave neighborhoods vulnerable to incompatible development. They say the bills ignore the work of an advisory board that has been working for more than a year on a comprehensive update of land use regulations.
The issue between Council and the Planning Commission arose when commission Chair Michael McGowan announced at its Dec. 5 meeting that Diamond’s ordinances would be deferred along with an unrelated piece of legislation from Council member Mike Gay.
Both Council members said they had not been notified until about 30 minutes before the meeting that the items were being deferred. Both had brought experts and constituents to the mid-afternoon meeting to advocate for their bills.
McGowan said the commissioners had not had enough time to thoroughly review the ordinances.
“I believe they deserve a little bit more scrutiny than just a few minutes,” he said.
“By asking for this deferral, it’s for the hope that we will spend the proper time on this.”
Diamond said the bills were filed a month before the meeting.
“If the Planning Commission doesn’t take it up today, I’m just going to amend the bill and then the Planning Commission will have no say,” he said.
Which is exactly what Diamond did. During the Dec. 11 Council meeting, he introduced an amendment calling for the ordinances to be sent to the Council Land Use and Zoning Committee without a Planning Commission recommendation.
It prompted debate before passing on a 17-2 vote.
Breakdown of Diamond’s bills
Diamond’s legislation comprises three ordinances, 2024-0868, 2024-0869 and 2024-0870.
They would:
• Adopt a Missing Middle Overlay to the Future Land Use Element of the city’s 2045 Comprehensive Plan, its set of comprehensive land use regulations. The overlay would cover an area bordered roughly by the Trout River on the north, Baymeadows Road and south of 103rd street to the south, Monument Road and Southside Boulevard to the east, and Interstate 295 and New Kings Road to the west. It would exclude the Downtown Northbank and Southbank, San Marco, Miramar, San Jose and Beauclerc. The suburban and rural areas of the comprehensive plan also would be excluded.
• Allow for construction of duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes in Residential Low Density and Residential Medium Density areas within the Missing Middle Overlay.
• Remove a cap of 20 dwelling units per acre in areas zoned Medium Density Residential and reduce requirements for minimum square footage, lot sizes, setbacks and parking for various types of structures.
Diamond did not respond to requests for an interview, but he has frequently expressed support for missing-middle development in comments at Council and committee meetings.
He has said that Jacksonville needs a greater supply of housing and a more diverse set of housing choices to meet demand as the city grows.
Previously, Diamond introduced legislation to allow accessory dwelling units (ADUs) as a permitted use in most low-density, single-family neighborhoods except where prohibited by a homeowners association. Council approved his twin ordinances on ADUs, which were designed to increase the supply of low-cost rental units in the city, in 2022.
“The future of Jacksonville can’t just be miles and miles and miles of single-family homes. The reason why is that single-family homes are now out of reach for most people who live in Jacksonville if they don’t already own a home,” he said during the April 23, 2024, Council meeting.
If approved by Council, the proposed changes to the 2045 Comprehensive Plan would be submitted to state agencies for review and approval.
The bills address an issue that has prompted several contentious hearings before Council and the Planning Commission in recent years.
Requests for rezonings on infill developments have prompted outcry from neighborhoods in several parts of the city, with property owners saying the infills cause traffic congestion, harm the environment by eliminating green spaces, spur increases in crime and littering, lower property values and, in cases of multistory structures providing views over the fences of adjacent properties, reduce privacy of residents.
Bypasses the Planning Commission
At the Dec. 11 Council meeting, several members voiced support for Diamond’s amendment bypassing the Planning Commission.
Members from both political parties generally agreed with Diamond, a Republican, that the commission, as an advisory body on requests for rezonings and land use changes, acted inappropriately in deferring legislation that had been filed in a timely manner.
“I’m going to do my job with or without them,” said Council member Raul Arias, a Republican.
“It’s not about politics. This should be an eye-opener for everyone on the Planning Commission to let them know that we’re going to get moving on regardless of your recommendation or not. Because at the end of the day, when it comes to LUZ, we make the final determination with or without you.”
