City Council - Apr 28, 2026

Good evening. Welcome, everybody, to the Jacksonville City Council meeting for Tuesday, April 28th. It is 5 p.m. on the dot. I'm your presiding officer, and we are welcoming you to the chambers. This meeting is now in session. Thank you, Mr. President. Our first order of business is the Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance. Please recognize our council chaplain, Councilmember Ken Amar. Thank you, Mr. Floor Leader. Tonight, our invocation is being delivered by Pastor Chris Tomlinson. He is the lead pastor of Destiny Church of Jacksonville. A thriving, non-denominational church dedicated to helping people know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and make a difference. He has served in ministry for over 25 years, with the past 13 years leading Destiny Church with vision, passion, and a deep love for this community. In addition to his role as pastor, Chris is also a small business owner and a voice of leadership in Jacksonville, committed to seeing both people and the city flourish. He and his wife, Jody, have been married for 28 years, and together, they're the proud parents of three daughters. Please receive Pastor Chris Tomlinson. Good evening, everyone. It's an honor to be here with you guys once again. As a pastor in this wonderful city, I get the front row view into the lives of those who these policies and decisions here impact. And I want to say to each and every one of you, thank you. What you do makes a difference more than you'll ever know. And I also want to say to you, you guys are doing a good job. I'm sure that's probably something you don't hear a whole lot from this podium, but I just want you to know that it is absolutely true. It's easy for people to criticize from the cheap seats when they've not chose to be on the field. You guys have chose to be on the field. You've chosen the weight of responsibility. And for that, we are grateful, and our city is better because of it. So thank you, guys. I'm reminded of a scripture as I was on my way to pray. It's James 1, verse 17. And it says that every good and perfect gift comes from heaven above. And so to begin this meeting, we want to go to God and acknowledge that all wisdom comes from him, that we're not led by emotion, but that we're led by his spirit. So I'd like for us to just ask for God's divine wisdom and his guidance and his covering over this meeting. So would you guys bow your heads and join me in prayer, if you would, please. Heavenly Father, we come before you, Lord, with humility and gratitude in our hearts. We acknowledge that every ounce of wisdom, every ounce of justice, every ounce of truth, it comes from you alone. And so, Lord, we invite you to reign over this meeting and over this city. I pray for every leader that's in this room. Strengthen their hearts when the weight feels unbearable. Sharpen their minds whenever the choices are complex. And steady their resolve when the path is unpopular but right. Let them be men and women who lead, not out of the fear of criticism, but out of the fear of the Lord. Father, I ask that unity would rise higher than division, that clarity would cut through confusion, and that integrity would be the standard by which every decision is measured. Let this counsel be known not only for what they decide, but for how they decide. With honor, with wisdom, and with courage. Bless Jacksonville, Lord. Watch over our neighborhoods and schools, our families and first responders, our businesses and our leaders. Let this be a city that doesn't just grow in size, but grows in righteousness. A city that lifts the hurting, that protects the vulnerable, and that stands as a beacon of hope and justice. And tonight, I pray that your presence would fill this room in such a way that every conversation, every vote, and every action carries a sense of divine purpose. Let the impact of this meeting ripple out beyond these walls and into the very fabric of our city for generations to come. And we ask all of this in the mighty name of the Son of God, in Jesus' name. And would all the saints join me in saying amen. Amen. Thank you. Mr. President, if you do not have any announcements, it is roll call time. All right. Roll call. 19 present. Thank you. Next up is the approval of the minutes from the regular council meeting of April 14th. I move the approval. We've got a motion and a second on the approval of the minutes. All in favor of the minutes being approved. Signify by saying aye. Aye. And you're opposed to saying nay. The minutes are approved. Mr. President, we have four communications from the mayor's office and others. Would you like them read or filed with legislative service? Let's go ahead and get them filed, please. Very well, sir. We have three presentations tonight. Our first presentation is by Councilmember Matt Carlucci, honoring and commending K.E. Haas, CEO of Groundwork Jacksonville. Mr. Thiel, please read the resolution. Resolution 2026-44. K.E. Haas serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Groundwork Jacksonville, the City of Jacksonville's nonprofit partner dedicated to developing the Emerald Trail and restoring McCoy's Creek and Hogan's Creek. On December 11, 2025, the Rails to Trails Conservancy, the nation's largest trail organization, named K.E. Haas as the 2025 Doppelt Family Rail Trail Champion, a prestigious award honoring individuals who have made significant contributions to the rail trail movement. Ms. Haas is recognized nationally for modeling a community-driven approach anchored in public-private partnership to develop the Emerald Trail, a 30-mile linear park system that will connect 14 historic neighborhoods and downtown Jacksonville to local trails, parks, schools, and businesses. Under K.E. Haas' leadership, the Emerald Trail Master Plan was adopted by the City Council in 2019, and the first segment, the La Villa Link, opened in May 2024, serving as the catalyst for neighborhood revitalization and demonstrating the impact of walking and biking infrastructure on the region. Ms. Haas' strategy ensures the residents have a seat at the table and a voice in shaping their neighborhoods, building trust and social capital while addressing environmental concerns and providing opportunities for the 70% of urban core residents who are considered low income. The City Council desires to recognize K.E. Haas' for her vision, dedication, and the national acclaim she has brought to the City of Jacksonville through her work to create a stronger, healthier, and more connected community. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Council of the City of Jacksonville. The City Council hereby honors and commends K.E. Haas' upon being named the 2025 Doppelt Family Rail Rail Trail Champion and expresses its profound appreciation for her tireless efforts in leading the development of the Emerald Trail and the restoration of Jacksonville's urban creeks. Thank you, sir. Okay. Okay. I need you, and I want the board, all the board to come up here that's here tonight. Thank you, Council President, for reading that. I appreciate it. We have the resolution that we can present Ms. E. Haas. Okay. Well, I want to say a few words, Mr. President, if I could. Is that all right? Yes, sir. Okay. Good. Thank you. Just a few comments about the trail itself that I thought might be interesting to you all to know because we've invested a lot in this trail. 4.6 miles have been completed. 2.6 miles are now nearly completion and are under construction. 6.3 miles are in design and 14.6 miles are ready for design. Now, this is not only a quality of life trail that people can enjoy and walk on and ride bikes on and enjoy family activities, but it's an environmental mission as well as it has kicked off the construction and the cleanup of McCoy's Creek. And some of y'all, I think I've seen the work that has begun and taken place and been completed at McCoy's Creek, and that's been such a long time coming to work at McCoy's Creek to return that to its own natural pathway and restore, actually, a natural fishing habitat. Its shoreline is going to be like it was once upon a time. It's just going to be amazing. People will be able to kayak there. This organization has raised nearly $30 million from different types of events, basically like cake sales to any kind of... You can't raise $30 million with a cake sale. Well, I've been to the cake sales, and I've given money. And you guys have been amazing with the way that you have raised dollars. And the S-Line of the Emerald Trail has had hundreds of trips per day, every day, hundreds of trips. So this is not a trail that's not used. It has used hundreds of trips. And the Fuller Warren, over 800 trips per day and over 400,000 a year, and it's not even complete. And what it's going to do to transform our urban core and to clean it up and to make it beautiful again and allow us to have pride in the beginnings of Jacksonville, that's going to be amazing. And this little lady named Kay E. Haas has taken it over and just done such a fabulous job and her board. I wish we could get everybody a chance to say something, and I know my council president would never allow me to do that. Probably not, but you brought Carrie Stewart with you, so that gives you a bonus. So if you need to finish, you can wrap it up. I'm stretching my luck as it is. But I just want to thank you all. And I know the council wants to thank you all for what you've done for the city and for our citizens enhancing the quality of life of Jacksonville. So I'm going to turn it over to this young lady. Here's your two microphones. I think you can reach them. And you can say a few words. It's good they're flexible. I just want to thank you guys for the honor, because it is an honor to receive it from you. And Groundwork Jacksonville was brought to, the city of Jacksonville wanted a Groundwork Trust to help it clean up its urban land and waterways. And I am very proud of the fact that we are actually helping the city to do that. So thank you. We've got a picture. We'll get done here. And then we're going to make room for some other presentations. So come on in here. All right. Okay. Thank you all for being here. Thank you. Our second presentation this evening is by Council Member Clark-Murray, acknowledging April 2026 as Autism Acceptance Month. Mr. Thiel, please read the resolution. Resolution 2026-160. The month of April is globally acknowledged as Autism Acceptance Month, dedicated to increasing awareness, understanding, and acceptance of autism spectrum disorder. Autism spectrum disorders are characterized by a range of challenges and strengths impacting social communication, behavior, and sensory experiences. Individuals with autism are valued members of the Jacksonville community, whose unique perspectives, talents, and abilities enrich the cultural, educational, and economic fabric of the city. Families, caregivers, educators, health care professionals, advocates, and other service providers in the city work tirelessly to provide inclusive and supportive environments for individuals with autism. Raising awareness about autism is essential in promoting early diagnoses, intervention, and access to appropriate resources. Creating an inclusive and supportive environment for individuals with autism involves promoting understanding, empathy, and acceptance within schools, workplaces, homes, and communities. Promoting awareness and acceptance of individuals with autism helps reduce stigma and strengthens the city's commitment to accessibility, inclusivity, and opportunity. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Council of the City of Jacksonville. The City Council hereby acknowledges April 2026 as Autism Acceptance Month in Jacksonville and encourages all residents to recognize and support individuals with autism and their families. Thank you for that reading, Council Secretary. To the distinguished members of City Council, employees, and visitors, I stand before you to honor the work being done in classrooms all over Duval County. The men and women seated to my right work with students with autism. The month of April has been recognized as Autism Awareness Month since the 1970s. President Reagan was the first American leader to formally acknowledge the month throughout the nation in the 80s. April the 2nd continues to be World Autism Awareness Day. Locally, Autism Awareness is celebrated every day for the 180 days each school year for Duval County Public Schools' 24 communications and social skills programs. These programs provide individualized academic, communications, and social skills to thousands of students at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Many students with autism are nonverbal. As a result, academic work is supported by speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists. As the month comes to an end, it seems only fitting to honor the personnel who do the tremendous work of educating students with autism with a framed resolution that this council passed in March. Please come to the podium when I call your name or position. ESC Executive Director Amy Valentine, Ph.D. ESC Low Incident Supervisor Marcy Dunavant, representing Duval County Public Schools. The executive leadership could not do their job if it wasn't for their instructional support personnel team. Once again, when I call your name, please come to the podium. Dana Allen, Ph.D. Jeff Sherratt. Audrey Jennings. And if I'm not mistaken, the following personnel were not able to be with us today, but if you are here, please come forward. Paula Quirk, Jesse Rogers, and Jonathan Freeman. The 24 CSS programs are led by site coordinators, or coaches, of which I am one. Site coaches, please stand and join us at the podium. Give these personnel a round of applause. The site coordinators could not do their work if not for the teachers. CSS teachers, please stand and join me at the podium. Next, will the principals of schools with CSS programs please stand and join me at the podium. As I mentioned earlier, I am a CSS site supervisor or coordinator, and this was our first year establishing a CSS program at DuPont Metal School. I want to give special recognition to my principal, DuPont principal, Marilyn Barnwell, Ph.D. Please give her a round of applause. I also want to acknowledge my CSS team who are on the way, and I told them, we know that we have to stay beyond our 425 because of buses. So I told them, please watch online, and I will acknowledge you because they do tremendous work, and they've been doing that tremendous work for almost 180 days, and we are a true team, and I think one of the reasons why we're a true team is because we are composed of former military personnel, and we get it done. So I want to acknowledge them because they weren't able to make it. G. Yume Baker, Dennis Lee, Marquise Lundy, Teresa Myers, Kelly Patterson, DiCarlo Yelperton. Please give them all a round of applause. And so I present to Dr. Ballantyne a framed resolution, copy of the resolution that was passed in March, acknowledging, once again, Autism Awareness Month for the month of April. Thank you. We're all going to come on. We can balance with us on the left and the right. Yes, that's right. We're teachers, and we can do it real quick. Our final presentation of the evening is by Councilmember Ken Amar, honoring the Jacksonville University Dolphins women's basketball team for winning the 2026 Atlantic Sun Championship. Mr. Till. Oh, Mr. Till, please read the resolution. Resolution 2026-235. The Jacksonville University Dolphins women's basketball team demonstrated exceptional skill, perseverance, and teamwork throughout the 2025-2026 season, finishing with a remarkable 24-8 record and earning the number two seed in the 2026 Atlantic Sun Conference women's basketball tournament. On March 9th, 2026, at ViStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, the Dolphins emerged victorious at the ASUN Conference Women's Basketball Championship with a thrilling 66-63 overtime victory, beating Austin Peay State University. The championship game showcased the team's resilience and determination as the Dolphins battled through a tightly contested matchup that went to overtime before victory was secured. The raw talent and skill of the whole team were on display, with decisive performances by Priscilla Williams, who delivered 13 rebounds and scored 16 points, Karmaya Bowman, who contributed a strong performance with 10 points scored, Kamari Mitchell, who scored the lead in overtime, paving the way to victory, and Makia Miller, who sealed the game with two free throws with only nine seconds left on the clock, earning her the title of the ASUN tournament's most valuable player. Under the leadership of head coach Special Jennings and the dedicated coaching staff, the team has exemplified excellence in athletics, academics, and sportsmanship. The championship win marks Jacksonville University's second ASUN women's basketball title and the first in nearly a decade, while earning the team a spot in the NCAA women's basketball tournament for only the second time in program history. The JU Dolphin women's basketball team's achievement brings pride and national recognition to the city of Jacksonville and serves as an inspiration for student athletes throughout Northeast Florida. Now therefore, be it resolved by the Council of the City of Jacksonville. The City Council hereby honors the JU Dolphins women's basketball team for their victory in the 2026 Atlantic Sun Conference Championship and congratulates the players, coaches, and staff for their extraordinary accomplishment. To the leadership and the members of this body, thank you for the opportunity to be able to recognize Jacksonville University's women's basketball team for the success that they have accomplished this season. As Council Member Tyrona Clark-Murray was here, I was thinking about how life is a classroom, and there are lessons we can learn from life, what to do and what not to do. And the lesson that we've learned from their accomplishment is that simply this, team success will bring individual success. But in order for a team to be successful, there has to be sacrifices, individual sacrifices. There has to be trust, and they all have to buy into the same value. Because individually, they can win medals. But collectively, collaboratively, they can bring home the championship. And that's what they did. And my encouragement to them as they about to embark on a new season is simply do it again. I know the second time is usually harder, but in the words of Thomas Bain, the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. So they can accomplish it again. In fact, this is the second win in a very short period of time, if I remember correctly. Joining me is City Council Former President Ron Salem, who is also a very proud Arlington resident. And representing the team tonight is the Athletic Director, Alex Gilbert, as well as the coach, Special Jennings, who just inked a new contract, as well as the commissioner of the Atlantic Sun Conference, which is headquartered here in Jacksonville, Mr. Jeff Bacon. Councilmember, if you want to say something, and then we'll open it up to the recipients. Just very quickly, I go back to the early 1970s when JU was in the NCAAs, and it's so neat. I watched the championship game, and I watched them in the tournament. And it does so much for Jacksonville to see them in that final 64. And I just hope we can continue to do it. Thank you. Thank you very much. And on behalf of Jacksonville University, Jacksonville Athletics, Jacksonville Women's Basketball, we would just like to take this moment to thank the entire City Council, specifically from District 1, Ken Amaro, and Joe Johnson, for helping us secure this resolution and being part of this. It means a great deal to us. It means a great deal to our young women. And as it's been said, the games are played, championships are won, but what we always hope is that our young women, our young men, in this case our young women, represent the university well, represent the city well, and make the city proud. And it's been talked about that we'll be back here again to go for championship number three, and we've got the right leader in Special Jennings doing that here for us, who just did sign a new contract. She'll share a little bit about the team. Thanks so much. Hi, thank you. First off, I stand here giving thanks. As the pastor said earlier, thank you so much for allowing us to be here for this recognition. This recognition belongs to so many people. You know, I'd like to start with thanking President Tim Cost, who brought me here to the city of Jacksonville. To our new president, you know, our incoming president, Lisa Southern, who's been super supportive. To our athletic director, Alex Rickert-Gilbert, who I am definitely biased, but who I think is one of the best in the business when it comes to support and just doing everything possible to make sure that we are growing as a program. To my staff, who work tirelessly night in and night out to make sure that everything is running well for our program. To our support staff, who is also here, who does a lot for our program behind the scenes to make sure that we can travel and have all the things that we need. To our, you know, to our commissioner of our league, Jeff Bacon, who does a phenomenal job of making sure that we are competitive and that we have what we need to compete at a high level. And then lastly, to my wife, who's probably the most important person in my corner, who makes sure that I'm able to get the job done. And so thank you so much. You know, this is a great honor. To my players who have worked tremendously, right? The hard work, the behind the scenes, the things that they go through to even compete and win 20 games, but also to get to a championship. And so thank you guys so much. I'll leave you with this, right? My track record, since we keep talking about getting another championship. I've been known to win more than one. And so that is my hopes that we can do this thing again. Thank you all so much. While you guys are taking the picture, Council Member Freeman is in the queue to say a few words. All right, Council Member Freeman. I'm going to say a few words. Thank you, Mr. President. And through the President, to Coach, I will thank you, and to the Athletic Director as well. One I just wanted to tell you all, my daughter had the privilege of attending your summer camp last year. And I'm telling you right now, what you just saw there was just a fraction of the energy that you get during practices and during games. I had the pleasure of following you all. She's a little point guard at Bowles. Following you guys over your run this year. We watched the game on TV. So I really look forward to continue to follow you all. Great job, lady. And you have a fan here. So thank you so much. All right. Mr. Fleur, later. Thank you, Mr. President. Colleagues, at this time I would like to recognize our page tonight. We have Mr. Joel St. Fleur, who is a member of the Home Education Program. Thank you for serving with us tonight. We'll now take up quasi-judicial items, the first of which is found on page five. These items we are now taking up do not include public hearings as they were thoroughly reviewed at the committee level where public hearings were part of the decision-making process. Council members are reminded to declare any ex parte communications as soon as we get to that bill. Item number one, 2026-232. I move the amendment to grant appeal. We've got a motion and second on the amendment. Mr. Peluso, he recognized. All right. All in favor of the