After a flare-up between the Jacksonville City Council and city Planning Commission led to the commission being cut out of the process, proposals to modify land use and zoning regulations to allow for construction of duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes as infill development, including in established neighborhoods, are under consideration by Council.
Legislation to facilitate construction of so-called missing middle housing is set for a public hearing Feb. 4 at the Council Land Use and Zoning Committee after drawing opposition from about 20 residents and some members of the committee during a Jan. 7 discussion.
Committee chair Kevin Carrico suggested deferring the bills to allow time for a volunteer advisory committee that has been studying land use regulations for more than a year to finish its work and recommend a map of where the infill development should be allowed to take place.
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 would leave neighborhoods vulnerable to incompatible development and would result in multifamily properties being constructed in unsafe locations. Critics also said Diamond ignored the work of the advisory board.
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 two main ordinances, 2024-0868, 2024-0869, and another bill that enhances a bill he spearheaded to allow for more construction of accessory dwelling units on the lots of single-family homes.
The bills 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. Those changes would be returned to the city for another round of staff review and Council consideration. The process is expected to last about six months.
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.
Rebuking 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 a body that makes recommendations to Council 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 the volunteer advisory panel, the Land Development Regulations Update Committee.
The purpose of that group, Peluso said, was to propose legislation to increase housing while taking 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 on Diamond's legislation, the group was 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, 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. Subsequently, the Planning and Development Department recommmended a number of amendments that included replacing the original Missing Middle Overlay with a map that excludes areas at high risk of flooding and in accident-potential zones.
The planners' recommendations would allow the infill development in areas in close proximity to multimodal transportation and areas that are not part of the city's 11 overlay districts, such as the Riverside Avondale and Springfield historic districts. The recommendations also would bar infill in most areas not connected to city water and sewer services.
The Planning Department recommended expanding the overlay to the suburban area of the 2045 Comprehensive Plan. Bill Delaney, the Council liaison for Deegan's office, said during a Jan. 6 meeting on the legislation that the mayor's office would not object to the suburban area not being included in the map.
Although not specified in Diamond's legislation nor the planners' recommendations, the infill also would be excluded in most neighborhoods governed by homeowners associations or with deed restrictions.
Differing opinions
Ordinances 2024-0868 and 2024-0869 both drew 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.
During the Jan. 7 LUZ meeting, several committee members commended Diamond for making an effort to generate more missing middle development. But the bills also drew criticism from members, with three saying their constituents wouldn't want it as written.
"I just don't want us to participate," said District 5 Council member Joe Carlucci, speaking for his district.
"Joe, you took the words right out of my mouth," said District 11 member Arias.
Ken Amaro, who represents District 1, said the legislation "shook me to my knees" when he read it. He said it appeared to be an attempt to break up neighborhoods and he wouldn't support it.
Chrissy Bott, a San Jose neighborhood resident, urged 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.”