Urban Core Vision Plan to be Unveiled

[Rocshaboc]

Wishful thinking with this city's history. I hope I'm wrong because I'm so sick and tired of wishing

[SarahEHarper]

I'd like to know as a resident & small business owner what I can do to make this happen. Jacksonville is a great city, I am determined to do my part.

[jason_contentdg]

Can't wait to see more...it looks like a good presentation.

I wonder if Carl's is happy he's going be in a newly constructed 4 story building at the corner of 8th and main, as shown in the perspective.  Of course that means demolishing a structure built in 1928 and going above the 35' height restriction...but it's a nice drawing.

[thelakelander]

Interesting picture of Forsyth & Main Streets. I take it the photo is existing and the rendering is their idea. Does that mean they want the city to bulid two highrises behind the two story parking garage?

I attended an Urban Core Vision presentation a few months ago.  At the time, they were mentioning that the city should seek to better utilize property in the urban core and downtown.  This sketch (building/density replaces parking garage structure) was used as an example of how a major centralized downtown block could be better utilized, with vision.

Working shrimp boats at the old Ford plant might be difficult to produce if the shrimp industry keeps declining. They will probalby promise to build a parking garage for the auto traffic and never deliver it.

We'll have a river full of more salt after its dredged for the port expansion (not saying this has anything to do with the sketches drawn).

[thelakelander]

Can't wait to see more...it looks like a good presentation.

I wonder if Carl's is happy he's going be in a newly constructed 4 story building at the corner of 8th and main, as shown in the perspective.  Of course that means demolishing a structure built in 1928 and going above the 35' height restriction...but it's a nice drawing.

I noticed that while cropping the image last night in photoshop.  Btw, on Main you can go 45'.  The original 3rd & Main plan was four stories but was eventually reduced because of community concern and market feasibility.

[jason_contentdg]

^ Ahh, yes...I was thinking about 8th street where the height restriction was 35'.

[tufsu1]

For those who like to claim that the City has "no vision, no plan"....this is a Vision.

That said, a lot of it is pie in the sky and will take decades to be realized....the next step is to whittle this down into implementation plans....first is the 20-year Comprehensive Plan....and then 5-year increments.

[thelakelander]

Yes, this is where the public will be needed to influence political support, imo.

[CS Foltz]

Gentlemen...........lip service has been paid to the public for years! We have plenty of experts and consultants telling us what should be and how it should be but we still don't have what we need to grow! Still no rail, no mass transit, other than JTA'a vision of wall to wall concrete filled with BRT's so until I see something in writing than I can sink my teeth into...........talk is cheap, show me something! Nice to know that Johnny is starting to get the message, but I still have reservations with 18 months or so to go, we are just now discussing what it would take to get downtown up and running and that is not even beginning to discuss all of the issue's that face us.

[thelakelander]

^We have to hold our officials accountable.  That's something the general public in this city has not historically done, which is why lip service remains common.

[Jason]

Another great vision for Downtown.  The sad thing is that it will likely be tossed on a shelf somewhere and forgotten, especially when the next one comes out.

We all have our "visions" for downtown (I even did my own and posted them a while back) but the PLAN is what will move us out of the Big Ideas stage and into the future.

[Captain Zissou]

This is pretty pie in the sky/ long term, but it could be a steering guideline for short term decisions.

I think developing commodore point and the warehouse district is a great idea, albeit 20 years in the future.  Expanding the Hogan's creek park area is crucial for Springfield and downtown as a livable neighborhood.  That garage on the back of the Crowne Plaza has always upset me, it should interact with the riverwalk more. 

The main theme I get from this presentation is clustering development and focusing on creating nodes of activity throughout the core, which I think is the right way to go.  Also, notice the skyway runs to the stadium and terminates in 5points at what looks like Annie Lytle.  If we accomplished these things, we'd kick the tar out of our current peer cities, and our current self.

[fsujax]

Yep. Planners can have the best ideas ever! but until there is political will to actually implement or move forward with something, nothing will happen! We have no lack of ideas, great plans, wills and vision, but we lack the political power to do it. Even the business community here doesn't fully embrace these ideas. Believe me if the Carl Cannons, Haskells, Rummels, Foley's of the city would begin to emphasize these plans we would see things change drastically.

[heights unknown]

I'll believe it when I see it.  As someone else said, when it comes to plans and vision, Jax' track record is certainly poor to nil.

"HU"

[JagFan07]

A vision is one thing, paying for it is another. A question to those in the know, do we have the resources available to pull something like this off? Maybe a second Better Jacksonville Plan..say a Better Downtown Plan?

Call me a pragmatist, but I always look to the costs verse benefit. I can see the benefit here but just don't see how we can cover the costs.