amendment, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed to saying nay? The amendment carries. I move the bill as amended to grant appeal. All right. We have a motion and second on the bill as amended to grant the appeal. Council member Peluso. Thank you, Mr. President. I stand and declare ex parte in favor. I met with the applicant and the homeowner on April 12th to hear their intentions for the property. I also have two emails ex parte against an opposition citing the garage facing street and recommending council approve the design approved by the Planning Commission. I also want to speak on this bill. I wasn't sure if there was other ex partes. Q is clear. It's all yours. Understood, Mr. President. I'd like to stand up and speak on this. This is obviously in my district. I know it's got a little bit of a conversation in L-U-Z, and obviously I didn't want to speak too much about it because of the quasi-judicial nature of this. It is a concern of mine when it comes to the historic overlay that we do anything that goes against it. The garage is not going to destroy the historic overlay. I know that. My constituents know that. It's not something that I believe is of major. It's not going to desecrate the nature of the overlay. What it is going to do, though, is small paper cuts, right? Small cuts, small, small, small changes to the overlay as the years go on, variances, deviations, things like that in which the Planning Department and the Planning Commission both agreed should not have been allowed. And so as somebody who's lived in the historic overlay for many years, as someone who cares deeply about making sure the integrity of the overlay is kept, I will be voting no. Again, I don't believe that this destroys the very nature of it, but what it does do is allow for more and more folks to come in and change things that many, many years ago we as a body and we as a community wanted to get behind to make sure that we weren't going to see the nature of the neighborhood go down a direction that we didn't want to go down. We in the district aren't against any development. We in the district care very much about making sure that what was written on the books and what was agreed upon by this council, by former council members, and by the Planning Department continues to move in the way that it should. And so I am voting no. I ask that you also vote no. However, I understand if you do not. Thank you. All right. That is our last speaker. Please open the ballot. Record your vote. Nine yays, eight nays. By direction, you have granted the appeal and approved 2026-0232. On the item two, 2025-0630, I move to withdraw with refund of fees. Got a motion second on the withdrawal. No one's in the queue. Please open the ballot and record your vote. Just a reminder, the green button is a yes. The red button is a no. Please push your buttons when the legislation comes up. 17 yays, zero nays. By your action, you have approved the withdrawal of 2025-0630. Item three, 2025-724, I move the bill. I have a motion second on the bill. There is no one in the queue. Please open the ballot and record your vote. 17 yays, zero nays. By your action, you have approved 2025-0724. Item four, 2026-170, I move the amendment. I have a motion second on the amendment. I see no one in the queue. All in favor of the amendment. Signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed to say nay. The amendment carries. Move the bill as amended. We have a motion second on the bill as amended. No one is in the queue. Please open the ballot and record your vote. 17 yays, zero nays. By your action, you have approved 2026-0170 as amended. Item five, 2025-174, I move the bill. We have a motion second on the bill. There is no one in the queue. Please open the ballot and record your vote. 17 yays, zero nays. By your action, you have approved 2026-0174. Item six, 2026-175, I move the bill. We have a motion second on the bill. No one in the queue. please open the ballot record your vote 17 yeas 0 nays by your action you approve 2026-0175 item 7 2026-177 i move to withdraw got a motion second on the withdrawal that'll be a ballot vote no one's in the queue please open the ballot record your vote 17 yeas 0 nays by your action you withdraw on 2026-0177 item 8 2026-211 i move the bill got a motion second on the bill no one's in the queue please open the ballot record your vote 16 yeas 1 nays by your action you have approved 2026-0211 item 9 2026-212 i move the bill got a motion second on the bill there's no one in the queue please open the ballot record your vote 17 yeas 0 nays by your action you have approved 2026-0212 we're now on to page 8 to take up the consent agenda colleagues if you want to be out as a co-sponsor on any item please reach out to legislative services as council rules prohibit items for being pulled for this reason mr teal would you please read the bills 2026 185 187 214 215 217 220 222 224 225 226 231 236 237 242 243 245 247 248 pull 250 250 251 252 252 252 252 252 252 252 252 271 272 278 279 281 282 283 284 mr president we have a pull on 248 by myself and a pull on 262 by council member johnson so i move approval of the consent agenda with the exception of items 2026 248 and 262 all right we've got a motion and second on the consent agenda less the items that were pulled there's no one in the queue please open the ballot record your vote 17 yeas 0 nays by your action you have approved the consent agenda minus the items pulled item 27 2026 248 i move the bill i'm gonna pass the chair to the vice president thank you mr president and i will recognize you sir thank you mr vice president i rise to declare conflict i will be abstaining from this legislation as my employer the boys and girls clubs of northeast florida does work in drug prevention with young people and sometimes have applied and received dollars from the opioid grant settlement so i'll be abstaining due to that conflict thank you sir and miss pitman you're recognized i would also like to abstain because my employee of the clara white mission will um perhaps maybe apply for these funding as well and the paperwork has been submitted thank you all right thank you miss pitman we have no one else on the queue we have a motion and a second um on bill 2026 0248 let's open the ballot and record your vote we need to reopen the ballot please 15 a 0 nays 2 abstentions by your action you've approved 2026-0248 and i'm 32 26 or 2026 262 please recognize council member johnson council member johnson you're recognized thank you mr president uh i move to uh amend this bill uh there's some changes uh you'll see them in the floor amendment that's been uh distributed by the general counsel's office and i'll speak to the bill once we've done that second all right we got a motion second on the floor amendment no one's in the queue all in favor of the amendment signify by saying aye aye any opposed say nay the amendment carries good the bill as amended all right dr johnson back to you thank you sir uh thank you mr president tonight's uh just a recognition i want to recognize uh there's not often we get a chance from this day and i try to be intentional about making recognition recognitions especially when it comes to resolutions uh this is for somebody who is known in this community as bigger ranking um his official name is jay don dexter which i didn't know but i for those that don't know i worked in radio for years at 92.7 the beat hot 101.5 and other radio stations during that time uh this guy bigger rankings had a venue called cool runnings kind of named after the jamaican cool runnings bobsled team but cool runnings here in jacksonville did something that gave not just young people but people period in the community a place to go place to have a good time it's kind of hard to realize it but it's been 30 plus years since cool runnings came to jacksonville but what he did and i know this for a fact when i was on the radio and promotions director at the radio station uh this guy bigger rankings would go into communities not ask questions not do something big but go and give gifts to kids for christmas buy turkeys for thanksgiving and made sure the community gave back because he know where he came from in jamaica so for an immigrant from jamaica to come to america to do as well as he has and then give back to jacksonville and then go on to do things internationally with artists from around the world i think it's important that we order him honor him so i'm so excited that we are uh honoring bigger rankings for his work in the jacksonville community and thankful and i hope uh colleagues that you'll vote in honoring this man who didn't do it for recognition or accolades but he did it because it was the right thing to do thank you all right thank you dr johnson as someone who grew up listening to 92.7 to beat not 93.3 we know all about bigger rankings and the cool runs crew all right please open the ballot record your vote 17 yays zero nays by your action you approve 2026-0262 mr president that completes our consent agenda and with that we're going to jump ahead to page 32 to take up certain third reading resolutions starting with item 70 2026-206 i move the amendment we've got a motion second on the amendment no one's in the queue all in favor of the amendment signify by saying aye aye any opposed say nay the amendment carries with the bill as amended got a motion second on the bill as amended no one's in the queue please open the ballot record your vote 17 yays zero nays by your action you'll approve 2026-0206 we're going to go to item 72 now 2026-239 i move the bill got a motion and a second on the bill i'm going to recognize past president freeman uh thank you mr president after consulting with the officer general counsel and reviewing the specifics of the east side community grants program i have confirmed that i do not have a conflict that requires me to abstain from voting on this appointment the types of programs and projects that would qualify to apply for funding through these grant through this grant program to be awarded to the east side grants committee are not something mill electric would directly apply for i am also not aware nor do i have a reason to believe that mill electric would be a subcontractor on a project or program um that could be funded through this program so out of abundance of caution and committee i abstain but tonight i'll be voting on these good individuals thank you all right thank you past president freeman so the bill has been moved and seconded please open the ballot record your vote 17 yays zero nays by your action you've approved 2026-0239 i'm 73 2026-240 i move the bill got a motion second on the bill no one's in the queue please open the ballot record your vote before we vote i think the advice is the advice of general counsel that mr freeman needs to abstain every time or has he made his intention clear through the chair i i leave it up to mr freeman whether he wants it clearly on the record for each item but if he wants me to clarify he had originally abstained on the following items 2026-239 2026-240 2026-254 2026-255 and 2026-257 in all instances after that additional analysis that he referenced in his statement on the last item we determined that he did not have a need to abstain on any of these items this evening all right thank you for the clarification all right open the ballot record your vote 17 yes zero nays by your action you approve 2026-0240 i'm 74 2026-254 i move the bill got a motion second on the bill there's no one in the queue please open the ballot record your vote 17 yes zero nays by your action you've approved 2026-0254 i'm 75 2026-255 move the bill motion second on the bill there is no one in the queue please open the ballot record your vote 17 a 0 nays by your action you'll approve 2026-0255 i'm 76 2026 257 move the bill all right there is an amendment on this bill oh correction move the amendment got a motion second on the amendment no one in the queue on the amendment all in favor of the amendment signify by saying aye aye any opposed say nay the amendment carries move the bill as amended got a motion second on the bill as amended let the record reflect we did have one nay who is in the queue councilwoman clark murray you recognized thank you president i would like to know the amendment please if someone could read the amendment that's very curious to me in this particular instance why there would be an amendment thank you through the council president to councilmember clark murray so the amendment is listed on the blue sheet and i just want to clear and i know you want it on the record so it's striking reference to the appointee having a substantial business interest in the fairfield neighborhood and correcting scrivener's errors thank you for that so through the president to councilmember miller who is the rules chair did the through the chair to you did the applicant or the person who is being considered for this particular committee did they express that they lived somewhere else in the east side or had a substantial business interest somewhere else in the east side is that an error is that why it's being amended mr rules chair you want to answer it or i can take it it's my appointment go ahead mr rules chair i do i i believe if i have a right through the uh president um i believe his business interest is right across the road if this is a correct one i'm thinking about and because the official neighborhood only included the residential area it didn't include the industrial area across the street um i believe this is the one if that's correct mr president that answer your question he says through the chair well to you he says across the street across the street from what fairfield that was mentioned in the bill as business is located in an area known as fairfield but the way it was drawn in the in the map it was only included of the neighborhood where the residences are his business is literally across the street it's still in historic east side just not in the actual fairfield district okay so there's an error in regards to the actual um paragraph regarding where that person business interest is located that's the error and why it's amended all right all right thank you for that all right so the amendment was already passed so the bill's been moved and seconded as amended open the ballot record your vote 17 a zero nays fire action approved 2026-0257 as amended mr president please recognize our rules chair colonel miller the rules chair you're recognized thank you mr president we have just approved the following appointments as part of the consent agenda if you're in the audience please stand to be recognized so we may thank you for your public service joseph d stronko to chief of patrol support division in the office of the sheriff shannon nasworth to the jacksonville housing finance authority cody mashny to the five points dependent special district board of supervisors and to the mobility system working group beth breeding emily pierce kristen d reed brian small michael hersberg and councilman rockman johnson and to the east side grants committee rochelle stoddard dr rudolph rudy jameson jr cleve warren james edwards and larry swink please join me in thanking them for their service thank you mr president all right i'm not going to recognize council member peluso thank you mr president i stand uh for two reasons the first one is i want to thank this body for um in the consent agenda there was item 2026-0231 which establishes a resolution for bike lanes dedicated bike lanes in our downtown if you go to any other major municipal area in the entire city or entire country you see dedicated bike lanes uh protected bike lanes and we just do not have those here in the city of jacksonville i firmly believe that if we have dedicated protected bike lanes that we're going to see more people using bikes as a conveyance as a means to get from one place to the other rather than some of the folks who use you know speed bikes as a means of uh of uh pleasure or um you know for sportsmanship so so i'm very grateful to you guys i think it's going to be huge for our city more than you know uh the other item that i'm standing up to discuss is item number eight 2026-0211 i accidentally said no to that vote but i would like to vote yes i'm asking for someone to move to reconsider i need someone who was on the prevailing side item number eight 2026-0211 thank you sounds like you have a gracious motion to reconsider from the floor leader and a second from mr arias so uh does that a voice vote for the reconsider miss all in favor of the reconsider say aye aye and you both say nay the reconsider is on the table i move 2026-211 we got a motion second on 2026-211 no one's in the queue i'll take it to the ballot let's open the ballot record your vote my pleasure 16 yeas zero nays by action you've approved 2026-0211 colleagues we're now going to go to page 18 for public comments regarding economic development investment incentives item 41-2026-285 i do not have any public participation cards with that i move the amendment all right we've got a motion second on the amendment no one's in the queue except for council member diamond who is recognized he's on the bill all in favor of the amendment signify by saying aye aye any opposed say nay the amendment carries the bill as amended we've got a motion second on the bill as amended council member diamond you're recognized uh i think mr president to the president to our incredible auditors can we just confirm there's no completion grants here this is all rev grant right i think people like to know this through the president to council member diamond you're correct all rev grant gotcha just so everyone knows that means this is a targeted tax cut so no taxpayer dollars are going out of your pocket into some company literally just saying you guys are investing a bunch of money and you get to keep some of the tax dollars that you are actually generating with your investment thanks all righty council member boylan thank you mr president i just want to acknowledge a couple things and a question for the auditors as well number one we're talking about a 550 million dollar capital investment in this process and i'd appreciate that uh through the uh through the president to the auditors do we have any sense of what kind of property taxes vista con is presently paying to the city or johnson and johnson i didn't see it discussed in finance so i was just curious to know if we actually had a number through the chair to uh or through the president to council member boylan my recollection is that they are in excess of four million dollars on their tpp um i do not know on their real property what the taxes are being paid i think it's worth noting the fact that the investment they make in property taxes already as a business in our community thank you mr president yes sir next floor leader council member lane and you recognize thank you mr president i was just going to say just to echo council member diamond this is not only uh no cash it is rev grant only significant capital investment going on here 550 million dollars in two parts of town uh two different parts of town that didn't always see the significant as a greater than a 4.0 roi so great project great work by mr randolph and his oed team on this one all right with that being said open the ballot record your vote 16 a zero nays by your action you've approved 2026-0285 it is time for public comments ladies and gentlemen if you wish to speak you should have filled out a green public comment card no cards will be accepted after 6 p.m council rules call for an allotment of 90 minutes for public comment given the number of cards submitted right now each speaker will be given three minutes so that all those will wishing to speak will have an opportunity to do so that is subject to change if we get a last minute rush on cards i'll announce five speakers at a time when i call your name please come down to the reserve seats in the front row while waiting your turn to speak your time will not start until you arrive at the podium remember to state your name and address before beginning or you may say my address is on file a speaker may be invited to green room for further discussion at a council member's discretion i will read the first five names now so they can begin to make their way down and then i'll have mr teal read council rule 4.505 regarding disruption of meetings our first five are kathleen pereira tony langles latavia harris brenno durden and jake jacobs please come down to the front and sit in the reserve section down there to my left mr teal please read council rule 4.505 council rule 4.505 disruption of meeting any person who disrupts a regular meeting of the city council standing committees special or select committees subcommittees or any other public meeting presided over by a city council member may be forthwith barred removed or otherwise ejected in the discretion of the presiding officer from further attendance at that meeting if necessary due to the nature of the disruption the audience may be cleared from the council chambers or meeting location in the discretion of the presiding officer any person who refuses to leave the city council chamber may be subject to arrest thank you mr teal let's leave services note the start time is 5 59 and miss prayer you have the floor my name is kathleen prayer my information is on file there's something seriously wrong with the mechanisms of city growth when developers especially the non-local type merely have to pay some questionable fee to some austere bank or buy some land in neverland to mitigate destroying irreparable swamps and or wetlands makes you wonder whether all the developers in the state really just end up buying and owning the same piece of property over and over again since swamps and wetlands are now the fastest evaporating commodities there is also something seriously cynical and even sinister about foisting radical bad idea projects such as the morgue liquor store oil depot slaughterhouse and now maybe a 15 000 seat soccer stadium right on neighborhoods with seniority all in the name of we can't stop progress au contraire yes we can't we can stop progress because it is more important to protect the integrity and character which made each of our neighborhoods attractive in the first place than it is to permit over development for the sake of new taxes this would mean that the city would have to develop foresight like codifying the 1995 neighborhood bill of rights like not allowing new development to encroach upon any neighborhood especially if it causes residents to have to buy flood insurance for the first time to endure the development's new smells noises lights crime or other pollutants or to have to accept having their property values plunge therefore start by saying no to developers more often than not and do it all in the name of the quality of life for all citizens it would be very easy to guarantee that is if once again the city would codify those neighborhood bill of rights and it would and if it would actually obey the current city planning laws and comp plan please do not approve any 15 000 seat state soccer stadium in st john's town summer thank you thank you mr tony langles good evening everyone my name is tony langles address is on file i just like to make a comment uh concerning an issue that was discussed by a number of people here at the last meeting here at this uh city council meeting a number of people came forward and said that their first amendment rights were violated when three people were forcefully removed from the city hall on may 27 2025 i feel this is totally