Jax Kennel Club to open poker room near Regency Square Mall

[thelakelander]

When I moved here in 2003, I noticed that Jacksonville feels and looks at various situations about a decade behind its peers.  For example, talk mass transit here and the discussion centers on whether people will use it or not.  Talk it in Charlotte, Salt Lake City or St. Louis and residents fight over who's neighborhood is more deserving of the next infrastructure investment.  Talk 7-Eleven and we debate can a convenience store fit into a commercial strip like Avondale, when thousands already exist worldwide in more prestigious communities just fine.

With that said, Arlington is pretty small in terms of looking at what communities outside of Jax have been successful in doing with the land use and zoning regulations.  Also, land use and zoning regulations that protect and build up the surrounding context don't equate to "making things more difficult" for the private sector.

[AFCassidy]

Arlington is small?  It's like 7 or 8 miles from end to end. 

What's an example of a larger community with Riverside-like zoning requirements?

[thelakelander]

Yes, 7 or 8 square miles is pretty small.  Miami is around 36 square miles and modifying their land use and zoning is working for them:

http://www.planetizen.com/node/41370

http://www.miami21.org/

So, let's just say you want your neighborhood to be more walkable or new development to fit in with the surround context.  Instead of fighting each new proposal, simply change your zoning to a Form-based Code:

What Are Form-Based Codes?

Definition of a Form-Based Code

Form-based codes foster predictable built results and a high-quality public realm by using physical form (rather than separation of uses) as the organizing principle for the code. They are regulations, not mere guidelines, adopted into city or county law. Form-based codes offer a powerful alternative to conventional zoning.

Form-based codes address the relationship between building facades and the public realm, the form and mass of buildings in relation to one another, and the scale and types of streets and blocks. The regulations and standards in form-based codes are presented in both words and clearly drawn diagrams and other visuals. They are keyed to a regulating plan that designates the appropriate form and scale (and therefore, character) of development, rather than only distinctions in land-use types.

This approach contrasts with conventional zoning's focus on the micromanagement and segregation of land uses, and the control of development intensity through abstract and uncoordinated parameters (e.g., FAR, dwellings per acre, setbacks, parking ratios, traffic LOS), to the neglect of an integrated built form. Not to be confused with design guidelines or general statements of policy, form-based codes are regulatory, not advisory. They are drafted to implement a community plan. They try to achieve a community vision based on time-tested forms of urbanism. Ultimately, a form-based code is a tool; the quality of development outcomes depends on the quality and objectives of the community plan that a code implements.

Elements of a Form-Based Code

Form-based codes commonly include the following elements:

• Regulating Plan. A plan or map of the regulated area designating the locations where different building form standards apply, based on clear community intentions regarding the physical character of the area being coded.

• Public Space Standards. Specifications for the elements within the public realm (e.g., sidewalks, travel lanes, on-street parking, street trees, street furniture, etc.).

• Building Form Standards. Regulations controlling the configuration, features, and functions of buildings that define and shape the public realm.

• Administration. A clearly defined application and project review process.

• Definitions. A glossary to ensure the precise use of technical terms.

Form-based codes may also include:

• Architectural Standards. Regulations controlling external architectural materials and quality.

• Landscaping Standards. Regulations controlling landscape design and plant materials on private property as they impact public spaces (e.g. regulations about parking lot screening and shading, maintaining sight lines, ensuring unobstructed pedestrian movement, etc.).

• Signage Standards. Regulations controlling allowable signage sizes, materials, illumination, and placement.

• Environmental Resource Standards. Regulations controlling issues such as storm water drainage and infiltration, development on slopes, tree protection, solar access, etc.

• Annotation. Text and illustrations explaining the intentions of specific code provisions.

http://www.formbasedcodes.org/what-are-form-based-codes

[thelakelander]

Also, I wouldn't call their codes "Riverside-like."  Riverside's code works for Riverside but may not be applicable to Arlington's context or the community's desire.  Nevertheless, the general concept of moving away from our traditional way of looking at land use and zoning (which has failed us) would still apply.