Democratic Council member Rahman Johnson offered similar comments.
“The Planning Commission must be on notice,” he said.
“You cannot stop the progress of the work of this Council. We have to do the work of the people, and if they’re (planning commissioners) are going to stand in the way of progress, we must do that work here.”
Council member Jimmy Peluso, a Democrat, opposed Diamond’s amendment.
Subverts volunteer committee
Peluso said Diamond’s bills subvert the work of a volunteer advisory panel, the Land Development Regulations Update Committee.
The purpose of that group, Peluso said, was to propose legislation to increase housing and take into account the city’s Resiliency Jacksonville study, which provides a strategy for addressing rising risks of flooding and extreme heat in Northeast Florida.
The group was formed in November 2023 by the mayor’s office and Council. According to the planning staff report, the group is scheduled to submit a final report to Council in February.
Peluso said the panel’s legislation would be more comprehensive than Diamond’s bills and “make sure we have a bill that is more environmentally appropriate.”
Diamond’s legislation, Peluso said, “immediately runs to the finish line without other bodies that should have a say in this,” including the Planning Commission.
The committee’s members include land use and development professionals, Council Vice President Kevin Carrico and Planning Commission member Charles Garrison.
Emily Pierce, a land use attorney with the Rogers Towers law firm, is the chair.
Brittany Norris, director of intergovernmental affairs for Mayor Donna Deegan’s administration, requested to the committee at a Dec. 11 meeting that it file its recommendations by Dec. 20 so that “we can fight for them in LUZ and meet with the Council person and the folks working with him to see if we can mesh these things together.”
The committee hastily scheduled a Dec. 17 meeting in which it discussed several recommendations for amendments.
During the Dec. 17 session, Pierce said she had spoken to Diamond about several potential amendments to his ordinances. Among them, they involve adjustments to his proposed development maps; adding definitions of duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes; and reducing lot areas for some types of structures.
• Replacing the original Missing Middle Overlay with a map that excludes areas at high risk of flooding. Remaining in the overlay would be properties with lower risk of flooding and not within the boundaries of the coastal high hazard area; are close to multimodal transportation, are not part of an approved zoning overlay; and are connected to centralized water and sewer services.
• Expanding the Missing Middle Overlay’s applicability to the surburban areas of the 2045 Comprehensive Plan. The original overlay applied to the urban priority area and urban area.
Differing opinions
Two of Diamond’s bills, Ordinances 2024-0868 and 2024-0869, have drawn resistance from the city Planning and Development Department.
In a Nov. 27 staff report, city planners recommended denying the ordinances based on concerns related to the work of the Land Development Regulations Update Committee.
Planners said they supported the ordinance in concept but its effects would include:
• Negating an investment of “considerable time and money” in updating the regulations.
• Abandoning an opportunity to build resilience into future development.
• Exposing residents and property to increased climate hazards.
• Increasing the city’s financial burden from storms.
The staff recommended approval of Ordinance 2024-0870 on condition that a provision to allow up to 30 units per acre be allowed only where density requirements of the comprehensive plan are met.
Although there has been virtually no media attention on the bills, they have prompted criticism from the community.
Chrissy Bott, a San Jose neighborhood resident, is urging her neighbors to oppose the ordinances based on concerns over increased traffic, side streets becoming clogged with on-street parking, loss of green space and a lack of transparency in the process.
Bott led neighborhood opposition against a plan to build multifamily, affordable housing on the duPont YMCA Youth Development Campus in San Jose. That effort helped lead to a compromise rezoning that allowed the property to be sold for development of single-family homes or town homes but not apartments.
Speaking to the land regulations committee Dec. 17, Bott said Diamond’s ordinances would open up 4,000 acres of homes in her neighborhood to denser development.
“Missing middle housing is not just about density, it’s about form and scale and livability,” she said.
“In our San Jose neighborhood, we have a real problem with livability with the amount of infill and development that has been put there. There’s still a lot more room, based on these bills, to decimate our neighborhood.”