untrue i was at that meeting and they formulated their position on the palestinian israeli issue at that meeting as a matter of fact i feel our rights were violated when they cause a disturbance in the hall interrupting a peaceful meeting thanks to the city council president and jso for restoring order in the hall as a matter of for the record the jury found leah grady guilty of resisting officers at the city council meeting where police say a group of people were disrupting proceedings she refused to leave the meeting the three individuals were arrested who refused to leave also and becoming combative with officers they were charged with resisting uh an officer without violence i noticed that the judge didn't articulate or adjudicate the crime on the first amendment rights violations negative actions and disruptive behavior have consequences at the city council meetings our rights were violated when we could not have attend a peaceful non-violent meeting so i feel our rights were violated you know they talk about the first amendment rights but anyhow uh lastly uh i'd like to commend uh floor leader uh district three councilman uh will lannon he does an outstanding job managing organizing and controlling the speaker cards on the amendments and ordinances uh being addressed at these meetings he makes these tasks look easy but he has a complex and methodical responsibility he keeps the meeting flowing smoothly i mean uh if i was up there i'd be saying where are we at you know what you know what ordinance amendment are we on can somebody help me out here a little bit but uh councilman lennon lennon he does outstanding job uh with keeping the smooth uh meeting moving smoothly so thank you you have 38 seconds left uh mr lingo you want to keep on going yeah i could i could give you some more praise and accommodations there uh district three councilman but i'll leave it going back i want to make sure you had all your time uh next up uh miss latavia harris uh my name is latavia harris my address is on file um part of this journey is that i just understood the definition of listening and hearing is totally not the same when we came to you guys you have yet to see anyone come up here and have a need for speed it was all we wanted to do was do it right the first time i heard someone the last time say the process was so long and drawn out that's because you didn't listen to us so we had to go and incorporate the inspector general department to come and help us out because no one was hearing us we were saying it and we had meetings no one listened to us same thing we're trying to stress with you with rudy jameson cleave warren no one is listening so this time i took it a step further so in a couple of months we're going to wish we would have listened because we're going to be right back where we are everyone was talking but no one asked rochelle stuttered how did you learn about this board no one asked cleave warren who told you about this board everyone just assumed and no one even followed the process of the protocol to fill out the application and to have the interview yes we do know some of the council members met with some and some of those members also said the issues they had with some of the board members here we are again not listening to the community so if you guys like for me to always go get the executive branch or another government branch to step in or you could have did it right the first time i'm totally fine with that you know y'all don't understand because no one listens no one looks no one asks the questions you think we just come here because i have nothing to do all day no but it's a reason we fought for the model that we had to fight for we met with several people who went behind our back and did different things and here's the inspector general come and tell you exactly what we've been saying to you for months we are not in a rush for this process why are you guys rushing it this is my thing i've not been here one time and someone came up and said well we need to hurry up and get this money home it's our money it belongs to us it came off the backs of the people in my community rochelle stutter can't even tell you three streets that belong to a philip randall she has never in her life even probably met anyone i had the same reservation by james edwards but you know what i did i went out 21st in phoenix everybody knew him everybody's dealt with his family did you guys do that no no one never asked how did you know about this board you just said yeah you look like a subject matter expert i have three kids put them in college by myself i'm a subject-bound expert all we asked you guys was to do it right but nobody wanted to do it right because you select people and dr jameson is going to bite you all in the black that's all i have to say i would like to meet you in the green room if you like next up reno durden reno durden okay jake jacobs and i'll call mr durden's card one more time after this all right jake jacobs uh 14155 pine island drive i would like to thank councilman rory diamond for committing to introduce a line item in this year's budget for a uh watershed analysis which is essential for determining the source of the sediment buildup that's occurring in hog pen creek there are at least three factors that are uh causing the sediment buildup one is the sandalwood canal the second is the expansion of the san pablo road and the third is utility work that was performed by jea within the hog pen creek to what extent each of those factors impacted and caused the sediment buildup we don't know without first having the study performed and when that study that'll be the first step toward developing long-term effective solutions my request is that enough money is set aside from councilman diamond's one million dollar budget to uh ensure that uh the the the study is properly scoped and performed properly uh this is uh an environmental crisis that we're facing here at hog pen creek and i want to make sure it's done properly so that uh we don't see further degradation to the environment and we have long-term solutions put into place um i would like my neighbors from the hog pen creek area to stand up to show the council how many of us are here uh and impacted and i appreciate um your attention to this matter thank you thank you sir uh next five speakers please come on down denise scott david vandegrift charlie bender latrice bell and nathan valentine and miss scott you can go straight to the podium good evening my name is denise scott and my address is on file the pastor this evening gave the invocation and he said that it's easy to criticize from the cheap seats um i need him to understand that that's what the constitution allows us to do also he also prayed that this city learns how to lift up the hurting and protect the vulnerable undoubtedly he hasn't seen some of the past policies that you all have made okay so let's start with 1619 the translate transatlantic slave trade um just last month united nations general assembly classified that that slave trade was the gravest crime against humanity so imagine over 400 years of dehumanizing i can't even say the word y'all know what i'm saying after the so-called free people you came up with black codes you know another way just to restrict the freedom and to force them back into the labor-based slave conditions and if that wasn't enough you came up with jim crow laws you know you remember um separate but equal so you can reinforce the hate and segregation after all that came the civil rights act of 1964 which ended that segregation and banned um employment discrimination there were protections from that open hatred so my my elders and my ancestors all of that all they ever asked for was equality never retribution never retribution for the harm they received so here we are in 2026 and you folks are using diversity equity and inclusion as it's dirty words our governor ronda racist he signed into law prohibiting dei and has the adapter to say that white men have been discriminated against now this is the same man that this state um using kind of gerrymandered the maps again so i have a question y'all know joanne reed she asked the question why y'all so angry you got the white house you got both houses in congress she has the supreme court um kissing the uh the boots of the president you got legal racial profiling you got dei to end you got affirmative action to end you get the best jobs especially when you're not qualified you ban our books you ban history and museums you got it where folks so afraid to say black why are you so angry the problem is white men and their addiction to power we should all understand by now that what makes america great again what it really meant was to what makes white mediocre men in charge again but don't forget what maya angelus said and what she meant when she in that poem that we i rise we overcome injustice and prejudice with the unmutable strength of the human spirit we rise despite your injustices next up david vandegrift and then charlie bender latrice bell and nathan balentine go ahead sir good evening my name is david vandegrift address is on file i'm here to speak tonight about the 3 a.m extension on the liquor law when you guys were doing the amendments i would like to suggest from a citizen a small business owner and a non-profit owner here in the city that i've been here now for over 16 years doing business that we do consider brooklyn as part of the downtown area because it is part of the downtown area also the downtown investment authority includes brooklyn so there's no reason why we should not extend the 3 a.m law for those areas in the brooklyn area there are multiple businesses that would benefit from this you're looking at a growing population of 1500 new units coming online most of those units are going to be in the 30 and the 40 year age range they don't want to have to drive to go have a drink if they're out and about you can walk there in the district that's what it was designed for that's why brooklyn has thrived we don't need to hold any section especially a part of the downtown area back and there's a wonderful business owner that i've known that i've worked with now for 16 years stacy with in cahoots nightclub she has had the nightclub for 26 years the club's been there for 41 years she has ran her business the right way she's paid her taxes she's obeyed the city ordinances and the laws also you have a garden greenhouse bar that's within the brooklyn area there as we all know the restaurants in that area have had past history of survival so we want to make sure that when people are investing in building these buildings there that we are giving them the best chance to have businesses small businesses go in that area that are going to actually survive and when we think about small businesses 50 of jacksonville employees well 50 of the jacksonville people are employed by a small business and we need to make sure that what we're doing is small businesses and this is not a big ask but what the revenue would generate and then the tax revenue that the city would gain off that may be a little smaller than what we all like but it is part of what keeps our city growing so i would really really honestly like to request that you make a special amendment to make sure that brooklyn is included in the 3am district thank you thank you charlie bender my name is charlie bender i live at 13833 four winds court in holiday harbor i was here on april 14th to speak to you about the same thing i'm going to speak to you about tonight so i in an effort not to repeat myself i'll keep it short but i am here to ask the council and specifically rory diamond to um fund a ecological study of the sandalwood canal as you just heard one of my neighbors speak about the three different uh situations that may be affecting the silt built up of the natural creek which we all live on um the sandalwood canal to me appears to be one of the most egregious as it is a canal specifically built by the city of jacksonville to help develop the kernan and hodges area for uh housing all of those retention ponds uh eventually flow into hogpen creek and no maintenance has been done on the sandalwood canal for 20 plus years uh weirs were not built silt ponds were not maintained and now hogpen creek ecologically is paying the price so i would ask you once again to fund just a study to find out what exactly is going on as again my neighbor said whether that be jea work or whether that be dot work on the uh recent uh san pablo road renovation these things need to be studied so that we can maintain a natural waterway uh in uh jacksonville just as you guys have worked so hard um to look at hogan's creek and the great things that you've done here hogpen creek deserves that same sort of effort thank you very much thank you sir next up latrice bell good afternoon latrice bell my address is on file the dp fdot said the george created bridge was not safe for people to fish off but people fish under it the boaters drive under it and from 2003 to 26 the state truck has drove on the bus every on the bridge every day once or twice a day heavy equipment people don't make bridges fall heavy equipment does we are requesting the attorney general form an investigation into the misuse of federal funds for duval taxpayers or as also the bridge crew is requesting has requested two years ago that the mayor take a tour with us to the bridge to see what was going on down there with her people she said she would two years ago she has not made it yet once again a year ago she accepted another invitation to come down there and tour the bridge negative she had not showed up yet we said we are overlooked being overlooked and we're wondering why we overlooked at this time when we said that um they had took our funds that were allocated towards the bridge and built a boat ramp well they went down there the next week and took the uh symbol off that stated they had built that uh boat ramp they may deny that they came yesterday i was there yesterday and here drives the truck on the bridge the heavy equipment so i just took out my cell phone and i just took a picture of the heavy equipment trucks this is what make bridges fall all we want to do is fish uh city councilman city councilman at large we want to find out where our money is going all right for 20 from 2023 to 2026 this city duval county taxpayers have been paying 35 000 for the maintenance and upkeep of a closed bridge ron salem and his crew has always investigated finding where our tax dollars are going this is misusage of foreign federal dollars they are collecting money for a mile long bridge and only a fourth of a bridge is open that's federal funds that money is given towards the bridge and that's misusage of funds because only a fourth of the bridge is open and we want those chains taken off the duval county side they are buying up everything down extra drive they are overlooking the george created bridge fishing pier state park and my time is up thank you ma'am councilmember miller would like to talk to you in the bob johnson room over here uh next up is nathan valentine and then the five after that come on down please samantha series miriam corney blake harper tom i believe this is gillelina from uh hogpen creek and then dennis sanchez uh go ahead mr bounty good evening my name is nathan valentine our farm is at 125 east 7th street but folks may better know me by my overalls for 10 years i've been growing and supporting other folks to grow groceries for self and neighbor here in jacksonville this evening i've i've seen customers and colleagues in this work both in the audience and up on the dais so it's good to know i'm among friends uh since city council is not really my stomping grounds i'm here to introduce you to and speak in support of and offer you a face to put with the free to garden act this draft legislation will amend the zoning code to make community and market gardens permissible by right in jacksonville if you haven't seen it yet we're hoping to have it in your inbox in the near future and for those on city council on land use we'd love to meet with you the obvious question is who is we for over three years our own small farm our own small team of farmers and overalls have been working in coalition with the duval food policy council the duval ag council the duval urban ag council blue zones with feedback and encouragement from garden club leaders if extension agents farm bureau spar leadership and the mayor's office as well as countless community garden leaders and other urban farmers the free to garden act is um neighborhood friendly common um community health benefiting well supported common sense legislation that would be added to the land use zoning code um to uh to make community gardens and market gardens permissible by right it is um uh overwhelmingly difficult to try to to grow food with and for our neighbors um in a legal matter um it should have been added to the zoning code decades ago but somebody had to make it happen and somebody had to get it passed and we're hoping that y'all will be those people to close i'd like to share an amended version of the serenity prayer god grant us the serenity to accept the red tape we must walk through courage to advocate for policy in need of change and wisdom to know the difference oh and if you'd like to take the fresh onion challenge for the free to garden act i've got you covered so uh thank you appreciate it look forward to working with y'all thank you next up samantha series samantha series address on file real quick i feel like we're missing quite a few of us up there so i just want to mention that i feel like we're not getting a full audience from you all but here we are i just have a couple of items to mention first you know i think being a council member should be a full-time position i don't think it's enough time for you all to be a part-time position for you i think there's so many things that are going on in this city maybe we should i don't know how that would happen but i i just like to say that i think it should be a full-time position i know some of you do take it as a full-time position with how much you do work and listen to the community but i think that it being a part-time position almost makes it seem as though you know it's not giving you it doesn't give you a reasonable amount of time to review all the different items that come before you on your desks i also would like to mention that obviously i'm against over development i think maybe we should make it an incentive to developers that they have to either purchase or work with whoever owns a dilapidated piece of commercial property we don't even have to do residential if you do like a abandoned building and kind of incentivize them before they can go into these rural areas that they actually have to work with the community to make it make a mixed-use building so that way they can make their money that they want and then on top of that have a storefront that can actually provide for the community and provide jobs for that community and that would bring less cars to that area that would keep people from having to drive all over jacksonville as you know jacksonville is a very large city it's made up of many different places and i think that it's important that we look into making some of these areas walkable obviously all of jacksonville cannot be walkable it's too large for that but there are some areas i know downtown one of brooklyn pretty much the only area is walkable and we could make this area that's outside of city hall a walkable area but as you all notice after 5 pm it's the deserted area so i think that if we talk to the developers you know not me as we you as we because they don't care about what i have to say they do care about what you all have to say though so if you incentivize them maybe give them a little i hate to say tax break but if it really has to go there then why not give them a tax break make them fill in those empty buildings that are downtown that are around the areas and make them into mixed-use buildings it's really we have all these florida strip malls every florida strip mall could be a mixed-use building it's insane what we have let developers do to the state of florida and i think it's not limited to jacksonville it's not limited to any certain area of florida it's all of florida and we have just allowed this horrible structures and architecture run through our state and letting our wildlife and everything be decimated for no reason thank you thank you next up miriam corney good evening my name is miriam corney and my information is on file i'll apologize in advance this is my first time to do this um i would like to request council members to not approve the development of big island swamp preserve for the sporting jack soccer stadium i'm concerned with the rising water levels disturbing the protected animals who inhabit the swamp and the road infrastructure cannot afford the increase of additional traffic not to mention it'll raise the water level and i'll have to get flood insurance that's all i have to say thank you thank you ma'am blake harper rich tonight my name is blake information on file i was listening to add dean on wbob shout out to ed when uh a somebody that many of us know here made a comment about what happens here at city council basically what happens is you vote on something and you go on to the next one the reality is that is what is what happens the problem is that you don't face the consequences of your decisions now here's the deal why do i say that to you last week the southern poverty law center was caught spending three million dollars inciting racial violence in particularly unite the right at clarksville when clarksville came about they started taking down statues left and right so here we have this uh critical race theory dei organization fomenting racial violence and division in our city in our country and of course it comes here to jacksonville and form take it take them down jacks and trying to take down the statues um i have stood before you and discussed with you the actual facts of the history of jacksonville the efforts to try to expand the history of jacksonville have established what the situation was you all decided to uh make a compromise my my comment to you is that i used i used to think about public uh officials in one of two versions one of two ways either a public servant or politician i now think of politicians in the standpoint of uh public service in terms of excuse me elected officials in terms of their management style and how their backbone are you a winston churchill or are you a neville chamberlain neville chamberlain appeased evil turned their his back on the bad things that were happening as a result we had a world war this country is divided over false narratives over over twisting of facts people are not standing up recognize and it's kind of like the fram oil commercial we'll pay you now we're going to pay me now or pay me later the sooner we start dwelling on the facts and making decisions based on the facts and what's going to happen is we're going to get our situation solved but as long as we keep kicking our the can down the road as we did with the renaming of the confederate street we're going to continue to be dealing with emotions and false information and false narratives and all that does is make things worse for all of us thank you next up is tom gillolina i believe that's how you pronounce this last name tom g from pine island road not here okay dennis sanchez and then after dennis it's going to be nancy murray settle brad huntley jerry woodham deborah delor