Over the objections of the Jacksonville City Council member whose district includes Downtown, Council voted March 25 to allow an exception to Downtown zoning codes that restrict drive-thru and drive-in facilities.
Council approved Ordinance 2025-0074, which was designed to help facilitate Ameris Bank’s plans for a new branch on the Downtown Northbank, on a 16-0 vote with District 7 member Jimmy Peluso absent. District 7 includes most of the eight-district footprint of Downtown.
Also not present for the vote were Council members Reggie Gaffney Jr. and Kevin Carrico.
The ordinance stemmed from plans by Ameris to include a drive-thru in its plans for a branch at 200 W. Forsyth St. in the former Truist Tower.
The Downtown Investment Authority proposed the legislation, saying it would allow for exceptions under tightly restricted parameters.
Among the conditions that apply to the exception, queuing lines must be located within the lot and the drive-thru must be used in conjunction with a permitted use of a multiuse structure, such as a bank or restaurant.
Commercial surface lots are not applicable, and only lots built before 2014 are eligible for the exception.
The proposal, which also was designed to promote Downtown business activity and occupancy of commercial buildings, cleared the Jacksonville Planning Commission on a 6-0 vote.
During a March 17 committee meeting, Peluso said the exception is out of step with overall Downtown zoning codes that are designed to promote pedestrian activity and transportation by such means as bicycles and scooters.
While praising Ameris for serving underbanked areas of Jacksonville, he called the exception a slippery slope.
“This is not what makes an urban environment,” he said of drive-thrus and drive-ins.
“If we want to build a real city, saying no to stuff like this helps.”
On Jan. 9, the Daily Record reported that the city was reviewing a building-permit application for the Ameris Northbank branch. According to the application, the branch would occupy 4,214 square feet of space on the building’s 17,265-square-foot ground floor.
Ameris, which anchors Riverplace Tower on the Southbank, said it expected to open the branch in the third quarter of 2025.