Protecting the Urban Core: building grassroots support

[iloveionia]

It's time to speak up.
Our city must be moved to champion sustainability and preservation.
We must work to influence decisions since we don't have the power to make them.

The city's blight initiative is a knock to the knees and is not an economically viable route that should be taken.  The amended ordinance presented by Lee and Jones at this week's council meeting is making it's way across decision maker's desks.  This initiative has the potential to raze buildings and homes much like the way LaVilla was lost.

Speak up and support the Urban Core.  Aw hell, you will probably need to yell a little bit (or a lot!) as well.  We have a few weeks.  Let's get to it.

Like the page on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/protectingthejacksonvilleurbancore?ref=hl&ref_type=bookmark

[IrvAdams]

+1. Well put. It's time.

[sheclown]

Here's the route:

Rules

Committee Meeting Location / Time

First & Third Monday at 4:00 p.m.
City Hall - St. James Building
Council Chamber - 1st Floor Atrium
117 W. Duval Street

Committee Members
Kimberly Daniels - Chair
Raymond E. Holt - Vice Chair
Reginald L. Brown
Doyle Carter
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Transportation, energy and utilities

Committee Meeting Location / Time

First & Third Monday at 2:00 p.m.
City Hall - St. James Building
Council Chamber - 1st Floor Atrium
117 W. Duval Street

Committee Members
Jim Love - Chair
Reginald L. Brown - Vice Chair
Greg Anderson
John R. Crescimbeni
Kimberly Daniels
Stephen C. Joost
Matt Schellenberg

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Public Health and Safety.

Committee Meeting Location / Time

First & Third Monday at 4:00 p.m.
City Hall - St. James Building
Council Chamber - 1st Floor Atrium
117 W. Duval Street

Committee Members
Kimberly Daniels - Chair
Raymond E. Holt - Vice Chair
Reginald L. Brown
Doyle Carter

[Kay]

Are these the committees as of July 1, when new council year starts?  I was told it wouldn't go before committee until beginning of August.  We need to confirm when it will be heard by committees. 

In the meantime, we should work to educate blight committee on alternatives to demolition and see if we can convince them to withdraw the bill.

[sheclown]

Story tonight on Action News at 10:00

Alyana Gomez is the reporter.

[JaxUnicorn]

Are these the committees as of July 1, when new council year starts?  I was told it wouldn't go before committee until beginning of August.  We need to confirm when it will be heard by committees. 

In the meantime, we should work to educate blight committee on alternatives to demolition and see if we can convince them to withdraw the bill.

Kay, we've been trying to do just what you've stated and have hit a brick wall.  What suggestions do you have that may work?

[Kay]

Email me your contact information.  You may want to talk with Gloria first.

[sheclown]

 It will be heard in Rules on July 14 at 10 a.m., TEU at 2 p.m. Monday July 14 and 4 p.m. Monday July 14.

Bill Type and Number: Ordinance 2014-427

Introducer/Sponsor(s): Council Members Crescimbeni, Lee and Jones

Date of Introduction: June 24, 2014

Committee(s) of Reference: R, TEU, PHS (Rules; Transportation, Energy, and Utilities; and Public Health and Safety)

Date of Analysis: June 26, 2014

Type of Action: Ordinance Code amendment

Bill Summary: The bill amends Ordinance Code Chapter 518 – Jacksonville Property Safety and Maintenance Code – to revise the definition of "unsafe building or unsafe structure" to include non-historic structures that have been boarded up and have no active water or electric service for a time period that exceeds 24 months.  Section 518.205 – Boarding of vacant buildings or dwellings – is amended to provide that non-historic buildings boarded up and without active water or electric service are declared to be unlawful and a public nuisance and shall be abated by the City in accordance with its demolition standards.



Background Information: The bill is being proposed as a result of discussions in the Ad Hoc Neighborhood Blight Committee about the dangerous conditions posed by persistently vacant buildings, which often harbor vagrants and drug activity, invite vandalism, and are an eyesore that detracts from neighborhood conditions and property values.



Policy Impact Area: Neighborhood blight remediation



Fiscal Impact: Undetermined – could increase the City's annual costs for demolition if substantially more structures are deemed nuisances and subject to demolition, the costs of which are recoverable by means of liens on the property.



Analyst: Clements

[strider]

Interesting that the summary does not mention that it also changes the Mothballing part of the ordinance, which is how it does indeed end up effecting and including historic properties even though they pointedly say non-historic properties. 

[sheclown]

There are better options than the one proposed by the blight committee:

1.) mothball all structures 50 years or older using Code enforcement & lien property for this amount (regardless of their location in a historic district) -- already allowed by ordinance to stabilize and repair.  50 years or older means that CDBG federal tax dollars for preservation is available for this use. REMOVES BLIGHT

2.) after legitimate time period (?) foreclose on the  mothball lien unless stipulation agreement is made with owner.

3.) offer mothballed home to new owner for ($1) with incentives (10 year RE tax abatement?) if brought to a certificate of occupancy within one year.

-----------------------

Benefits:

1.) immediately removes blight for much less cost than demolition (currently mothballing a house is less than half of the cost of demolition)

2.) protects the unique historic fabric of the urban core

3.) is sustainable (we do not fill up the landfills with perfectly fine building materials).

4.) is environmentally friendly, we don't toss asbestos and other air pollutants willy-nilly into the atmostphere.

5.) protects the affordable housing in the urban core  (in most cases much cheaper to renovate these houses than to build from ground up).

6.) protects the fabric of the neighborhood (not a great rush to build infill going on in case you haven't noticed -- unless you want grandma sitting alone in a field of empty vacant weeds this ensures she will have neighbors at some point.)

[iloveionia]

Successful urban cores revitalize existing housing stock. Demolition is not a part of any equation. San Francisco and DC are two examples. Even Detroit came to its senses and is incentivizing revitalization and keeping what's left of their neighborhoods (of course after they desecrated them) in tact.

Great points above Sheclown.

And yes, the amended ordinance is so poorly written I am not confident the interpretation will protect historic homes in Spfld. There are currently over 600 homes in and around the urban core that have the potential to be demolished now and with the near future as the 24 month clock ticks.

[thelakelander]

Here's a few images of a couple of Detroit neighborhoods where demolition of abandoned structures has been the main revitalization and blight clearing tool for the last +30 years.....

What was once this....




Ends up resembling this....

[thelakelander]

Results of not properly mothballing vacant structures....