and denise cook go ahead mr sanchez my name is dennis sanchez my address is on file and today again i'm representing the together east side coalition incorporated as a colleague of mine latavia came in earlier and discussed of the issues that have been going on with the cba meeting and the rubber stamp voting that most of the council members just did so i want to discuss the the considerate or the yeah the considerate amount of community trust between the community and the government so with the cba meeting that many council members decided on it took pretty much almost a year to come up with a decision we still had a huge disrepancy which came up in the rules committee which is on page five paragraph four qualifications for the board members which is the discussion that we're having an issue with right now it says the mayor and the council president shall endeavor right meaning they will attempt to follow the qualifications of being a resident of the east side and having considered business interest in the community endeavor meaning they have a choice whether they want to follow it or not is not required right so this loophole was built into the ordinance itself so if this loophole was built in there then why did we spend so many such such a long time to get this done and then we come back to the reason of it wasn't done right the first time and then when it comes time when the community actually speaks out about it there's an issue because now we're in a rush right we spent so much time to get this done and we there's four million dollars already in the in in the account that has to be used so we're in a rush but if it would be if it would have been done right the first time we would not be in this position so the main question that my colleague also brought up is rudy jameson so yes he's from the community he's human rights commission but he was also board member of lift jacks now when he came up when the rules committee his defense with with when we spoke out against him being a member was that the when we talked about the issue with him not defending tenants that he had lunch with and he said that it had to be deferred to the management company of lift jacks now this management company did nothing and he him being in the human rights commission he also did not follow up but then when james match it actually did something court enforcement showed up within weeks and then you have citations so how you have that is pure proof of conflict of interest yet you guys rubber stamped his vote thank you calling for the last time tom gillolina uh he lives on pine island okay he did not put what he wanted to speak about nancy murray settle nancy murray settle address is on file tonight i am speaking in support of 260356 determining the location of the jail it's being introduced by congress or council member peluso i come here most every other tuesday because i believe in civic engagement it's needed right now more than ever and it seems very few leadership voices are speaking for the middle class and the working class citizens i think we're still at this point hanging on to our representative democracy and i implore all of you to listen and communicate with citizens and work to improve our city i know that we can do it the city is made up we know of neighborhoods and communities and it's that robust community engagement that's a requirement to ensure that we have a strong republic the site selection for the new jail needs to have all the stakeholders involved and as ordinance 0356 recommends the new site for the jail should not be considered to be placed in a historically redline community we've seen the damage that that does in our communities and we don't want to perpetuate that jacksonville has so much potential and watching so much land use and zoning taking up the city council i appreciate the complexities of this we know from the work done at unf that affordable housing is a top concern of citizens and the ideas of density and intensity that go into creating affordable housing as well as financial considerations are very complex i do support also the housing jacks housing association funding multi-family housing revenue bonds that's in ordinances 0353 and 0354 today for affordable housing we can improve the city land use public placement of public buildings the citizens they come up here all the time wanting input clearly this just three minutes isn't enough we need to bring people into the table we can do this we're human beings we have brains we can do better than this i understand that there's a tension between community desire sometime and the overall larger goals of the city and these decisions are hard and the way we can get around them is through communication listening someone said earlier hearing and listening they're different things developers citizens city leaders we need to find that sweet spot where everybody feels heard validated and gets something that they want brad huntley my name is brad huntley i live at 13927 shipwreck circle north and holiday harbor i'm here in support of what some of my neighbors have spoken to in regards to a water study for hogpin creek hogpin creek runs east west from san pablo to the intercoastal waterway during the low tide periods which is there's six and a half hours each tide is that so two a day so for 13 hours out of the day about half of of the creek has no water usage or no usage for recreation swimming fishing what have you it's a severe problem but we can't fix it unless we know what the problem is first that's why the water study we need to determine where the siltation is coming from so that we can resolve this issue we need your help it's a giant problem but you all have ability to resolve those issues thank you so much thanks sir uh mr jerry woodham chaplain jerry woodham address on file i want to say thank you for keeping part of confederate street and not destroying all our history we need to be very careful we need to preserve our history so our young can learn from it proverbs 29 2 says when the righteous are in authority the people rejoice but when the wicked rule the people mourn be wise in your decisions you've been given authority use it wisely don't allow a soccer field to be put in a quiet neighborhood where they will deal with traffic and lights and noise they have a right to have a quiet home put it somewhere where there's plenty of room and they can enjoy their games and don't build on our wetlands so many times i've heard give them an exemption they can build on the wetlands wetlands are to be preserved and don't forget these poor people that i've heard time and time again that are fighting to have the george crady bridge taken care of that money was given somewhere somebody took it please fix the problem so these people can fish this is florida this is generations of people that have fished on the bridge and in the area and some of them want to use it just to feed their families so please consider that and do a good thing be wise and last of all find a way to pay or subsidize the disability bus that our jta raised the fee and we heard so many of them come here and tell you how that is going to hurt them because they're on limited incomes this is a large city we should be able to provide for the disabled most cities do so think about it god bless and good night thank you ma'am deborah delor d-e-l-o-r i believe is the last name is she here okay denise cook deborah delor or denise cook okay uh the next five after that will be jared jacobs debbie pine stacy i believe this is ibarra kathy melston and anthony brown go ahead sir uh hi my name is uh gerard jacobs my uh address is on file i really just wanted to uh say two things to you one is uh i really want to congratulate you uh folks for the city uh of jacksonville and how it's operated i moved down to uh jacksonville about six years ago from uh the chicago area and i want you to know that uh i think you're doing a wonderful job running a city that uh at least for me and my family and my friends uh think it's uh just a tremendous place to live and i use i was an elected official uh in illinois for a couple terms and i know how much uh public officials like you uh get grief uh from citizens and sometimes it's a very thankless task i wanted to tell you i personally want to thank you uh for the way you're running the city the other thing that i wanted to say is that uh one of the few things that i've been exposed to living in jacksonville for the last six years has been this uh situation at hog pine creek and i have to tell you it's been a shocking thing to watch i've never lived in a city that had the sort of canals that you have in jacksonville and when i first came down in hog pine creek the first time i ever saw hog pine creek there were manatees off the dock of my son's house and over the last five years or so uh this has just become an incredibly difficult situation i mean it was like the incredible shrinking hog pen creek and in my opinion i'm not a uh engineer or whatever but in my opinion a huge amount of it had to do with the work that was done on uh on the san pablo uh boulevard or san pablo street it uh just as that work got done uh the water level in the creek uh the sediment just kept building up and building up uh to the point that at this point when you look at it i joke with uh my son that you know at this rate you're gonna have just a big mud uh uh mud creek not not a water creek behind your house uh so i look i uh i'm not an engineer uh but uh to me one of the beauties of uh jacksonville is uh all of these creeks and inlets that we have and the water uh recreation lifestyle that it allows and uh it's just it's a shame what's happening to this hog gun creek and i really hope that you folks uh can find uh the funds to uh conduct a study on it and figure out what's what's causing it thank you for the thank you sir uh debbie pine you're next debbie pine not here okay stacy ibarra and then we'll have kathy melstein i believe that's it melstein after her good good evening ladies and gentlemen of the council my name is stacy bar my business address is on file i'm here to speak about brooklyn being um added back on to the 3 a.m amendment um and speaking with that i want to speak about the small businesses that there um i want to remind all of you that brooklyn is part of the downtown investment um organization authority as well as part of the downtown districts um we literally if you've been to brooklyn recently or you authorize everything there so you should know that we are nothing but the exact same as what you already have for the entertainment district downtown we are nothing but small businesses we are major hotels we've got three up now we've got three or four more coming um that all have several hundred rooms available per we've got oh gosh probably twenty five hundred minimum minimum um of hotels and i mean of apartments and condos that are there now and so many more are coming we have no residents that are like single family homes there is walking ability sidewalks everywhere we have everything that the downtown entertainment district has and we have nothing that should concern you as far as it being there um we we are an entertainment district we are nothing but hotels restaurants bars and uh condos this is everything that the um what you're looking for for entertainment district and i pray that you please consider us and add us on to it we are right over the bridge um it'll be a hop and skip for those that still want to go downtown but you'll also take care of all of the riverside and avondale murray hill people that don't want to go into the downtown area but would still like a place to be able to stay and they're so close to somewhat area to be able to come and visit um i think it would make a really big difference in our community to not just lock down that one area and say no to everybody else when brooklyn is part of that area we are the downtown district we are part of the downtown investment authority and i um ask you to please add us on to the amendment thank you for your time ma'am council member areas would like to talk to you in the bob johnson room if you'll meet him over here next up is kathy melston then after that anthony brett hi my name is kathy melstein my address is on file i would also like to ask for approval for to be added to the three o'clock liquor hour we have a lot of small businesses and a lot of hotels that are gearing towards the entertainment and and kind of nightlife district and by making it a 3 a.m closing time for alcohol you're making it more appealing for people that are staying there they can go back and have that last night cap at their hotel and and possibly do some you know foot traffic and stuff like that um brooklyn has been built up a lot for a long time it was kind of you know dilapidated and they put a lot of money in it kind of into gentrification and being peripheral to downtown helped get them away from some of the parking issues that they had and would allow you know more of a spread out um big developments big hotels and things like that and it it has worked very well down brooklyn looks very good it's the crime is lower it's clean and we just want to keep it that way so that we keep it appealing to the people that are either gonna come and stay here to jacksonville um and or possibly even relocate here um it's a great area and a lot of mixed businesses that i think would really benefit from a three o'clock um drinking hour thank you for your time thank you ma'am next up anthony brown i do not see mr brown out there so i'll go to the next one jamie travis leonard and then after miss leonard our next will be come on down please katrina walker kim prior derek bermudez hendrix and john nooney please come on down if i called your name there good evening city council members my name is jamie travis leonard my address is on file oh good some seats filled up love to see that i have to give this council credit you have done something that i wasn't sure could be done you have united all sides of the political spectrum on affordable housing i know you all see the regulars that come up like me i see them too and i've seen some and i've thought wow i i don't know if i could ever agree on anything with them and you have gotten me to agree with people i never thought i could come to agreement with bravo great job uh and of course this is because you guys keep passing such unpopular development that we keep coming up here to let you know that and somehow you still keep pop you still keep passing unpopular development absolutely fascinating i tell you what um so as i said you have allowed real estate to be profit over community that's why most of us come up here and get on to you about it see i come up because i care about people in my community i care about my neighbors being able to afford their house be able to easily traverse to get their medications for children to have access to quality nutritious food and for my neighbors to be able to just afford their basic household needs but you will magically keep developing uh residential and commercial properties in areas that don't offer basic needs you know we have a bunch of food deserts and you're all like you know what another housing development would be perfect right here magical you hear the crowd we're all in agreement this is literally the one thing we all agree on and somehow you all still aren't addressing it you are continuing to pass stuff whether it's here in luz that has massive opposition by the communities not just the people in the area you're trying to focus on but also in the broader jacksonville city and you still somehow keep pushing it through it's gosh you know elections are coming up it's gonna be real interesting but as a reminder corporations are not people private equity firms are not people llcs are not people stop prioritizing them over us or you won't be in those seats thank you thank you katrina walker is katrina here oh go ahead ma'am katrina walker my address is on file i'm coming to you with an urgent uh community safety concern teen assault and battery at a local park on april 12th around 6 30 and 7 my 15 year old son and two of his friends was violently assaulted by a group of individuals at a local park melvin park is located at 4544 j drive west jacksonville florida 32210 and district nine my son suffered from a head injury due to trauma he's transitioned to homeschooling because of trauma and he's being mocked at school because these videos were posted on instagram over and over and over again as a parent there's nothing more heartbreaking than knowing that your child was hurt in a place that was supposed to be safe as a community member i cannot stay silent knowing that this could happen to another child tomorrow i'm not only here for my son but i'm here for community i'm not only here to show my pain but i'm also here to call for action we need immediate action and intentional changes to ensure our parks are safe i'm asking this council to consider the following increase police presence during after school and evening hours when our youth are most vulnerable secondly the installation of security cameras which was not found at the local park and lighting in our parks as well visibility alone can deter violence and help build and hold individuals accountable for circumstances like this third the creation of structured youth program after school activities mentor opportunities and safe spaces that gives our children positive outlets and guidance for a stronger community engagement including regular safety meetings and partnerships with local local organizations to actively support and mentor our younger people this is not only again about my son but it's about every child in our city who deserves to feel safe when they step outside their homes we cannot wait until the next incident we cannot normalize violence amongst our youth in any neighborhood and we cannot allow our parts to become a place that causes harm or fear i'm asking you today what actions will you take to ensure that this does not happen again i've reached out to news for jackson i've shared my story i've reached out to jesso multiple times and i have yet to hear anything back i want help i'm a mother and i have another mother that's back there that's standing with me because not only was my son attacked other sons were attacked and as i came forth with news for jacks other parents came forth with the same story with the same children being involved i need your help thank you ma'am your district council person miss clarkburne and our chief of special events i think that's your title ellis burns is going to talk to you in the green room thank you next up kim prior and then we'll have derek bermudez hendrix and john nooney good evening my name is kim prior and my address is 245 west 5th street not many of the council members still on the dice public comment that's kind of disappointing but i'm here to talk about the cba and the appointments to the board i initially submitted a public rights records request on march 26th that stated please provide copies of all applications received for the east side grants committee board and all information submitted in conjunction with the application including but not limited to resumes the only response that i received were copies of 14 resumes that sounds pretty good on its face there was no other information provided and two of the people who have been now been appointed to that board those resumes weren't provided at all i submitted another public records request stating the previous one indicated that i didn't get all the information that i requested and added to it per city procedure in order to be appointed to a board each applicant must also fill out an application and be subjected to an ethics review please provide a copy of each person's application and the results of their ethics review and any other records associated with this process i received a response to that today that told me they had provided all the information that they have which were the 14 resumes how can that be on the city's website there's an application i personally know that robin a member of our together east side coalition incorporated submitted her resume which i have a copy of she also filled out an application which i don't have a copy of so how many people filled out an application how many of the people that were submitted their application how many were put through an ethics review as per the requirement and if they were where's the results of that ethics review did the members of this body ask those questions did you review their applications did you review their ethics review or did you just rubber stamp it and again not listen to what members of my organization are trying to tell you we have policies and procedures in place for a reason and when we don't follow them things go wrong i don't understand why no applications were submitted the way to get your name in the in the pot to be chosen is to submit an application i don't have any thank you next up derek bermudez hendrix and then after that john nitty good afternoon everyone my name is derek to time bermudez hendrix the keeper of the flame and the tip of the spear for the indongo tribe i know i came down here last year and uh councilman mr amara was my first recipient he's a high school uh member with my mother and he knows my unmatched st croix cruisin history that cannot be competed against so i'm also a descendant of queen and zinga and i was on the first slave ship that came and landed in st croix virgin islands from the indongo tribe so you know no one could stop me far as teaching my unmatched history and i'm just really appalled that i was attacked my son was attacked and my life was threatened for putting on and trying to put on the community events to basically honor everybody a lot of people in here know exactly who i am and how what i care about helping kids in this community so i find it deeply appalling and unacceptable i know my first council member uh first council meeting was when tony baselli and jb coxwell came down here and i came down here to still with those uh men and they was being shut out by some black preachers and pastors and black leaders because they didn't want tony baselli to take over part to help kids so i found that unacceptable and at that time i met a lot of great people out here i met councilman hyde um councilman davis and i ended up meeting his dad at the courthouse when he let me go meet with chief judge donald moran who always offered me help and if there's anything that i need and i would like for him to help me now because this pastor harry williams who's also friends with bigger rankings who i used to be friends with all of these boys and running the streets with and i have since dissed myself for them people because them people is trying to kill me and they also flip my kids upside down against me so um i was arrested at the park at cuckoo park a couple years back and i had eddie diamond jr come to the park so he could witness what's going on because he speaks about the pastors and how corrupt they are so i came to a city park and i stood outside the fence and while i'm standing outside the fence the pastor and my ex-wife called jso and had police to come and arrest me falsely for 10 days i came down here and met with the parks and recreation and the lady told me that there's nothing here uh far as video evidence everything here is hearsay i don't know why they're doing this to you but nobody else came for it's always the pastor his wife first lady i want to say her name carmen williams esquire she's an attorney um gary hannins and i want