[AFCassidy]

Ok but I didn't say 7 or 8 square miles, I said it's 7-8 miles from end to end.  Gotta be at least 25 square miles, depending on how you draw the boundaries in your mind.

Comparing the city of Miami's resources and needs to that of the Arlington area is... ehhh... beyond a reach.

We some of these standards you describe along Merrill Road.  It retards development and many of the businesses located along there are extremely unhappy with it.  I've talked to several who've advertised in our community paper -- they are basically stuck in buildings that are old and have very little visibility, but they can't do anything significant to upgrade the exteriors of their businesses or to make changes to their signage, etc.  The codes have basically trapped businesses and there are a good number who are thinking about relocating to more business-friendly areas of town.

"So, let's just say you want your neighborhood to be more walkable or new development to fit in with the surround context."

If I want that, then I guess I ought to support businesses that promote that with my purchases and maybe if everyone else feels the same way that's how the neighborhood will evolve. 

It seems to me that your focus is always on the scenario of some person who decides they want to be able to stroll around their neighborhood and how he or she can go about forcing these businesses to comply with those wishes and make that a reality, regardless of the actual circumstances of the area or the obvious wishes of the majority of the residents. 

If everyone wanted to live in 5 Points, then every neighborhood would naturally look like 5 Points.

[thelakelander]

Its only beyond reach because you're making it that.  I could pull successful examples for big and small places but if we're not willing to accept responsibility for what our own landscape looks like and what it's future will be, an excuse for why we can't do something will be generated.

However, at the end of the day, we (the community) made the zoning code that exists there and all over the entire city.  If we (the community) don't like what we (the community) developed.  Then we (the community) should work to revise it.  Its really as simple as that.

[thelakelander]

We some of these standards you describe along Merrill Road.  It retards development and many of the businesses located along there are extremely unhappy with it.  I've talked to several who've advertised in our community paper -- they are basically stuck in buildings that are old and have very little visibility, but they can't do anything significant to upgrade the exteriors of their businesses or to make changes to their signage, etc.  The codes have basically trapped businesses and there are a good number who are thinking about relocating to more business-friendly areas of town.

What Form Based or Smart Codes are you talking about specificially that are hampering business growth?  My guess is that you may be confusing the information with our traditional zoning practices.

"So, let's just say you want your neighborhood to be more walkable or new development to fit in with the surround context."

If I want that, then I guess I ought to support businesses that promote that with my purchases and maybe if everyone else feels the same way that's how the neighborhood will evolve.

If you want a walkable community, it shouldn't be about supporting or not supporting specific types of businesses.  It should be about wanting your city and community to have a higher quality of life and keeping all of your tax dollars from going into subsidizing roadway projects.  All commercial businesses can seamlessly fit into either environment (walkable or autocentric).

It seems to me that your focus is always on the scenario of some person who decides they want to be able to stroll around their neighborhood and how he or she can go about forcing these businesses to comply with those wishes and make that a reality, regardless of the actual circumstances of the area or the obvious wishes of the majority of the residents.

My focus is on quality of life and fiscal responsibility from a public level.  How we design our community has a significant impact on these items.  Such a strategy actually helps the private sector by freeing up public money to be invested in areas other than asphalt and concrete.

If everyone wanted to live in 5 Points, then every neighborhood would naturally look like 5 Points.

Correct, which is why I corrected you in an earlier post about "Riverside-like" zoning.  For example, Downtown, Riverside and Jax Beach are all forms of walkable communities that still have distinct characteristics that make the different from one another.  Even within Arlington, Old Arlington's context is vastly different from the Regency area. 

The zoning code should not be designed to force "one size fits all" regulations on development, which is what we have today.  Jacksonville is too diverse and the code should be modified to reflect its diversity.

[urbanlibertarian]

OR...instead of instituting a new regulatory scheme we could just do away with zoning and let things develop organically.

[thelakelander]

You could do that too, but you'd probably end up with a mess on your hands like Houston.  Imagine the opposition that would fly when your neighbor decides to operate a chicken manure plant on his property.  Weird enough, I actually saw this happen in Central Florida, back in the 1990s.

