Self-storage fight could come to a head this week

[thelakelander]

A self-storage fight in the Southbank could come to a head this week.

Read More: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/self-storage-fight-could-come-to-a-head-this-week/

[acme54321]

This is when everyone needs to be contacting their council members....

[Charles Hunter]

This is when everyone needs to be contacting their council members....

a reminder, with the vote tonight (June 26) it is the "old" council members, not the newly elected and installed - they don't take office until July 1, Saturday.

[Jax_Developer]

Watched the entire public hearing from 6/6/23.

- Every council-member has more than 180 emails in opposition
- Not a single council-member declared ex-parte with any emails/letter in favor of the project
- The DIA recommended denial in their report
- The developer group met with almost every council-member on LUZ
- The developer group paid to have 3 experts give their opinion of the project
- There were more than 20 speakers in opposition
- There were negotiations with the developer group to explore alternative uses or uses that incorporate "less" storage with a residential component. All of those other uses were shot down with the exception of a rooftop bar that the developer group proposed.
- A speaker made a great point, stating that Soba & The Station are actually in much worse locations (next to freeways) than this storage unit, and if passed this storage unit would house the boxes in a more prime location than some of those actually using it (LOL)


All that said, they passed LUZ 6-2. This thing is happening, sadly.

[thelakelander]

Lol that speaker was right. This will be where those residents store their extra junk. If approved, that fake stucco facade is going to age and deteriorate quickly.

[Jax_Developer]

Sorry 5-2* lol

Really unfortunate circumstances but maybe some heavy hitters that actually can sway some of these council members will show up but I wouldn't bet on it. Carlucci & Cumber really made a mockery of the whole thing with the "experts." I have also been physically present and have heard multiple times from other council-members "I'm not going to go against the wishes of the area's council-member" yet today both members who reside over it, in heavy opposition, were disregarded. Funny how that works!

[marcuscnelson]

The fact that they're spending the effort and money to make this storage unit look like an apartment kind of screams that maybe that's what should actually be done with this site.

[fsu813]

Would be the gold standard of storage facilities in Northeast Florida. They've made an effort on the design and activation.

That said, don't like the precedent of blowing up the (recently updated) Downtown zoning overlay for something as soul sucking as a storage facility.

[Charles Hunter]

Would be the gold standard of storage facilities in Northeast Florida. They've made an effort on the design and activation.

That said, don't like the precedent of blowing up the (recently updated) Downtown zoning overlay for something as soul sucking as a storage facility.

What "activation"? The rooftop bar? Why not some ground-floor activation?

[Jax_Developer]

Lol more than half the discourse from the LUZ was about the 16k of ground-floor retail hahahaha. It's almost like this is a retail project to the developer.

Also they touted this 80/20 ratio.. 16,042 sf of retail / 165,075 of total space = 9.72%

HMMMMMMMMM.

[Captain Zissou]

Lol more than half the discourse from the LUZ was about the 16k of ground-floor retail hahahaha. It's almost like this is a retail project to the developer.

Also they touted this 80/20 ratio.. 16,042 sf of retail / 165,075 of total space = 9.72%

HMMMMMMMMM.

They've had funny math all through this project.  They only count the square footage of actual storage units toward that category, not the aisle between the units, elevator lobby, etc.  However everything that is not storage gets counted toward the "20%".  The design changes are back of napkin drawings with no real detail that the developer can be held to.  It's a last ditch effort to get votes, but it's too little too late.

[Jax_Developer]

I love it lol just go back & forth from total to rentable when it's convenient. I'm really interested to see what the final vote is.

[jaxlongtimer]

LUZ is stacked with good ol' boy developer friends.  It's about as bad as ever, and that is saying a lot, as that is the history of this committee over the decades.  It is exhibit A for how developers and their attorneys own the City Council.

What is the Planning Department's position on this project?  They are also usually rubber stamps for developers and I hope Deegan makes some serious changes in how that department is managed.  However, if they ever recommend denial of a project, you know it must really be awful  .

[Jax_Developer]

Because it is downtown, the DIA & DDRB issued reports. (CPAC did also). DIA voted to deny. DDRB voted to approve with amendments. (The DDRB Chair & Vice-Chair both voted to deny.) CPAC voted to deny also.

That one DDRB report is the lifeline of the project right now. Several council-members sited that as justification for voting the way they did at the LUZ hearing.

I'd also like to add that every "aye" vote from the DDRB came from board members who directly work in development. (aka architects, civil engineers, and planners). The two "nay" votes were from the only two voting members not directly working in RE.

[fsu813]

Would be the gold standard of storage facilities in Northeast Florida. They've made an effort on the design and activation.

That said, don't like the precedent of blowing up the (recently updated) Downtown zoning overlay for something as soul sucking as a storage facility.

What "activation"? The rooftop bar? Why not some ground-floor activation?

Ground floor retail space is part of the plan, no?