to say her name is angie hannins they kidnapped my son from me and i don't even want to speak what they did to him but they stole all my money um they stole all my paperwork i wasn't able to file the taxes for us and they want to shut keepers of the flame down and try to put out our flame but they're not going to do it i received like i said death threats to my phone and uh people coming saying from the east side they're gonna kill me and shoot me up so thank you thank you last speaker card john nooney hello i am john philanthropic jelly roll good boy resiliency nooney 8356 bascom road jacksonville florida 32216 governor ron desantis vice president miller pardon nooney 20 24 0 1 0 7 20 24 0 3 2 5 20 26 0 0 0 4 20 26 0 0 2 4 all right the first topic all right this is a trophy how do i know this because trophy is written on the trophy this is a garbage trophy this trophy was acquired in the height of the covet 19 pandemic on parental home road in district 4 garbage day every day is garbage day in district 4 now you know emily liska jerry spinks matt carlucci alan bliss jimmy peluso kevin carrico i mean this is truly jacksonville history so i will be submitting this for all of you all right i'm just down to a minute 36 and here is the agenda from yesterday's duval county tourist development council the strategic plan and there's three questions what gaps do you identify in jacksonville's current tourism economy and you know what i shared here's our downtown jacksonville map 2025 you open it up and right here you know in the downtown zone the kayak launch a chill it's not on here okay next one what specific projects or initiatives you believe could be funded using tourist development tax revenue well cia okay that's a culinary institute of america cia park on potsford creek 2025 0 0 1 9 i'm down to 30 seconds what emerging tourism trends or opportunities should the tbc prioritize well you flip it around and we got fwc to play on the fish and wildlife commission the state of florida well you know what it's also fishing with crating you know open up our waterways and tell the world to visit jacksonville thank you for listening i'm gonna read four cards of people who did not come down the first time anthony brown anthony was here to follow up on the 2024 redlining resolution debbie pine is opposed to 2026 232 deborah del or opposed to the property i believe this is 2230 st john's and then denise cook just wrote redlining land use and zoning i do not believe any of those four are here and that concludes our public comment all right thank you mr floor leader before we move on i do want to recognize that dubau county school board member tony ricardo is in the house thanks for coming down sir thank you for your service all right so with that it's time for public hearing starting on page 20 council members declare any ex parte communications and please get in the queue because we do want to declare our ex parte before we start the public hearing cards anyone wishing to speak on the following bill should have completed a blue speaker card you will be allowed three minutes to speak you may say your address is on record but you're encouraged to be specific with your location as that may impact the weight given to your comments like public comment a speaker may be invited to the green room for further discussion at a council members discretion mr teal please read the bills 2026 208 209 210 216 258 259 260 261 263 264 265 267 268 286 287 288 225 26 6人民 11 227 129 226 26 greater attorney 206 266 Franz 1002 129 123 1025 126 129 123 129 266 267 168 Public hearing is closed. Item 44-2026-210, I have two speaker cards. The first is Jamie Travis Leonard. The second is by John Nooney, who checked. I do not wish to speak, highlighted it, and circled it, but he opposes this ordinance. Good evening, City Council. My name is Jamie Travis Leonard. So, shocker, I tentatively support this bill. I believe what it is doing is expanding the current zoning to allow some additional facilities for our senior residents, which on the north side we have a lot. And they deserve all the grace and activities we can get them for their quality of life towards the end of it. I did have some questions about what had been submitted, but I did get an answer from your legislative assistants earlier because you guys implemented a new situation with the Legistar where we can't access the additional attachments to the bills anymore through the links in the agenda. My understanding has to do with ADA compliance. Not related to the bill, I apologize. That was just more of a, if there's a better way for us to get that besides contacting PIO email, I would appreciate that information being disseminated because I couldn't quite review everything I wanted to prior to coming. But I do tentatively support and thank everybody for their time. Thank you. I have no more speaker cards. Public hearings closed. On 45-2026-2161, speaker card, John Nooney does wish to speak. Hello. I am John J. Nooney, Jacksonville City Council Resolution 2023-0819. I'm in City Council District 4, CPAC 3, School Board District 3. All right. Now, this is some GFL stuff. Address, Mr. Nooney. 8356, Bascom Road. Thank you. And so anyway, you know, I learned a lot on this one. But GFL, again, we all like acronyms. But this is green for Land and Public Park on Pottsburg Creek. You know, what we're going to be seeing, you know, this is a modification. You know, it's going to be for, you know, debris processing and recycling. Now, one big key with our city council, remember, you created the Office of Philanthropy Philanthropy. So, you know, this GFL, you know, to me, this is like Joel Damon and Waste Management. I mean, just, you know, take the shirt off and swing it around. And you got Meridian and you got Republic. And so anyway, this is, and the reason I'm speaking to it, you know, it was in neighborhoods and TEU. But there wasn't a public hearing in neighborhoods. And, you know, I learned a lot about this. But this is going to be huge going forward for a quality of life and a sponsorship opportunity. So, GFL, Green for Land and Public Park. Thank you for listening. I have no more speaker cards. Public hearing is closed. Move the bill. I have a motion and second on the bill. As no one in the queue, please open the ballot and record your vote. Sure, let's just reopen it so everyone can register their vote. 17 a's, 0 nays. By any action, you approve 2026-0216. Item 46-2026-258. I have one speaker card. John Nooney does not wish to speak, but he supports this ordinance. Public hearing is closed. Item 47-48-2026-259-260. I have no speaker cards. Public hearing is closed. Item 49-2026-261. One speaker card. John Nooney does not wish to speak, but he supports this, and I have no more speaker cards. All right. Are we on 48 or 49? We're on 49. All right. I'm going to give the vice president the chair. And I move the emergency. Did I close the public hearing? Please close the public hearing. This public hearing is closed, and I recognize Council President Carrico. All right. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. I rise to declare a conflict as this is additional organizations that will be helping to fund the opioid grant. And because my employer, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida, has received opioid grants in the past to help prevent kids from doing drugs, I will abstain from voting on this issue. Thank you, sir. And I recognize Councilwoman Pittman. Same here. I rise to say that this may be a conflict for the Clara White mission. My staff will probably apply for some of these funds, and I will make sure that the correct form will be completed and submitted. Thank you, ma'am. That concludes the abstention. I move the emergency. We have a motion and a second on the emergency. No speakers in the queue. We'll take this vote verbally. All in favor of the emergency, indicate by saying aye. Aye. All against saying no. The emergency passes. I move the bill as an emergency. We have a motion and a second on the bill as an emergency. No speakers in the queue. Let's open the ballot and record your vote. 15 nays, 0 nays, 2 abstentions. By any action, you will approve 2026-0261. I'm 50-2026-263. I have two speaker cards. The first is John Nooney. The second is Jamie Travis Leonard. Both wish to speak. Mr. Nooney, you go ahead first since you're closest. Hello. I am John J. Nooney, Jacksonville City Council Resolution 2023-0819. I'm in City Council District 4, CPAC, Planning District 3, School Board District 3. And all right. Now, this is an ordinance. Address, Mr. Nooney. 8356, Baskin-Rone. And, okay, this is $25,000, you know, from the traffic calming. And, you know, we're waiving, you know, we're waiving everything. You know, basically, it was $25,000, you know, for a party. And, you know, what I want to, if it's that important, and this, again, this is traffic calming. So, in the consent agenda, you know, you had agenda items, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, which, you know, had to do with mobility stuff. So, we got new, you know, you've got that pot of money, if you will. So, where I'm going with it, you know, at Tourist Development Council, this is where the administration comes in. And, you know, correct me if I'm wrong. I think, you know, we were going to give Carl Miller $100,000. So, you know what, let's slash that to $75,000. Then, you know, if you're going to dole out this, $25,000, at least then you are keeping in place all these other pockets of money. So, anyway, just ask that. You know, I'm just down to a minute, 23. But then, also, at the same time, you'll let the free market work, man. You know, this is up there, you know, again, with the waterways. So, I just, I can go on and on with it. Just look at that budget transfer option, and then to keep everything in place. Thank you for listening. Thank you. Next up, Ms. Leonard. Good evening, City Council. My name is Jamie Travis Leonard. My address is on file. I am in opposition of 26263, similar to what Mr. Nooney mentioned. But I don't, my biggest opposition to this is the fund that this money is coming out of. I don't think that's the correct fund. I don't know what fund would be the correct fund. I'm not necessarily opposed to granting something for Oysterfest. Sounds like a good time to me. I like oysters, but again, I don't think it should be coming out of the traffic calming. I'm also a little on the fence of whether we should even be giving them money. Do we regularly provide money to festivals that I understanding are private organizations and should be, in theory, self-funded? If we do, I might, you know, that would ease my opposition a little. But like I said, my biggest opposition to this is the account that you are trying to take the money from. So, thank you for that. I move more speaker cards. Public hearings closed. I move the emergency. Got a motion second on the emergency. All in favor of the emergency, signify by saying aye. Aye. Then you oppose, say nay. The emergency passes. I move the rules amendment. Got a motion second on the rules amendment. There's no one in the queue. All in favor of the amendment, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. The rules amendment passes. I move the bill as amended as an emergency. Got a motion second on the bill as amended as an emergency. Pastor President Freeman, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I rise just to set the record straight. I did agree with many of the comments that were heard earlier when we first initially read this bill at $25,000 coming out of traffic calming. But if you go back and check the archives and you watch in rules, you will learn, as I learned, that these dollars were actually from the council members' strategic council funds. And so I am at a better place now knowing that we're not taking money away from infrastructure. It's money that we've all had as council. Well, the district council members had to do at their discretion. But I did want to add one caveat, Mr. President. During the YAC, this council member put out on Facebook that we had $5 million and everybody show up and get it. One thing that I did learn is that he still has $200,000-plus-thousand dollars in a strategic council fund. So a lot of those nonprofits that came to our meeting that day that are more than likely not going to be awarded monies because of the process of doing it, please reach out to him and put that on Facebook as well. Thank you so much. All right. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. We have the bill in proper posture to take a vote. So let's open the ballot and record the vote. 17 yays, zero nays. By your action, you've approved 2026-0263. I'm 51-2026-264. No speaker cards. Public hearings closed. I'm 52-2026-265. I have two speaker cards. Jamie Travis Leonard does not wish to speak but supports it. John Nooney also does not wish to speak but supports it. No other speaker cards. Public hearings closed. Item 53 and 54 and 55 and 56. Items 2026-267-268-286-287. I have no speaker cards. That's how we catch them up. All of these public hearings are closed. I have 57-2026-288. I have one speaker card. John Nooney does not wish to speak but he opposes. Public hearings closed. Mr. President, we have received a significant amount of LUZ speaker cards for the next two items. So we're still tallying them up. If you could give us just a second over here. All right. Maybe Dr. Johnson could give us a poem. I would like to speak though. Thank you, Mr. You're recognized. Mr. President. I just want to say to thank you for all of the community members, to the president, to the members of the community that came and advocated for this. And also thank you to the developer for having so many community meetings. I do want to underscore that while I certainly don't want anybody's voice to be limited, that we want to make sure that just in the essence of time we've debated this back and forth. I know I know what I voted in committee. I'm certainly looking to see if there's any additional information that comes out tonight on either side. But I hope that in the essence of time that we know that we've worked this as much as possible. And so I just wanted to thank everybody who has been involved in the process. But I hope we can limit it so that we won't keep us here all night. Thank you, Mr. President. You're welcome, sir. I also want to mention this is public hearing, not public comment. So we do have to maintain a quorum. What is our quorum number we must maintain? Mr. President, you should always have 14 members seated for a quorum. All right. Just a reminder to the body. Okay. With that, Mr. President, I would ask those in the crowd, if you're here for 2026-006 or 007 and you do wish to speak, go ahead and come on down to the front so when we call your name you can get up here quicker. I'm going to start calling out names. And this is speaking on 2026-006, which is, I believe, the land use component of it. The first ones are Lawrence Chaney, Shelly Chaney, Tanya Wells, David McClure, and Samantha Series. And you don't have to go in order. Just if I called your name, whoever gets to the podium first, just give your name and address. And you have three minutes. Lawrence Chaney, address is on file. I just want to start off by apologizing for last week when I spoke out of character because of my feelings and emotions. So I want to apologize to all the LUZ committee that was here last week. I sincerely do apologize. Good evening, Councilmembers. I stand before you in opposition to Ordinance 2026-006. Duval County created the future land use element and the Southwest Jacksonville Vision Plan for a reason. They are the blueprint for responsible growth, ensuring development matches, infrastructure, protects our rural character, and prevents overcrowding and sprawl. These are not suggestions. They are part of the Jacksonville's adopted 2030 comprehensive plan and guide every land use decision. And in this case, the planning department following those policies has recommended denial. If we ignore these plans, we undermine the very protection put in place for our community. And tonight, I ask that we recognize something important. If you are here in opposition to this ordinance, please stand. We can't make public displays of approval and interact. I apologize. That'll be the last time. Thank you. This is not just one voice. This is our community. Please support the planning department's recommendation and vote no. Thank you, sir. Next up, Shelly Chaney. Hello, Shelly Chaney. Address is on file. Good evening, Councilmembers. I do oppose the 006. This is a legislative land use change from low-density residential to medium-density residential. And it's critical that this decision be grounded in professional planning expertise and adopted policy, not speculation. The Jacksonville Planning Department, whose staff includes trained urban planning planners and specialists with degrees in planning, public administration, and related fields, along with their years of professional experience and technical certificates, has recommended denial of this application. These are not arbitrary opinions. These are evidence-based conclusions made by qualified experts whose job is to ensure responsible growth and protect our communities. Their findings are clear. It is inconsistent with FUL Goal 3 and Objective 3.1. It introduces an abrupt increase in density in the middle of an established low-density neighborhood, disrupting the existing development pattern and character. It violates FLUE policy 3.12, as this is a classic case of spot land use, with no transition or buffering between uses. It is inconsistent with FLUE policies 3.1.12 and 3.1.13, as it places higher-density development on local, unclassified roads and introduces multifamily housing into a single-family area without appropriate infrastructure. It is also inconsistent with the Southwest Vision Plan 2023 and broader planning policies meant to guide thoughtful, compatible growth. Please vote no on 006. Thank you, Dr. Johnson and his assistant, Mr. Powers, for their time and their patience with us. Thank you. Next up will be Tanya Wells and then David McClure. Hi, my name is Tanya Wells, 5694 Morse Avenue. The Planning Department report trip generation estimation scenarios. Under the LDR zoning, the site generates approximately 436 daily trips. Under the MDR, that nearly doubles to 900 daily trips, an increase of 464 additional trips per day on the road that are not designed for this traffic. Even in the Transportation Planning Division has stated, further traffic analysis may be required, reinforcing that the impacts are not fully mitigated or understood. Why not fix this before we build? Yes, the proposal would increase the number of housing units, but it would do so at the expense of existing neighborhood character, safety, and infrastructure capacity. Growth should be intentional, compatible, and consistent with adopted plans, not forced into areas where it does not belong. It should be based on competent and substantial evidence, as should be your vote. We respectfully ask that you support the expertise and recommendations of the Planning Department and vote no. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. McClure. And then after Mr. McClure, Samantha Series, and then Jeffrey Scott. Are you yielding your time, sir? Okay. David McClure, 5750 Morse Avenue, right across from this thing. Legislative land use change from LDR to MDR. It is critical this decision be grounded on professional planning expertise and adopted policy, not speculation. All we've heard from the other side is speculation and what it's going to be and what it is. The Jacksonville Planning Department recommended denial of this application on fact-based conclusions. That's what they do. That's their job. They're professionals, not speculators. Not speculation. It's not going to change it. Inconsistency with the flu goals, I'm not going to redo that. It violates flu policies and with the no buffering and transition between uses. Higher density on our local unclassified roads introduces multifamily housings and single-family with appropriate infrastructures. Inconsistent with Southwest Vision Plan 2023, meant to provide thoughtful and compatible growth. Growth should be intentional, compatible, and consistent with adopted plans. That's what our planning commission does. Not forced where we don't want it or doesn't belong. Please listen to our planning department. They're looking out for all of us, all of Jacksonville. Please vote no. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Samantha Series. Then Jeffrey Scott. And then Paula Moore. Samantha Series, address on file. I'm here to oppose the adopting of a small-scale amendment to the flume series of the 2045 comp plan to change 9.7 acres from LDR to MDR. After reviewing the proposed change, the planning department recommended the request to be denied. The planning department provided the following evidence as reasons why this request should be denied. The following comes from the planning department's report, which should be considered competent substantial evidence. As mentioned in the MDR description in the report, the plan amendment requests for a new MDR designation. MDR designations are preferred in locations which are supplied with full urban services and in locations which serve as a transition between commercial and residential land uses. The proposed amendment is not consistent with the locational criteria of the MDR category description because the location does not serve as a transitional use between residential and commercial land uses. For these reasons, the proposed amendment is inconsistent with the FLUE Goal 3 and Objective 3.1. Under policy 3.1.12, the city shall, through land development regulations and land use category descriptions, require higher density residential development and supporting commercial uses to locate on or near arterial or collector roads used for mass transit routes and in proximity to major employment areas in order to ensure the efficient use of land, public facilities, and services, and transportation corridors. The site is within the boundaries of the Southwest Jacksonville Vision Plan. The plan emphasizes the importance of strengthening existing neighborhoods. The subject site is located near a boundary of the traditional building area and suburban area defined in the vision plan. As the proposed land use amendment would significantly increase the maximum allowable density and is located within an established single-family neighborhood, it would be incompatible with the character of the existing neighborhood and inconsistent with the vision plan and FLUE Policy 4.1.7. Again, according to the planning department report, this request is incompatible with the character of the existing neighborhood and inconsistent with the vision plan and FLUE Policy 4.1.7. As the proposed land use amendment would significantly increase the maximum allowable density. Medium-density residential is a category intended to provide compact, medium-to-high-density residential development and transitional uses between low-density residential uses and higher-density residential uses, commercial uses, and public and semi-public use areas. Multifamily housing, multifamily housing, let's skip that. Again, we hope that you will listen to the planning department. They did do their research. That is confidential evidence and should be considered, and we hope that you will vote no. Thank you. Thank you. Jeffrey Scott. Good evening. My name is Jeffrey Scott. I live at 6711 Seaboard Avenue. I strongly oppose these ordinances. Building 89 homes on less than 10 acres is not normal for our area. This area consists of larger lots, most of them wooded, and a lot of farm animals. This development would change the makeup of our neighborhood forever. After several emails with the City of Jacksonville traffic engineer, they conducted a detailed traffic study on Seaboard Avenue and Morse Avenue. They deemed the intersection worthy of a new four-way stop sign. They also took measures to install speed bumps and additional four-way stop signs on Seaboard Avenue to slow the traffic down. In my opinion, this greatly reduced the traffic, the speed, and the accidents at the intersection. If this passes, this will undo all of that. A subdivision was just built at the east end of Morse Avenue, consisting of approximately 200 homes. This City Council recently approved zoning for 22 acres, only 600 feet away from this subdivision. There are bulldozers clearing land today. I urge you to vote no on this ordinance and leave our neighborhood as it is. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Paula Moore, and then after her, Tammy Brown. Good evening. My name is Paula Moore. I live at 6750 Seaboard Avenue. I live on the corner of Morrison Seaboard on 2.77 acres and is part of the subject property. I am in poor health and have difficulty maintaining my property and my deteriorating single line of a home. Mr. Attlee has offered to purchase my property for a considerable more than I could get if the property was not developed and as sold as is. This is enabling me to find a good home that I can afford and maintain. Please help me by supporting this project. I'd like to add something else as far as I'm on the corner of Morrison Seaboard, and there has always been accidents on that corner. There has always been. There was only two stops on Morrison, none on ours. One of my neighbors and I have fought to get four-way stops on that for years because our kids used to stand on that corner for the bus. There has been cars in every ditch surrounding me. So it's not like, and that's happened over the past, over several years, you know, every month there's a traffic accident. You know, and the traffic hasn't gotten any worse, but they use it as a cut-through to get off landing. A lot of people just cut through to get off of landing, and then they'll go up and down the street, you know, and this is, we've got a four-way stop now, but you know what? They're still not stopping. I stand in my window, and I watch them every day. They're not stopping at that stop sign, and this is why we continue to have accidents. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Thank you. Next up, Tammy Brown, and then Layla Aline, and then Jerry Woodham. Good evening. My name is Tammy Brown. My address is exempt. I am a realtor in Jacksonville, and a proud retired law enforcement professional from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. I distributed these handouts. I am in support of this project. This area needs single-family detached homes, which is what this development is offering. If you see the map and the photos provided, notice parcels 1, 2, and 3 on the west side, and parcel 4 is on the east side. Attractive new homes will be positive for this area and provide much-needed housing for the NAS Jaxx area and other workers from the area. Please support this project. Thank you very much. Thank you, ma'am. Ms. Brown, Mr. Teal is going to take you this card. We just need one more piece of information on it. Okay. Next up is Layla Aline, then Jerry Woodham, and then Chelly Chastam. Good evening. My name is Layla Aline, and address is on file. I want to start with talking about why Duval has the future land use element, the FLU, and Southwest Jacksonville Vision Plan. Jacksonville's comprehensive plan was adopted by the city in 1990 to comply with Chapter 163, Part 2 of the Florida Statues in compliance with state regulations. The ongoing management is planning and development department to handle the amendments and enforce Duval County, City of Jacksonville, uses the future land use element. And the Southwest Jacksonville Vision Plan to manage growth, align infrastructure with development, and preserve rural character. The FLU ensures development matches infrastructure capacity while the Vision Plan protects the rural landscapes in the Southwest area from suburban sprawl. These documents are integrated into the city of Jacksonville's decision-making process for rezoning and land use amendments. The FLU and the Southwest Jacksonville Vision Plan exist to manage rapid development, protect rural character, and guide land use decisions in Duval County. They act as planning frameworks ensuring development are consistent with Jacksonville's 2030 comprehensive plan, specifically prioritizing preservation of rural areas in the West and improving mobility and infrastructure across the city. The key reasons for existence consist of preserving rural character, Southwest Jacksonville Vision Plan focuses on keeping the rural character of western areas, providing a guide for land use that prevents excessive urban sprawl. Controlling development, they provide consistent reviews for land use amendments, ensuring new developments align with city's overall 2030 comprehensive plan. Regional planning, these plans are part of a broader, long-range transportation and land use strategy, often coordinated by North Florida TPO, aimed at improving mobility and managing growth within specific planning districts such as North, Northwest, and Southwest. Ensuring sustainability, they encourage better land usage to discourage leapfrog development and promote cohesive community growth. It is the business plan for our city and the Jaxx planning development recommendation to deny this, please. Please support their recommendation and their intelligence and thorough, consistent research on this project. All right, we have to pause because we lost a quorum, according to the attorneys. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13. So, whoever's in the green room, please report back. Now we have 14. You can continue. Sorry about that. I was at the end, but I'll repeat it. Okay, it's a business plan for our city that's already implemented, and it's the Jacksonville's planning development recommendation to deny this project. Please respect their research, their intelligence, and their passions that they've put into this, and please support the denial of this project. I want to thank you, Dr. Johnson, as well, for your support for our community. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Jerry Woodham. And then after Ms. Woodham, Kelly Chastam, Laura Young, and then I believe this is Ken Attlee. Okay. Go ahead, this one. Jerry Woodham, address on file. Point of question, is this about the land use or the zoning? I know there are always separate bills. We're on the land use, ma'am. Okay. So, I'm on the right one. Okay. I support this bill. Good evening. Most of you were parents, maybe grandparents. You want to leave a legacy to them. Kelly Chatham's parents did that. As property owners, they became available over decades. They added to their property. This is the same property where she cared for her sick mother and father until their passing. Her children have lived on this property. She now lives elsewhere and wants to sell her property as what her father wanted. The developer has worked and changed by having talks with the neighbors. We know people have a right to sell their property. There's been vandals, squatters, and homeless people. The developer wants to build homes and even drop them from 89 to 70 homes and a playground, which will allow young homeowners a chance to get a home. She could have sold it to someone who wanted apartments or businesses. Recently, there were people spreading misinformation. So, I ask you to see that they have had countless meetings, and tonight is the time to pass it. Thank you. Thank you. Kelly Chatham. Good evening. My name is Kelly Chatham. My address is on file. I own the property that is before you. I've heard the concern that this is a spot zoning or viewed as spot land use. Please note the map I presented to you all just now. My property is one-third of a mile from Wells Landing East on Morse Avenue, consisting of 217 50-foot lots. I'm a quarter mile from the new subdivision about to start on Seaboard Avenue on 40-foot lots. Just over a half a mile to a large mobile home park to the north. Less than half a mile to a townhome community on 118th Street, also to the north. A half a mile south to an apartment complex. A third of a mile south, a condominium project. Less than a half of a mile to 500-plus single-family homes south on Seaboard. My property is therefore surrounded by development. As Jacksonville has grown over the past 50, 60 years, every part of the city has changed, as has this area. Clearly, it is no longer made up of rural properties. My parents purchased it in 1985. I built my home there in 2001. Over 40 years, I've been on this property. It does not feel like a slow and rural neighborhood anymore. It changed a long time ago, and I know that it will continue to become more urban as the city grows. Our comp plan directs properties such as mine to be developed according to the following. The city requires policy 3.1.12, higher-density residential development near arterial or collector roads. Policy 1.1.1.1, the city shall provide incentives such as high-density or special design consideration to encourage a wide variety of housing types. I would be very grateful for your support on this project. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Laura Young, and then Kim Attlee, and Bobbie O'Connor. Laura Young, address on file. We've heard that we need housing over and over and over and over again. I have some statistical information on that. Duval County's own data shows that our population is not rapidly growing. It's actually declining. According to JacksonvilleGov, the population dropped from 1,055,159 in 2024 to 977,670 in 2026, a decrease of 77,489 residents. Current projections estimate only about 7,000 new residents, which is modest as best annually. The only recent surge in population occurred during the pandemic when Florida remained open. That was a temporary shift, not a sustainable growth trend that justifies overdevelopment. Additionally, the argument to increase housing as needed for military families does not align with how military staffing actually works. Having spent 15 years as a senior financial analyst with the Department of Defense, working with both NAS Jacksonville and Cecil Field, I can say clearly, the number of personnel is not continuously increasing. DOD operates under a fixed budget and staffing structure, a process known as forced management turnover. New arrivals are replacing those who leave. Housing data further supports this. As of March through April 2026, there are 6,924 homes for sale in Duval County, with a median price of about $288,000, along with over 1,750 rental properties available. That is already a significant supply of housing on the market. Looking even closer at our area, in the 32244 zip code, has approximately 310 homes for sale with a median price of around $265,000, in the 32210 zip code, has approximately 440 homes for sale with a median price of around $230,000. These numbers show that an inventory already exists, both for buyers and renters. With the projected growth rate of 7,000 residents and the thousands of homes currently available, it becomes clear. The housing supply is already meeting and in many cases exceeding the demand. This proposal is not addressing housing shortage. It's introducing density that does not align with the existing community despite the planning department recommendation for Don Isle. I request that you follow that recommendation and deny the 006. Thank you for your time this evening. Thank you. Next up, Kim Attlee. It may have been Ken Attlee. Ken Attlee, 58, 51 Timmaquana Road, Jacksonville, Florida. I've been developing for 42 years and change always evokes concern from neighbors. Change is inevitable but not always bad. The Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce website states, and I quote, Our pro-business mindset, innovative spirit and an available quality of life, make it an ideal region to relocate, expand, and grow. If that's the kind of environment you're looking for, you've found the perfect place. Then it goes on with a beautiful video selling to viewers why they would come and bring their business to Jacksonville. More businesses brings people in need for more housing. We are then listed as a supernova city by the Urban Land Institute for its sustained population growth, economical diversity, employment, and on and on it goes. So our city is promoting growth, promoting businesses to come here, bringing people, and bringing a need for housing. It then goes on in our comp plan, and policy 3.1.12 states, The city shall, through land development regulations and land use category descriptions, require higher density residential development and supporting commercial uses to locate on or near arterial or corrected roads, which is exactly what we're doing. It goes on to say in policy 1.1.1, the city, in its land development regulations, shall continue to provide incentives such as higher densities, special design considerations, to encourage the building by wide variety of housing types, designs, and price ranges to promote an equitable distribution of housing choices throughout the city. You know, we've seen 16-foot townhomes approved all over the city of Jacksonville. Our project will have detached single-family homes, not attached, that are 50% wider than your 18-foot, so it'll be 24 feet wide. They'll have windows on four sides, not just the front and the back, like a townhome, which makes a more enviable and good place for the occupants of that home. So I submit to you that we are doing exactly what the city and the comp plan is directing us as developers to do, and I'd appreciate your vote. Yes, thank you. Bobby O'Connor, then Steve Wilson, then Scott Ennis. My name is Bobby O'Connor. My address is on file. Thank you to the council members who voted no in the LUTs Committee. In the service of time, I'm not going to be repeating what many other folks have said. I stand in support of denying, please oppose, and I ask you to look at your planning department. Your planning department has recommended that this be denied over and over again. They've listed all the reasons. I'm sure you've read the report. Other folks have spoken at that report. You know, we don't need change in our city for the purpose of change. We need change when it really does work. And when the planning department, with their degrees and all their good experience, requests that you deny this, recommend that, I support denial of this application. We do not need change when it does not serve the whole. Thank you. Steve Wilson. My name is Steve Wilson, 6314 Seaboard Avenue. I want to thank you for your time and attention. I know it's late, and I'll keep it short. The only real facts that I see here right now are that the planning department has recommended no, and we aren't here even to say yes or no to a development here. Is it going to be low density or allowed to go to medium density? That's a pretty simple fact. There are now, and people have listed them off, a great many number of new developments within a very short area of this. And if you look on, I know you won't have time to before voting tonight, but if you look on the property map, the new areas of 50-foot lots in this community is shocking. So to insist that somehow this nine-acre development needs to go from low density to medium density, it really is just not reasonable that you'd have to do that. Everybody else has developed in this area now quite significantly at the low density. Thank you. Thank you. Scott Ennis. Then Jamie Travis Leonard after that. Then Elaine Wilson. Hi. Scott Ennis. My address is on file. I'm here to speak on behalf of the home builder, Meritage Homes. I grew up 10 minutes from this site. I'm also a licensed professional engineer, so I know the area and I know this industry. This is absolutely an opportunity to provide a positive infill opportunity for housing, for people that live at places like NAS Jacks. We're very proud of the homes that we build. Ken mentioned this provides a lot more value than something like a townhome, two-car garages, private backyard. In addition to that, Ken has incorporated a lot of improvements to the original concept after taking feedback from the community. So the concept has been greatly improved. We're proud of the work that we do and the homes that we build for Jacksonville, and we're excited for this opportunity. So thank you for your time. Thank you. Jamie Travis Leonard. Good evening, City Council. My name is Jamie Travis Leonard. My address is on file. As you're all aware, I live in District 6, so this isn't quite my district, but I am here to support the community members who oppose this bill. I also oppose it, predominantly based on the report from Jacksonville Planning Department, which has a recommendation to deny the land use change from LDR to MDR. Some of the interesting things in this report, which I hope you all read, is that the site is surrounded on all sides by land designated as LDR. I've heard a few people come up and mention, well, there's other developments nearby. Sure. But this site specifically has LDR all around it, so why are we trying to make an exception to make it MDR? Interesting. Also in this is that the development standards for impact assessment says it would go from the current five dwelling units per acre to 15 dwelling units per acre, which is a triple increase. Like, wow, that's a lot, guys. Especially in an area that several residents have mentioned is high traffic and high accident prone. So that's an interesting choice there. Also, some things is the population potential would go from the current 127 people to 340 with this proposal if approved. And again, we're talking about an area that is already prone to traffic issues, including a high volume of accidents based on what the community has said, and we want to just funnel more people in there. I don't know if that's the choice we need to be making. So, as I said, I oppose this. I stand with community members who oppose this based on their lived experience in this community, many of them generationally in the area. So I hope you will listen to them and vote this down. Thank you. Thank you, Elaine Wilson. Then after Elaine, the last two are John Moyle and Hayden Phillips. Good evening. Elaine Wilson, 6314 Seaboard Avenue. As resident of the neighborhood since 1974, I know I don't look it. This area is called Ortega Farms for a reason. The city had set it up as a land use and zoning LDR residential rural. It has a rural atmosphere despite some of the comments having lived there for my lifetime. I can say that I still have horses on this property. So, for things that we can agree on, first off, NIMBY, not in my backyard. I know you guys hear it every time you have a meeting. This community is not saying, not in my backyard. They're saying, do it the way you told us you were going to do it from the get-go. Nobody is opposing the LDR. Everybody is saying, just follow your rules. This is what you told us when we bought our property, when we invested in the neighborhood, when we moved in. Growth. Both sides actually agree on that. They agree on two things. Traffic is awful. There's tons of accidents on Seaboard, especially at Morris. There's been death fatalities at there since I've grown up. Same at 118th Street and Seaboard, and that's not going to go away either. And the other thing that everyone agrees on seems to be that the diversity of the neighborhood already exists. We have townhomes. We have apartments. We have a mobile home park. We already have 500 homes slated that are going to be 40 lots. Everybody's following the processes and doing what needs to happen to make this area grow. But we're just saying, enough. We've done our part. There are other areas of town. Develop a way. If they're okay with it, let them speak for themselves. But we're just asking you to follow the rules that you established by the protocol you set. Residential, rural, low density. You don't have a problem. It's pushing the limits every time. We agree on everything else. I'll yield any time. Thanks. Thank you. John Moyle. I'm John Moyle with Waits and Moy Engineers, 3738 Southside Boulevard. During the first LUZ meeting, there was some confusion about the traffic. It was brought up that Morris Avenue was at aerobic capacity, and so I came in to address that. The city's annual traffic count show their closest count stations on Morris are just west of Blanding, and they showed that Morris Avenue is only at about 16% capacity. We had performed a traffic study for the Wells Landing subdivision a couple years ago and did a study of this area, included the traffic from the new development, and at that time it only showed Morris east of Blanding was approximately 10% capacity. There are a couple new developments. There's a new development on seaboard north of this that has 117 new units, and this development will have 77 units. We took that traffic and ran it into the model on Morris Avenue, and it still only brings it up to about 20% capacity. So there's plenty of capacity on Morris Avenue. Thank you. Hayden Phillips is our last speaker. Thank you. Hayden Phillips, 1301 River Place Boulevard. We're proposing single-family homes in an urbanizing neighborhood and the largest city in the country. We coordinated with the district councilmen from the very beginning. We held a community meeting up front, and not one person attended. We did show up to the CPAC, where it was approved, and we went to Planning Commission, of course, where we received unanimous approval for actually more lots than what you'll be voting on tonight. A few people showed an opposition, so we deferred so that we could meet with the community. We've had three total community meetings, and we've made every concession that we can, which I will list. Before that, I do want to make clear that the LUZ did vote to approve this after a very thorough debate and discussion. Some of the compromises we've made, we decreased the unit count from 89 to 77. We decreased the total density from 9.2 to 8 units per acre. We increased the minimum lot width on 18% of the lots to 40 to 60 feet wide. And we increased buffer sizes, and even included a large park in the corner. One thing I'd like to point out is that the Planning Department has said on the record that they are not necessarily opposed to the use in the PUD. Their main issue appears to be the potential density allowed in the new land use category of MDR. So the existing land use category is LDR, permits seven units per acre. We're proposing MDR, which typically would allow 20 units per acre. However, LUZ also approved a site-specific policy which caps the density at eight units per acre, which is just over the seven allowed to date in LDR. We've heard two main concerns from the community. One is a sentiment that this is a rural area and development doesn't belong. It is in the suburban development area. It is 1,000 feet from the urban development area and CCG2 zoning. It's 0.2 miles from Blending Boulevard and FDOT principal arterial roadway, well within the I-295 loop. It has utilities and infrastructure available, and there are several high-density developments in close proximity in every direction. The other