[urbanlibertarian]

It would be nice to have Houston's economic growth and unemployment rates.

[thelakelander]

All we need is a few hundred square miles of oil reserves and refineries and we'll be set.

[Tacachale]

^I was just going to say that. There's plenty to envy about Houston, not all of which can be replicated. And there's plenty to avoid as well.

[urbanlibertarian]

From jacksonville.com:

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-11-01/story/planned-poker-room-wins-jacksonville-city-councils-support-loosen-0

Planned poker room wins Jacksonville City Council's support to loosen alcohol restrictions
Posted: November 1, 2011 - 9:19pm  |  Updated: November 2, 2011 - 9:16am

201 Monument Road, Jacksonville, Florida

By Steve Patterson

A poker room planned near Regency Square mall won a Jacksonville City Council committee’s support Tuesday for a rezoning that would loosen alcohol restrictions there.

The poker room can open with or without the zoning change. But neighborhood critics worried relaxed zoning could encourage a casino-like atmosphere in an area already troubled by loss of other businesses.

“Arlington is in trouble,” resident Pamela Sands told the council Land Use and Zoning Committee. “... We need to make things harder for them [poker rooms], and we need to work on different levels to bring good businesses to Arlington.”

The business at 201 Monument Road, a former Garden Ridge store bought by the Jacksonville Kennel Club’s operators, will be the only poker room in Jacksonville.

Don Cheatham, who said he spoke for a Woodmere homeowners association, told the committee the building would be a natural place for slot machines to be introduced if state lawmakers ultimately allow broader gambling statewide.

With new zoning, “the future could well include a casino-like establishment on this location,” he said.

No slot machines or casinos are planned, answered attorney Paul Harden, who represented the owners.

Harden put in writing a list of other things that aren’t planned, saying his clients would sign deed restrictions that would ban more than a dozen activities, from pawn shops and adult entertainment to racetracks and plasma centers.

But he drew a line at promising not to do things the zoning doesn’t allow.

“There’s no reason to say we won’t put a casino there. It’s illegal,” he said.

The bill the committee backed (2011-585) rezones about 6.5 acres from a category called CCG-1 to CCG-2. The second zoning automatically allows liquor sales, while the first only guarantees beer and wine sales.

Part of the poker room site already had the higher zoning, and Harden said the owners wanted to have the entire site zoned a single way so any construction was done to a common set of standards.

It also means people could buy cocktails and carry them anywhere in the building, and that wouldn’t be allowed otherwise, city planner Sean Kelly told the committee.

Councilman Clay Yarborough, whose district includes the property, had urged the owners to use a different type of zoning that allows negotiation over the appearance and operation of the buildings there.

When the owners rejected that idea, the series of deed restrictions was developed instead.

The committee voted 5-1 for the rezoning, with Councilman Don Redman voting no.

The full council is scheduled to vote next week.

steve.patterson@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4263

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-11-01/story/planned-poker-room-wins-jacksonville-city-councils-support-loosen-0#ixzz1cYzZU5Tx

[02roadking]

I heard an ad this morning on the radio about  http://www.bestbetjax.com/ 
Open 24 hrs on the weekends.

[urbanlibertarian]

Our newest facility â€" BestBet Jacksonville â€" opens the first week of March.  It is located on Monument Road across from Regency Square, less than 20-minutes from Jacksonville International Airport, 15-minutes from Jacksonville’s Beaches and very convenient to the I-295 East Beltway- Exit 47 (Monument Road) and exit 48 (Atlantic Blvd.).

BestBet Jacksonville is Florida’s newest and largest poker room, boasting 70 tables, a state-of-the-art simulcast center and full food and beverage service.   It is the home of the $1,000,000 WPT JACKSONVILLE BestBet OPEN, April 27 â€" May 2.  This televised and live-streamed tournament is the centerpiece of the Jacksonville Spring Series, April 19 â€" May 2.  Log on to the Poker Room link for details.

Private sector jobs.  Excellent!