A Gate Parkway-style gas station comes for LaVilla

[Tacachale]

Set amid a sea of suburban-style surface parking and featuring enough car entrances to endanger pedestrians on four different streets, the new Daily's gas station proposed for LaVilla couldn't be a worse fit for a Downtown neighborhood. Fortunately, a few simple fixes could improve the design dramatically – if the City of Jacksonville doesn't fold on upholding common sense design requirements already on the books.

Read more: https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/a-gate-parkway-style-gas-station-comes-for-lavilla/

[jcjohnpaint]

This is so insane for an entry into downtown. It is upsetting it is being considered at all.

[BridgeTroll]

Looks like it will have a "urban" mural... 

[Ken_FSU]

The DDRB should be disbanded if the proposed layout if approved.

Voicing concerns and approving the design unanimously doesn't count.

[heights unknown]

Don't know why (?) but it seems that THEY (DDRB and others) always seem to miss the mark; do they have brains? Or noodles?

[jaxlongtimer]

....Fortunately, a few simple fixes could improve the design dramatically – if the City of Jacksonville doesn't fold on upholding common sense design requirements already on the books....

...This isn't just common sense, it's also the City of Jacksonville's own Downtown Design Guidelines. Jacksonville's policy for downtown is that "No portion of a building or structure shall be set back from the right-of-way line of a public street." As for foregrounding the pedestrian experience over car circulation, the guidelines say, "Building facades shall involve the pedestrian on the street." Parking requirements are also specifically outlined: "The impact of parking and service areas in downtown shall be minimized by locating parking lots and garages away from sidewalks and pedestrian connections and within projects or off service alleys." The Daily's project violates every one of these requirements, and then some. These are perfectly sensible conditions that shouldn't be thrown out without a very good reason – and for this project, Daily's doesn't have one...

....It doesn't jibe with the city's LaVilla Neighborhood Development Strategy and ongoing developments working to revitalize LaVilla in a contextually-sensitive way, including the renovation of Historic Stanton, Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing Park and the Johnson Commons townhome project....

....In the past, city officials have bent the rules for Downtown developments on the grounds that missing out on the project would be a blow for Downtown. If not this developer, who else would build there?...

....These fixes are simple, cost-effective and grounded in common sense. All that's needed to turn this project from a suburban square peg into an urban amenity appropriate for LaVilla is for the city to uphold the sensible guidelines already on the books....

Good luck, gentlemen.  As I have repeatedly highlighted with other urban core projects, and as you note here in your own article, the City has NO common sense and NO backbone to enforce its own rules.

Whether its streetscapes, riverfront setbacks, height limits, historic preservation, developing green spaces, consistent zoning... the City is a constant rule breaker ruining our downtown and much of the urban core.  One day, the urban planning department at some prestigious college will hold out Jacksonville as the prototypical example of how not to plan and build a city.  Sadly, it will take at least 100 years to fix it if we ever turn the corner and, for now, current generations have to live in it.

[fsu813]

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The site plan design has received significant push back, beyond what's typical. I suspect DDRB will be responsive, but we'll see.

[thelakelander]

I believe the DDRB will be responsive. However, this (like the Ford plant) will ultimately come down to council. That's where the public lobbying needs to be focused.

[heights unknown]

Well, definitely, what do you all think or how do you feel it should look? Some might say the renderings are ok, then others may want it to look like something different, and then others may feel another way. And I understand about the entrance ways, location, etc.

[sandyshoes]

So does Jacksonville want to be progressive and modern (such as Khan's former shipyards complex will look?) or does it wish to stay in the past,  emotionally attached to all of its ancient buildings and history downtown?  Who says downtown has to stay in its current box?  Why keep old buildings from our shameful, segregated past - they are just painful reminders.  Knock 'em all down and start fresh.  Then the suburban structures will be right at home in our sleek, beautiful downtown.  Re-do the roads and expressway system to make it easier for people to get around.   It'll be a place people will flock to and one we can finally be proud of.   

[thelakelander]

Well, definitely, what do you all think or how do you feel it should look? Some might say the renderings are ok, then others may want it to look like something different, and then others may feel another way. And I understand about the entrance ways, location, etc.

Imo, the site is way too big and prominent for a suburban gas station. My concern is more focused on the site plan and density, not so much the architecture (which is nothing special). I'd like to see no exception allowed for this use without some concessions by Daily's to design their project to the current design standards. If they do so, I believe the logical solution would be a more compact gas station with additional land on this block being reserved for future infill development.

[Charles Hunter]

The DDRB sends Daily's back to the drawing board.

Board member William Schilling Jr. received several emails about concerns with the project. Schilling and other board members wanted a workshop to review deviations the project requires. He said the last thing people want to see is a bright yellow and red gas canopy coming off the Acosta Bridge.

...

Projects like this need higher standards, board member Linzee Ott said. She said entrances on all four sides is not ideal for the location, and she asked about additional use of office or retail at the site.

"This combination does not hit the mark," she said.

Board member Craig Davisson said he can't fault a fuel and market idea, but it's an island of one-way streets and asphalt that did not represent LaVilla's past. He said the site has significance and needs large-scale changes rather than tweaks.

"The project fails completely in execution, and I think it exacerbates the problems with the area," he said.

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2023/01/12/dailys-mixed-use-concept-sent-to-workshop.html?ana=e_ja_BN&j=30237613&senddate=2023-01-12

[jcjohnpaint]

All good concerns

[vicupstate]

In Jacksonville does the city staff make a recommendation to the Board to approve or deny? This is done in Greenville, and typically there is a lot of face time between the developer and the staff before it is even submitted for approval.  Is there a similar process for JAX? 

[Steve]

In Jacksonville does the city staff make a recommendation to the Board to approve or deny? This is done in Greenville, and typically there is a lot of face time between the developer and the staff before it is even submitted for approval.  Is there a similar process for JAX? 

They do. The staff report was weird about this. They recommended approval with like 12 conditions, all of which would materially change the project and were the core issues with it.

It was the equivalent of saying, "you'll get a passing grade, but only if you learn everything you already failed at."