is traffic. At the first LUZ stop, as Mr. Moy explained, there was some confusion caused around traffic, but I've presented evidence to the record that shows Morris Avenue west of Blending is at 16% capacity. East of Blending, it's less than 10% capacity. So this is an infill site. It is not a spot land use amendment or zoning according to the code definition. It is basically the opposite of urban sprawl, plus we need the housing. Our own comp plan requires 100,000 units by 2045. Thank you. Here for questions. Mr. President, no more speakers, but I did have a lot of do-not-wish-to-speak cards. I'll read into the record. Blake Harper supports. Christina Warren opposes. Hunter Chaney, I believe that is, opposes. Janice Black opposes. Darlene Renfro opposes. Barbara Black opposes. Denise Scott opposes. First name begins with R. Quineos opposes. Anthony Brown opposes. Blair Young opposes. Luis Vasquez opposes. John Nooney opposes. Anthony Ricardo supports. Denise Cook supports. Kenzie Quineos opposes. Kenzie Quineos opposes. And Kyle Horton also opposes. I have no more speaker cards. I move the amendment. I move the amendment. I've got a motion and second on the amendment. No one's in the queue. All in favor of the amendment. Signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. The amendment carries. Move the bill as amended. Thank you. A motion and second on the bill as amended. Council Member Peluso. Thank you, Mr. President. I haven't really heard too much about this other than tonight. Do we have someone from Planning that can kind of speak to this real quick? Sorry, Ms. Pearl. Mr. President, I can't hear what my colleagues are saying. I'm sorry. Time is ticking. Ms. Pearl, I just want to ask, so one of the questions I think was answered. I just want to verify that it was accurate. So this is in the suburban area, correct? All right. So it seems though it is. So does the, do we still believe that the Planning Department would deny today with the amendment that was just offered? Yes. With the amendment, we continue to recommend denial. To what purpose is the recommendation of denial? It's now gone from seven to eight. That doesn't seem like much of a giant increase to me. It is still a change to the MDR land use category, which is a spot in that particular area surrounded by low density residential. The other areas are allowed a maximum of seven units per acre. The MDR will have, is proposed to have that site specific policy, but that policy could be removed in the future by council, of course, but it will have that MDR category assigned to it, which could spawn like developments in the surrounding area up to 20 units per acre, which we do not think is appropriate for this area. I think I'm slightly confused. I thought the suburban area was able to kind of handle a little bit more density. I know the urban area obviously can handle a lot more. The fact that it's only a thousand feet away does kind of seem like this, this seems like a proper transitional area. You still kind of disagree with that? Through the chair to the councilman. So the MDR, it's, it allows such a significant jump. I understand that this area might be feeling some growth pressures. However, a lot of the developments that are around that people have been referencing, those were still developed within the LDR land use category. They were just a more compact zoning district. This zoning district, if I recall, is our acre. I mean, it could be an RLD 60, RLD 50, RLD 40. All of those are still within the low density residential category. And so at this time, we just feel like MDR is premature. Understood. Thank you, Mr. President. All right. Council Member Carlucci. All right. Thank you, Mr. President. Just, just to clarify real quick, the amendment that we just passed, that is a site specific policy. So LDR is seven units per acre. This needed 7.9. MDR is 20. There's no in between as we've all kind of exhausted that conversation. So what this does is it basically says for this one specific site, it will give eight units per acre because you can't do 7.9. You have to round up. So instead of it being 20 on MDR, it will be site specific to this parcel and only be eight. So in essence, it's sort of the band-aid we came up with to bridge the gap in between LDR and MDR for this specific site. So for whatever that's worth. Thank you. Councilwoman Clark Murray. Thank you. I didn't expect Council Member Carlucci to get up and explain why the MDR, because it did seem a little strange that you went from the low density to MDR, but if the amendment remedies the fact that they won't be able to put apartments there at a later date, then I'm good with that. Thank you. All right. Dr. Johnson. Thank you, Mr. President. I will speak to this. Growth is not the question tonight. Growth is a given. We are growing. This city is growing. This community is growing. And I know I've been working with this community and the developers, but it's important that we grow with intention, the intentionality of how growth is to happen. And I certainly want to thank, again, the developer, Meritage, Holmes, engaging in good faith, and even offering the concessions that we heard tonight. Those are some great concessions. However, at the end of the day, there's still developments in that area that were held to a different standard. I'm so glad that Chairman Carlucci brought it up about that Band-Aid that we want to put on it. But that's kind of what I want to talk about. We've got to stop putting bandages on the code. I've said it before and I'll say it again. The code is broken. We need to make sure that we are doing the work to amend the code or change the code so that we don't have to put bandages on it every five minutes. The discussion in front of us is a land use action. So, of course, it doesn't require the same type of competent substantial evidence. And I certainly agree with what everyone says with the 2045 comp plan about the fact that we do need housing in this city. But at the end of the day, all growth is not good growth. And if we are saying this is how we're going to manage growth, and if we've told people this is how we're going to manage growth, and then we turn around and say, oh, but not right now, that then gives us pause and change. As the chairman can tell you, I've been working closely for at least the past month or a couple of months with other members of our legal team as well as planning and other departments to come up with another land use category. We have LDR, we have MDR, but there's a gap in between. Again, the reason why the code is broken, but I'm looking to come up with an LMDR, which is, I know Councilman Arias has been working on that as well. So I hope that, I wish that we could have held on this for just a moment so that we could come up with an LMDR category. We wouldn't be having this debate. We wouldn't be in the moment. But I think when we start waiving these rules and waiving the codes over and over again, it gives us pause in doing the actual work to fix the code. And so that's why I am not supporting this right now. I do believe we need growth. I do believe there's an opportunity here. I do not believe this is the way to do it. Thank you, Mr. President. All right. Councilmember Gay, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. President. Through the President, Councilmember Johnson, welcome to the fight. So it's always a tough position when your community is pressing for one thing and we see a need for another for housing through the President to Councilmember Carlucci. So basically, the LDR, MDR is a .9 factor. That's where we're at, where this is, and an apartment is denying it because of .9, because it's going to MDR because of that. And I just want to put it out there, is there a way to, we can bridge that .9 back to just 7 and hear what the community is saying and have this move forward. We've got it this, y'all got it this far. So I just really think that that could be some kind of compromise to fully get this moving forward and because it's what I'm seeing and hearing is what the community is saying. We're so close. Please, please consider that before this moves any further. Thank you. Councilmember Peluso, actually, Councilmember Arias for the first time. Thank you, Mr. President. All right. Last week at LUZ, this was a tough one for me because obviously we're voting off of facts and there's a lot of emotions in this room when it comes to these kind of rezonings and land use changes. Yeah, Mr. Johnson talked about a category that I was considering, he's also considering called LMDR. I think that's much needed in our city and also for us to actually make these determinations because going from LDR, 7 maximum, 7 units, going all the way to 20 is the issue here. Aaron Abney, if you don't mind, please come in up here. Mr. President, if that's okay with you. I want to know right now, realistically, this was deferred maybe a month ago at LUZ because somebody spoke in your department regarding the traffic percentage. We've heard a lot of different percentages today and last time we heard about it being overcapacity at 100%. Today we're hearing 10% and then 16% on the west side of the Blanding Boulevard. Pertaining to this property, where are we at with traffic count, a percentage? I'm sorry, our chief of transportation is out of town so she's not here today to answer that question. This is Helena Parola. But I do know that because those are local roads, they didn't have counts readily available. But based on past studies in the area, they brought that count on that side of Blanding Boulevard of Morse Avenue to about 15% capacity. Okay. So right now it's currently at 15%. Right. At LUZ it was mistaken. I think our chief was confused with the figures that they were looking at, so that was strictly. Okay. So if this were to pass tonight and it goes to, let's call it eight units per acre, looking at 77 homes, what is that going to bring the capacity to now? That I don't know. I know the applicant has provided some information on that, but when it comes to site plan review, that's when the traffic engineer will look at that and will look at whatever surrounding traffic there is and will ask of the applicant to provide those studies so they can make a better assessment of if anything is needed for the increase in density there. So they will look at if a turn lane is needed or if an additional stop late is needed and if that's warranted by the new development. Okay. And the reason why I ask is exactly for what you just said. You know, we heard about four-way stop signs and how they're not really effective as it is right now for that particular area. Is there something that will be done? And you just answered it. You said yes. If there's a needed for a turn lane or traffic light or whatever the case is, it will be added. Because the concern here today was really about safety. That's all I care about. I don't care about homes. I don't care about the builders or anybody else. I care about the safety of the community. And so as long as you guys are doing your due diligence, if this were to pass, that the community will be safe. That's really what matters the most. The last part is, and I have a minute left actually, if it were to pass going to MDR, I also heard that it will produce 900 daily trips compared to right now at LDR at 436. Is that accurate? Through the chair to Councilman Aria. So our transportation team did run what the daily trips would be on the original request of 89 single family homes. And that could produce about 809 daily trips. So if being reduced from 89 to 77, it would be less than that. Okay. All right. And so for clarification, the maximum at an MDR category will be 195 units, 194 units. But right now they're bringing it to 77 units is what you're stating, correct? Original request was 89 single family homes, bringing it down to 77 single family homes. Okay. If they were to sell the property, can somebody go ahead and flip it and say, I'm going to do 20 units? No, right? It's stuck at eight units per acre if we were to pass this. Correct. If this was to pass, the site-specific policy would be on that parcel. And in order to remove that, they would have to go through another land use amendment. All right. Perfect. Just wanted to make sure that we have a lot of protections in place for this. Thank you. All right. Councilmember Diamond, for the first time. Question has been called by Councilmember Diamond. All in favor of calling the question, raise your hand. Councilmember Pellucet recognized the question being called. It did not pass. Thank you, Mr. President. Can I have one of the home builders or somebody who's representing them come up? I just kind of want to ask. Mr. President, if there are questions that are going to be asked of anyone that are not staffed, you will be required to open the public hearing again so that those people can be allowed to testify, but only during the pendency of a public hearing. Yeah. He wants to ask. You want to ask a question to the applicant? I did. So I have to reopen the public hearing? Public hearing? Public hearing is open. Thank you, Mr. President. To the applicant, what do we believe the average cost is going to be for these homes? The price? Yes. Right around $300,000. Right around? $300,000 or so is what the projected home price is, yes. That does not thrill me, sir. No, because I mean, part of the argument is, and part of my argument is, I do not necessarily fear density at the end of the day. I think that the city does need to grow. It is growing, and so we do need to make sure we do have homes. We do need to make sure those homes are affordable. I understood that some people mentioned, hey, we could find homes right now on the market. A lot of those are much older homes that are very, trust me, I did some home buying recently, and some of them are not in, some of them are in very odd condition. So to have a new home does make sense to me, but we need to make sure those are affordable. I don't think that eight units per acre is terrifying to me. I just don't. And I apologize to those who might be offended by that. But I, especially if we have that already built in with the amendment we just passed, that does make me feel better about it. But I do not like that price, sir. And I hope that you guys consider to reduce it greatly. Thank you. All right. Public hearing is closed. We have no other speakers. Please open the ballot and record your vote. All for Freeman. The public hearing was just open so the council member could ask a question. So it's not open for everyone to just come talk again. 11 nays, 6 nays. By your action, you have approved 2026-0006. With that, we're on to item 59-2026-0007. We'll go ahead and declare ex parte. I'll get the ball rolling. I received 17 phone calls and emails, all in opposition. Also yesterday, I talked to T.R. Hayline and Hayden Phillips with questions on this ordinance. This has been filed with legislative services. Councilman Amaro. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I rise to declare ex parte. I have received a number of emails on this, mostly no. Also had a brief conversation with the applicant earlier today. Thank you. Dr. Johnson. Thank you, Mr. President. I rise to declare ex parte. I have received 17 emails and 14 phone calls, all in opposition. I also just recently had a meeting with the developers and the land use group in the corner. All those things will be declared shortly or put down with legislative services. Thank you. Councilmember Gay. Thank you, Mr. President. I've received three phone calls in support for this and many emails in opposition and it's been filed with legislative services. Thank you. Vice President Howland. Thank you, sir. I also rise to declare ex parte communications. I received 10 emails in opposition and I also spoke yesterday by phone at 11 a.m. with Mr. Hayden Phillips, the applicant's agents and we spoke about the traffic miscommunication as well as all of the concessions that have been made. We'll make sure this is filed. Thank you. Councilmember Peluso. Thank you, Mr. President. I stand to declare ex parte against. I received three emails in opposition from neighbors all supporting the planning department's recommendation for denial. I also have ex parte in favor. I received a phone call from T.R. Hanline and from Hayden Phillips, but I did not speak to either of them. I figured I would say that at the very least. Councilmember Miller. Thank you, Mr. President. I rise to declare ex parte communications as well. I received 14 emails and one voicemail message in opposition. I also had a conversation with Mr. Hayden Phillips about the various aspects of this bill and this has been filed with legislative services. Councilwoman Pittman. I rise also to declare ex parte. I did speak to Mr. Phillips today, received a number of emails, which I will file the information as well. Thank you. Councilman Arias. Thank you, Mr. President. I'm also declaring additional ex parte as I spoke to the applicant in the green room just this afternoon and also received many emails in opposition to this legislation. Thank you. Councilmember Boylan. Thank you, Mr. President. I stand to declare ex parte. I received six emails in opposition, one voicemail, and a conversation with Mr. Phillips yesterday afternoon. It's all been filed with legislative services. Vice President Salem. Thank you, Mr. President. I received a number of emails and one voicemail, and they've been filed with legislative services. Thank you. Thank you. All right. There's no one else. Go ahead with the public hearing. All right, Mr. President. Same thing as the previous bill. I'm going to call five at a time. Please come on down. Lawrence Chaney, Shelly Chaney, Tanya Wells, David McClure, and Samantha Series. If you do not wish to speak when I call your name, just let me know. So, again, Lawrence Chaney, Shelly. Mr. Chaney, do you wish to speak? Okay. Okay. Ms. Wells. It's 5694 Morse Avenue. Man, I just don't understand. I have something to read, but I don't understand how we can go off of data or suggested data when reports were done from two years ago. They were done two years ago, even farther back. I have a report from the City of Jacksonville Traffic Engineering Division done on March 25th with the number of accidents. I sent it to you guys. We stated what the Planning Department expects traffic-wise. We don't even have the other subdivisions built. We don't have that other traffic. But yet, without all of this, you're going to approve it. And for me, as a citizen, that's hard to accept. It's hard to accept. So, I'm not going to go off what I read. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. I appreciate it. Really appreciate it. You have no idea. Thank you. Lawrence Chaney and then Shelly Chaney and David McClure. I'm Shelly Chaney. My address is on file. I'm going to go slightly off my script here. Growth is natural and manageable. Overgrowth is when it outpaces what your community can handle. I really wish that y'all would pay attention to that in the sense of, yes, all the other homes are already being built or in the process of being built. It's changed our community significantly. I oppose the 707 ordinance. The surrounding roads, like Morris and Seaboard Avenue, are two-lane local roads. Typical limits of these roads are 5,000 to 10,000 vehicles per day in standard capacity. Around 10,000 vehicles per day is maximum. Approximately 3,200 vehicles per hour, both directions combined. But real-world conditions reduce this capacity. Narrow lanes, frequent driveways, existing congestion, school traffic, and local flow. That's adding 5,000 daily trips with three roads beyond functional capacity. They're not right now, but when you add 507 homes to our neighborhood within a mile of each other, it's a lot. Existing safety issues have already been addressed per email by Mr. Durbin, who is a traffic study engineer at the City of Jacksonville. The City of Jacksonville has already implemented traffic calming measures in the exact area due to safety concerns. There was a wreck there Easter weekend. A car was upside down or on its side in the ditch. We're adding 5,000 more trips to this area. Seaboard and Morris has an all-way stop. Seaboard and 110th now has an all-way stop. Seaboard and 118th had already had an all-way stop. Now it has speed bumps. One road over from Morris, which is Avella where my husband grew up, they added speed bumps all the way down that road because people fly down the road. These changes have been made because residents have reported speeding and safety risk. The City recognizes this area already has traffic problems. Speed humps are specifically designed to reduce speed to 15 to 20 miles per hour, showing that this is the residential safety focus area, not billed for increased density or travel load. Thank you. Thank you. And we are going to start going in order. You do have to come up in the order. I call you, and I was a little leany on that for the past few. But Mr. Cheney, if you could go ahead now. And it'll be David McClure and Samantha Sears. Lawrence Cheney, address is on file. What y'all just did in this last land use change is opened up Pandora's box. I don't think y'all understand the impact that y'all just created on communities all over Jacksonville. But I'm not going to get into that. Y'all going to have to live with y'all's mistakes. And we're going to have to live with y'all's mistakes. But what this developer is proposing is 30-foot lots. Eighty percent of his proposed site plan is 30-foot lots with three-foot side yards between the houses. So that's six feet. They're going to build a 24-foot house. Let me tell you what that does. You have fire safety risks with 30-foot lots. This development proposes homes on 30-foot lots, which creates serious and well-documented fire hazards. Limited space, increased risk. Homes built too close together do not allow adequate separation. Fire safety experts recommend 30 feet of defensible space, which is impossible on these lots. When homes are less than 10 feet apart, radiant heat alone can ignite neighboring structures. Let that sink in. Six feet apart, but radiant heat can set off even at 10 feet apart. How fast fires spread in modern homes. Modern construction makes the risk even more severe. A home can be completely destroyed in as little as five to 15 minutes. Flashover can occur in just three to five minutes. When an entire room ignites at once. In modern open concept homes with synthetic materials, flashover can happen in under three minutes. Structural collapse can occur in four to six minutes in newer homes and 15 to 20 minutes in older homes. Once flashover occurs, the home is typically unsurvivable within minutes. Why this matters for our neighborhood? Fires will spread faster between tightly spaced homes, which we're all on our acre, so let that sink in. Our houses aren't near each other. Embers can travel over a mile, easily ignite nearby structures in dense developments. Shared vegetation. Vegetation increases the likelihood of multi-home fires. Emergency response reality. Current fire rescue response times 5.34 minutes. That means a fire can reach flashover before first responders even arrive. In many cases, significant damage or total loss has already occurred. Bottom line, with homes this close together, fires will spread faster. Containment becomes more difficult. Thank you, sir. Next up, David McClure. David McClure, 5750 Morse Avenue. The proposal combined with already approved development within this mile, within a mile from this development, we're going to be over 500 new homes within the