6,000 acres! And the Davis family still has 25,000 acres in their name.
It was only a matter of time before some of this would get developed. Heard a rumor that a few of the Davis family members want to develop the land which is why Seven Pines is being built and they wanted the SW portion to be developed too which appears to be happening. Other members prefer to have the land private.
Harden is negotiating on this so you know it's happening. He is a very close family friend to the Davis family. Funny story, for Xmas, the Davis family gifts Harden acres of land instead of actual gifts. It's some next level wealth.
https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2023/feb/15/6000-acres-in-southeast-jacksonville-in-review-for-residential-commercial-development/ (https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2023/feb/15/6000-acres-in-southeast-jacksonville-in-review-for-residential-commercial-development/)
Disappointing but expected
Good lord, that's a lot of land. Seems like a real shame that the city is going to have the infrastructure burden of thousands of houses built on the edge of town, and then wonder why people aren't living downtown (or near it) and so much money needs to be spent on sprawling municipal services. Not to mention that this road layout seems primed to be completely traffic-choked after a decade without the ability to really support any transportation alternatives for residents.
Bingo. Same can be said for the excessive LDR sprawl on the westside. IDK how that tax base can support that over time.
Since JAX doesn't charge impact fees (like St. Johns County and others), the cost will be placed on the existing taxpayers.
I'm not surprised. You don't spend billions on constructing I-295 East Beltway, SR 9B, Gate Parkway and associated infrastructure with no long term vision for development. It isn't a matter of if. The question has generally been when.
Quote from: thelakelander on February 15, 2023, 10:34:47 PM
I'm not surprised. You don't spend billions on constructing I-295 East Beltway, SR 9B, Gate Parkway and associated infrastructure with no long term vision for development. It isn't a matter of if. The question has generally been when.
All those roads plus JTB got built at the behest of the Hodges, Davises, Skinners and Peytons. Just follow the money. Those 4 families are almost the exclusive Round 1 beneficiaries of all these roads.
Paul Harden has the Council under his thumb. Just another example of the Council's lack of backbone or concern for the general community. All about special interests, particularly developers. I would love the next election to clean house, from the mayor's office to most of the City Council.
I recall the thread below a while back, inspired by Ken Burn's documentary on our national parks, and sad to see this development instead of that suggestion. But, no surprise as the City has no proactive plan for our future, only what is good for developer pockets today. And, developers have almost no desire to give back in a big way to our community, just take favors and incentives from it. Mostly, a one way street (no play on words intended ;D ).
Quote
J.E. Davis National Park, Jacksonville's Best Idea?
https://www.metrojacksonville.com/forum/index.php/topic,6223.0.html
The main issue with developers is the chicken or the egg story. The "big guys" all want to do what they have done before, with very little care or regard for the local area. There are smaller developers that do care but they are not involved with the developments making headlines of any kind. Closet thing to this is maybe Vestcor or Corner Lot. The small guy are almost always local. Groups like Related don't care at all.
Yet we have so many folks in town that LOVE flipping land to the big outside developer. Like when we do RFP's!
The unfortunate consequence when the majority of raw land is owned by just a couple families. As long as they own it, they will continue to dictate how it gets developed and the sprawl will only continue into perpetuity. No need for parks or preserves. Sell to the highest bidder, which in this case is single family MPC's and viola! You have a Rhode Island sized suburb. This doesn't change whether it's Donna or Davis as the next mayor.
Quote from: WarDamJagFan on February 16, 2023, 09:53:06 AM
The unfortunate consequence when the majority of raw land is owned by just a couple families. As long as they own it, they will continue to dictate how it gets developed and the sprawl will only continue into perpetuity. No need for parks or preserves. Sell to the highest bidder, which in this case is single family MPC's and viola! You have a Rhode Island sized suburb. This doesn't change whether it's Donna or Davis as the next mayor.
The city and state can also buy the land for preserve and park land. There just needs someone with vision to do so at the helm.
Quote from: Tacachale on February 16, 2023, 12:11:21 PM
Quote from: WarDamJagFan on February 16, 2023, 09:53:06 AM
The unfortunate consequence when the majority of raw land is owned by just a couple families. As long as they own it, they will continue to dictate how it gets developed and the sprawl will only continue into perpetuity. No need for parks or preserves. Sell to the highest bidder, which in this case is single family MPC's and viola! You have a Rhode Island sized suburb. This doesn't change whether it's Donna or Davis as the next mayor.
The city and state can also buy the land for preserve and park land. There just needs someone with vision to do so at the helm.
Maybe if we told Lenny that the Sliemans secretly owned half the land...
^ Haha!
Sadly, Lenny would just rip out all the trees and plant some sod as the new "front lawn" for Southern Duval.....