City Council Played As Fools - MOBILITY?

[Ocklawaha]

OH THIS IS RICH! Listen to the line these builders are throwing at the City Of Jacksonville. If the city council doesn't feel stupid for blowing away the mobility plan AGAIN, this should prove once and for all just how ignorant of the facts they are.
Ignorant or in the pocket of developers? Where is channel 4? Where is the TU? Folio? The Fishing Guide...? CAN ANYBODY IN THIS CITY THINK?!  This is exactly what we were telling them and they were telling us that we were noise (another way of saying inconsequential fodder for their cannons). This is so rich I hardly know where to start!

Morris News Service
By DAVID BAUERLEIN

Race Track Road to Bartram Park Boulevard has become a popular backdoor route between northwest St. Johns County and Jacksonville, but one piece of the connection is still stuck in the two-lane past.

To widen that part of Race Track Road to four lanes, Bartram Park’s developments are asking the city of Jacksonville and St. Johns County to approve a new financing arrangement for the road work.

The proposal calls for homebuilders to pay fees each time they pull permits in the section of Bartram Park slated for new development. Based on 911 homes being built, the fees would generate almost $8.5 million for the road construction.

The segment slated for widening runs from west of St. Johns Parkway to Bartram Park Boulevard, including where Race Track Road crosses Durbin Creek.

The developer would also donate about 18 acres of land for right of way at an estimated value of $2.7 million.

St. Johns County officials, who have long sought to make Race Track Road a continuous four-lane boulevard, have made no decision.

“At this point, it’s just a proposal,” county spokesman Milton Soto said. “All those figures and all those numbers have to be assessed so we can determine if they would match the needs or not.”

The city of Jacksonville also must sign off because the Bartram Park mega-development is mainly in Jacksonville.

Under current growth regulations, Bartram Park cannot open the new area for home construction unless the full amount of money is ready for simultaneous widening of that part of Race Track Road.

The proposed change would let the home construction move forward, and the road would then be widened several years later. Bartram Park’s developer submitted traffic studies showing traffic won’t exceed the two-lane capacity of Race Track Road until 2023.

“By the time there is a need, the project will be fully funded,” said T.R. Hainline, an attorney representing the developer. “The money will be in a St. Johns County account ready to be used.”

He said Bartram Park has fielded interest from homebuilders because of the improving real estate market. He said it would take five years to build the 911 homes.

Jacksonville would get 545 homes and builders would pay $7,500 per lot into the account for Race Track Road widening. The 366 houses in St. Johns County would also have that $7,500 per lot fee, plus a $1,613 transportation impact fee payable to the county.

[spuwho]

First off there is more to widening Race Track Road then throwing up free land and refinancing. The bridge over I-95 would have to be replaced, and based on those numbers, I don't think it covers that.

Second, I am assuming that Bartram Park did not use a CDD to pay for its roads and impacts, but were paying them as the blocks were sold to the developers, and in turn passed on the "cut" as part of the impact fee.

If I understand this right, they want to push the responsibility of the fee to the block developers themselves because otherwise they would have to finance the fees upfront. Clearly this says the finances of Bartram Park are weak and cannot support the requirements as laid out by the civic authorities. The whole point of the impact fees was to get the cash to build the infra before the traffic was generated, not after. That is why we have the impact fee in the first place.

[tufsu1]

just wait a little while...I'm sure a big announcement on the SR 9B Extension will be coming soon!

[Ocklawaha]

Yes Spuwho, 'The Highwaymen Cometh.'

To widen that part of Race Track Road to four lanes, Bartram Park’s developments are asking the city of Jacksonville and St. Johns County to approve a new financing arrangement for the road work.

When the excrement hits the mechanical ventilating device, we can always count on Jacksonville to be the joke amongst American cities.  Memo to Richard Clark: "Richard, were you born dumb, or did you have to go to school for that?"

The proposal calls for homebuilders to pay fees each time they pull permits in the section of Bartram Park slated for new development. Based on 911 homes being built, the fees would generate almost $8.5 million for the road construction.

Had our esteemed council member not had his hands buried deep in some builders pockets, we would enjoy such benefits city-wide.

“By the time there is a need, the project will be fully funded,” said T.R. Hainline, an attorney representing the developer. “The money will be in a St. Johns County account ready to be used.”

What a novel thought, one wonders where such high and noble ideas come from.

He said Bartram Park has fielded interest from homebuilders because of the improving real estate market. He said it would take five years to build the 911 homes.

So here's an idea, lets kill the mobility plan moratorium since the market is so strong  that the builders can propose parallel plans, albeit plans that will only exacerbate the city's transportation funding dilemma. The suckers are lining up at the city hall... "Who's next?"

[Overstreet]

Bartram Park and St Augustine Rd already have enough rush hour traffic. This really only benefits the St Johns folks who take this route cause FDOT won't put an inter change at Race Track and I-95.  It would involve moving the rest stop.  Let the St Johns co fiks pay for it.

[tufsu1]

^ Instead, FDOT will extend 9B over and folks can use that to access I-95, US 1, and I-295....and of course, Bass Pro Shops!

[Dog Walker]

Ock, Thanks for the heads up on this one.  I read the article in the T-U this morning and completely missed the implications re: the mobility plan.