Council to discuss Five Points Village project tonight
(http://photos.metrojacksonville.com/photos/2197866041_CWJW8Jw-M.jpg)
In June 2012, Five Points Village was partially destroyed by fire. Now Peter Sleiman's Retail Properties, Inc. is prepared to improve their strip mall and Riverside Avondale Preservation (RAP) is concerned. In addition to the preservation of the historic Bostwick Building, the Jacksonville City Council's Land Use and Zoning Committee will meet tonight at 5:00 p.m.
to discuss this redevelopment project. In preparation of this meeting, Metro Jacksonville shares RAP's concerns and suggested design recommendations.
Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2013-feb-council-to-discuss-five-points-village-project-tonight
Maybe I am missing something here, but it seems to me that once again, the original proposal is better for everyone than the compromised one. That some of the changes RAP is asking for eliminate the very things many seem to want in a walkable urban setting. That this is more an exercise in RAP flexing it's "muscle" than what the Jacksonville really needs.
I believe the Bostwick agenda item will be deferred until later in February.
The RAP version pretty much makes minor improvements to an awful design, when they should be addressing the design itself. As long as the site plan has the building in back and a sea of parking up front, you're not going to get walkability or pedestrian scale. You can put in as many shrubs as you want, but this doesn't address the real issues.
I think someone pointed out in another thread that trying to force them to fix the design could, and probably would, result in them just leaving everything as is. The shrubs here are barriers to channel the auto traffic and remove angled parking on the street; it's better than the developer's proposal and a lot better than how it is now.
Here's the original discussion on this: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2012-nov-five-points-village-plans-cause-concern
My apologies. I should have looked the above up before I posted. The original in this article is how is was before the fire? The second one does have some issues, but I still see a removal of sidewalk cafes? Wouldn't that make the area more “walkable�
Is anything going on with this project??
The only thing that has happened recently is that the owners have put up an illegal sign in the city-right-of-way with pictures of the facade and site plan.
To bad the whole place didn't burn down so that it could be rebuilt as something other than a suburban strip center. It is really, really out of place where it is.