next year or so. All we're taking into account is this just one development. It seems like, and then that's, we don't even have, like Tanya was saying, we don't even have a current traffic analysis. What you guys are basing your decisions on a three-year-old traffic analysis from Wells Landing from three years ago. And we've got over 500 new homes. So that's thousands or more people moving into the area. We're talking, you know, it's hard to fathom because the numbers are so small and we all know that live there that they're much higher than what the numbers. So we're talking over 900 to 1,000 new vehicles on our road every day. Every day. More than 5,000 in daily. We figured more than 5,000 additional daily trips with all the congestion that's moving in. It's already dangerous now. So I guess somebody should just develop, just to open up a business of a record business to pick up all the cars that are going to crash. The development on the lots that do not meet basic fire principles. He was talking about how small the lots are. It's ridiculous. It'll go up like a torch. Without a complete traffic study, the congestion, it just doesn't make any sense why we're even here voting on this. Well, at the time when the city is actively trying to slow traffic down and improve safety, this project does just the exact opposite. This is dangerous for all of us that live in the neighborhood. I respectfully urge you to deny the order 007. Thank you. Thank you. Samantha Series, and then Jeffrey Scott. Samantha Series, address on file. I oppose this ordinance. This PUD is requested so the applicant is able to put 30-foot lots into an area that does not have 30-foot lots. The current zoning is residential rural. According to the staff from the PD report, they find the proposed PUD to not be appropriate at this location. The proposed development constitutes a spot zoning and deviates from the established development pattern of the area. According to the Planning Department report, this proposed rezoning to planned unit development is inconsistent with the 2045 comprehensive plan and does not further the following goals, objectives, and policies contained herein. Inconsistent with the FLU policy 3.1.12, as it would result in higher residential density on a site accessed and bound by local unclassified road. The subject property is located along Morse Avenue, which is classified as a local roadway. Staff is supportive of increased density when sites are located along collector roadways or higher due to the capability of supporting increasing traffic. Many people have mentioned that other developments are being brought around this area. All of the zoning that is currently being, you know, built is RLD 40 and RLD 50. This is a PUD because they want 30-foot lots. We do not see RLD 30. I've never seen that one here and have been to a few of these. So it is concerning that we are not listening to the staff report. You know, this PUD is out of nowhere. It is all RLD 40, RLD 50. Yes, there's a couple around. It is .2 miles from Blanding Boulevard. So I understand. And this group of community members, they do not oppose development in all. Like, you know, they are fine with sticking with what was now changed to MDR, but they were fine with LDR and RLD 60. They would have accepted RLD 60, but the developer does not agree with that. He wants RLD 30 and that is how they would get those 77 homes into this area. It's 9.7 acres. That's not a lot compared to these other bigger properties that were mentioned before. The other properties that have lots of homes being built, 17 acres, almost 23 acres. One's 43 acres. So we're asking to put this extra density in 9.7 acres. I think we need to listen to the staff report and not do a PUD here. And if you do approve the PUD to listen to the community and have the items that they were hoping would be implemented if this is approved. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, Jeffrey Scott and then Paula Moore. Is Jeffrey Scott here? Okay. How about Paula Moore? No, Paula Moore. Blake Harper. Blake Harper does not wish to speak. Tammy Brown. Is Tammy still here? Does not wish to speak. Thank you, man. Layla Aline. She's still here. Okay. Miss Woodham. I don't see her. Oh, Miss Woodham. Do you wish to speak? Okay. Sorry for not seeing you out there. Kelly Chatham. Do not wish to speak. Laura Young. Does not wish to speak. Ken Atlee. Ken Atlee wishes to speak. Ken Atlee. 51 Timacuana Road. And I would be happy to answer any questions if you have any. Thank you. Thanks, sir. Bobby O'Connor. And after Bobby, it'll be Steve Wilson. My name is Bobby O'Connor. My name is on file. I mean, my address is on file. It's past my bedtime. I do not understand this process. I really don't. The planning department has said that this request is inconsistent with the goals and objectives of the comprehensive plan. They listed them all, specifically goal three and all these objectives. It's inconsistent with the vision plan or the flu policy. It's inconsistent with the strategic regional policy plan. It would provide more housing, but not more affordable housing. And it would also detract from the name, the character of the neighborhood. The part I don't understand about the process is it doesn't make any sense to me that you would open the public hearing again so a council member could ask the applicant a question. But then you don't ask the you don't ask the neighborhood folks a question. I don't understand that. Don't we have an opportunity to refute what's being said, particularly when something is said that is not the truth as we know it. So in this business about the code, please fix whatever needs to be fixed in the code so that this doesn't come up again. How many other are in this agenda tonight or next week or that you've continued that you're going to put a Band-Aid on? Stop putting Band-Aids. I don't know what you have to do to change the code, but I bet you Council Member Johnson knows, and some of others you know, please change the code so this stops happening. I heard someone say, and I hate to even say this, but someone, I'm not going to use their name, but someone said the Planning Commission never met a developer they didn't like. I'm starting to believe that about most of you all. I really am. And I appreciate Council Members Gay, Johnson, Boylan, Freeman, Pittman, and Salem for voting no on this. Thank you very much on the previous ordinance. As you might guess, I haven't said it, but I do oppose this. Thank you, ma'am. Steve Wilson, after Mr. Wilson, Scott Ennis, and then Jamie Travis Leonard. Steve Wilson, still at 6314 Seaboard. I just want to point out one thing here. We did have some comments from Council Members right before the vote suggesting that this is about safety and that it would be a simple matter to put in a turning lane. It's not going to be a simple matter. There's not even a breakdown or, you know, pull over space, particularly at that intersection, but all up and down most of the roads in the area, there's a ditch. So I'm not, you know, obviously you can move the dirt around, take property away from the development, take property away from everybody adjoining the corner, but it's not going to be that simple a matter. I do also want to, without being personal, I don't think it was lost on any of us that quite a large majority of comments that Council Members mentioned as ex parte after the vote were all opposed. And I don't have a firm count to validate that, but certainly how it seemed. And all of the conversations were had with the party here trying to apply for this, so thank you. It doesn't look good. Scott Ennis, and then Jamie Travis Leonard, and then Elaine Wilson. Scott Ennis, my address is on file. Again, I'm here on behalf of Meritage Homes. I'm confident of the benefit, and I'm happy to answer any questions. Thanks. Thank you. Jamie Travis Leonard, are you here? Do you wish to speak? Oh, she's not here. Okay, thank you. For the record, she opposed it. Elaine Wilson. No question. Good evening again. My name is Elaine Wilson. I reside at 6314 Seaboard Avenue. Well, my horses do anyway. I Googled up how to combat this situation, and it said a successful defense combines documenting procedural flaws. So, we've talked about we don't have a current traffic study. We relied on the planning committee's input. It didn't really seem to matter. Showing alignment with community plans. It doesn't fit the low density that we were told that property was zoned for, or land use for, or the residential rural side. We presented a united, well-organized front, ta-da, and we've sat here patiently waiting. A PUD provides a deviation from standard regulations. A PUD can waive and relax the rigid requirements of an underlying MDR zoning district. Several of you who voted yes on the last ordinance spoke strongly about, oh, it's only one more. It's just one more. But under a PUD, that can quickly change when they realize they have to put in a turn lane, and now we've got to fill ditches, and that's not coming out of these neighbors' front yards. That's coming out of the front yards of these 30-foot home sites with two-car garages, which are 20 feet. So, you have a two-car garage door and a four-foot entry door. Welcome to the neighborhood. So, we've gone from looking at horses to looking at that. So, if you guys could reconsider on the PUD so that we don't end up changing more than you guys already said. Oh, we've got this covered. We've got this extra little clause. We're going to be okay. Our neighborhood is not going to be okay. You're not taking a holistic look at the neighborhood. The 500 houses that you've approved, one parcel here, one parcel there, one parcel there. It's chewing the cookie one piece at a time, not realizing you're not eating a cookie or eating the whole pie. So, can you please take some consideration of the neighborhood and what these neighbors are saying? It is not about not in my backyard. We've asked. Please hear us. Thank you. Thank you. Last speaker is Mr. Hayden Phillips. Are you questions only, Mr. Phillips, or do you wish to speak again? I will stand by for any questions that you may have, and I would be glad to answer them in the event you do have questions. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. President, I'm going to read into the record all those that filled out a card do not wish to speak. I believe this is Kyrie Horton opposes. Christina Warren opposes. Hunter Chaney opposes. Janice Black opposes. Darlene Renfrew opposes. Barbara Black opposes. Denise Scott opposes. I cannot read the first name. Last name is Quinyos, I believe, opposes. Anthony Brown opposes. Blair Young opposes. Louis Vasquez opposes. John Nooney opposes. Anthony Ricardo supports. Denise Cook supports. Denise Cook supports. And Kenzie Quinyos opposes. I have no more speaker cards. Public hearing closed. I move the amendment. Got a motion second on the amendment. There's no one in the queue. All in favor of the amendment, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed to say nay. The amendment carries. I move the bill as amended. I have a motion second on the bill as amended. There's no one in the queue. Please open the ballot and record your vote. 11 yays, 6 nays. By your action, you have approved 2026-0007. I'm 60, 61, 62, and 63. 2026-122, 123, 126, and 127. I have no speaker cards. These public hearings will be continued to 5-12-26. I'm 64-2026-164. I have one speaker card. Josh Cockerell, is Mr. Cockerell here? He did not check, or he did check. I do not wish to speak questions only. So I have no more speaker cards. Public hearings closed. I move the bill. Got a motion second on the bill. No is in the queue. Please open the ballot and record your vote. I'll record your vote. Miller? 16 yays, 0 nays. By your action, you have approved 2026-0164. I'm 65, 2026-165. I have no speaker cards. All right. We'll get some ex parte out of the way. Council Vice President Howland? Yeah. Thank you, Mr. President. I rise to declare ex parte communications. I had a conversation with Ms. Cindy Trimmer yesterday, April 27th, at 10 AM about this rezoning. We'll ensure it's filed. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Public hearings closed. I move the bill. Motion second on the bill. No one's in the queue. Please open the ballot. Record your vote. 16 yays, 0 nays. By your action, you have approved 2026-0165. I'm 66, 2026-166. I have no speaker cards. Public hearings closed. The amendment. I have a motion second on the amendment. There's no one in the queue. All in favor of the amendment. Signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. The amendment carries. Move the bill as amended. I have a motion second on the bill. As amended. No one's in the queue. Please open the ballot. 17 yays, 0 nays. By your action, you have approved 2026-0166. I'm 67, 2026-167. I have one speaker card. Josh Cockrell. Questions only. Public hearing is closed. I move the amendment. Motion second on the amendment. There's no one in the queue. All in favor of the amendment. Signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. The amendment passes. Move the bill as amended. Got a motion second on the bill as amended. There's no one in the queue. Please open the ballot. Accord your vote. 17 yays, 0 nays. By your action, you have approved 2026-0167. I'm 68, 2026-168. I got a number of speaker cards. A combination of those who do wish to speak and do not. The first one, Benjamin, and I apologize. I cannot read this last name. He left. Okay. Well, he supports this bill. I also have Sally Barnes who opposes this. Is Ms. Barnes still here? She left also. Thank you. Josh Cockrell supports and questions only. And Karen Griffin, questions only, opposes. I have no more speaker cards. All right. Public hearings continue to 5-12-26. Item 69, 2026-169. I have two speaker cards. I have three speaker cards now. The first is Carolyn Griffin does not wish to speak and did not check whether she supports or opposes this. Also, Sally Barnes opposes this. And Benjamin, again, cannot pronounce the last name. Looks like it begins with the N. The applicant supports this. And I have no more speaker cards. Public hearings continue to 5-12-26. Time for third reading. So if we go to page 32, you recall we took out item 70 already. We did not take up item 71. We'll do that now. 2026-230. I move the amendment. I've got a motion second on the amendment. There's no one in the queue. All in favor of the amendment. Signified by say aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. The amendment carries. Move the bill as amended. Got a motion second on the bill as amended. There's no one in the queue. Please open the ballot. Record your vote. 16 yeas. Zero nays. Find your action. You approve 2026-0230. Jumping ahead to page 34, third reading ordinances. Item 77, 2026-213. I move the amendment. Got a motion second on the amendment. There's no one in the queue. All in favor of the amendment. Signified by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. The amendment carries. Move the bill as amended. Motion and second on the bill as amended. Mr. Floor Leader, you're recognized. Thank you. I want to thank everyone who already co-sponsored this bill. All finance members except Ms. Pittman who was out that day and maybe she'll be a co-sponsor to make it a full sweep. It was about a year ago I referred to the Cash Incentive Cliff. My concern was that we were facing $74 million just this year. But through a combination of timing as well as unexpected surpluses, it's more like a ledge now. So I appreciate everyone's support. We're not done yet. Council Member Miller had a bill that makes us have to budget these each year. This bill simply says that if we have year-end budget surpluses, it becomes a new priority of ours to make this the second most priority after making sure our operating reserves are at a certain level, which is already in the ordinance. So, again, great progress this year. We're not done. This is going to help provide another safeguard. And I appreciate everyone's support for passing this legislation. And, again, we made great progress this year. We still have almost 50 that are unbudgeted. We've made a lot of progress. There's still $50 million out there, though, that we've committed to, and we don't have a funding source. This bill will help us solve that as well as we have other surpluses come up. We just need to remember to always make sure that our committed liabilities, in this case completion grants, are a priority of ours to put money against. Thank you. All right. Thank you for that. Go ahead and add me as a co-sponsor as well. And there's no one in the queue. And add Councilwoman Pittman. And add Councilmember Amaro. And add President White. I move a council amendment. And we have a motion on a council amendment. We have a second. All in favor of a council amendment. Signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. Council amendment passes. I move the bill as twice amended to confirm our seriousness about cash completion grants. All right. We've got a motion and a second on the bill as now twice amended. No one's in the queue. Please open the ballot and record your vote. All right. Welcome back, Councilmember Gaffney. We did call for the ballot, I believe. We did. Yes. Okay. 18 yays, zero nays. By your action, you have approved 2026-0213. Thank you, colleagues. Item 78-2026-218, I move the amendment. Got a motion and a second on the amendment. No one's in the queue. All in favor of the amendment. Signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. The amendment carries. I move the bill as amended. Got a motion and a second on the bill as amended. Councilman Lane. Thank you, President. So we just approved my bill against, not against cash completion grants, but providing a guardrail. I just want to make sure for the record on this, everyone understands the discussion we had in finance. This is TIF funding only and it's for items the Finance Committee actually put in the DIA budget last fall when we went through the budget or last summer. So again, a yes vote on this. It is not taking money from your district taxpayers. This is TIF funding only generated within the CRA that the Finance Committee approved during budget time for them to work towards contracts on this. So again, just want to point out that this is money. We actually made changes during the budget season to move it from general to be all TIF funding. So that is why I'm a yes on the next two. Thank you. All right. Regorsement for finance chair for next year. No one's in the queue. Did we move the amendment? Good? We did. All right. Open the ballot. I move the amendment. By your action, you have approved 2026-0218. I move the amendment. I move the amendment. I move the amendment. I have a motion and a second on the amendment. All in favor of the amendment, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. The amendment carries. Move the bill as amended. Got a motion and a second on the bill as amended. No one's in the queue. No one's in the queue. There's no one in the queue. Please open the ballot. Record your vote. 14 yays, 4 nays. By your action, you have approved 2026-0219. Item 88, 2026-221. I move the amendment. I have a motion and a second on the amendment. No one's in the queue. All in favor of the amendment, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed say nay. The amendment carries. Move the bill as amended. I have a motion and a second on the bill as amended. No one's in the queue. Please open the ballot and record your vote. 16 yays, 2 nays. By your action, you have approved 2026-0221. Item 81, 2026-223. I move the bill. Got a motion and a second on the bill. Council member, excuse me, Pastor President Salem, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. President. I voted against this bill in, I think, two committees that I'm on. And let me tell you why. Councilman Arias, about six weeks to two months ago, proposed a bill in the downtown district to extend the hours to 3 a.m. from 2 a.m. He thought he might go to 5 a.m. But he compromised with 3 a.m. And I think eventually he might go to 5 a.m. I was quite concerned about that, frankly. I won't be out there at 3 a.m., I can assure you. But I understand there are people in our community that want to be drinking at 3 a.m. And there's Ubers and ways to get them home safely and all those kinds of things. But the point of that discussion was, let's go to 3 a.m., let's gather data, let's see how it goes, and then we might see about expanding this. In fact, interestingly, I went to a notice meeting today by Councilmember Johnson, who has some legislation that he will be proposing which will mandate that data collection from JSO, JFRD, DIA, and others to see what the changes are from that legislation. I personally would like to see that bill put in place and some period of time go, three months, six months, with the 3 a.m. before we start expanding it. So now, all of a sudden, we're putting Brooklyn out there. I just don't think it's a good idea. I think we should wait, gather the data on the downtown area. I frankly think the downtown area should be the area that goes to 3 a.m. and maybe 5 a.m. That should be the area where we do expand the bars. So I will be voting against this. I hope we get the data at some point through the legislation that Dr. Johnson is proposing, and then we can see if we want to expand it further. Thank you, Mr. President. All right. No one else is in the queue, so please open the ballot and record your vote. 14 yays, four nays. Final action, you approve 2026-0223. Dr. Johnson, on this bill, yeah. Just wanted to speak to it. Thank you, Mr. President, and to Pastor President Salem, through the chair. Thank you very much for that. I just wanted to bring up to speed what Dr. Salem was talking about. I had a notice meeting earlier today. This is important to me because if we are going to have an entertainment district, I kind of said before, let's not play at it. Let's actually have an entertainment district, as Dr. Salem said. We look at other cities around the world and, of course, in the United States. And these places are open until, like, 5 a.m., but what is important is getting the data. So there's a bill coming forth. It will be introduced in the next cycle. I've been working on it now for about six weeks or so. There's some changes that need to be made to it because it was attached to Councilman Arias' initial bill. But with this change, there may be some other nuances. So the legal team is working on it. But basically what it will do is in six months' time, it will then mandate all that data to come back. We can then, as a council, look at it, whether it's us or future councils, but they'll then have the data to determine what we'll do to create a real entertainment district, as opposed to just having little bits and pieces we can work to really do something that's sustainable for Jacksonville. So I look forward to introducing that. And, again, thank you to past president Salem. Thank you, Mr. President. All right, Kel. Else member Arias. All right, thank you, Mr. President. So when I initially drafted the bill about a month, two months ago, it was specifically targeting downtown. That's it, downtown, urban core. Brooklyn came in the picture. I was out of the country. I couldn't vote on that one. However, I consider Brooklyn as part of the downtown overlay. It is part of the downtown overlay, which is why I voted in favor of it today. I will say, however, though, if I do next year bring up a 5 a.m. legislation, I think that's going to be really truly pertaining to urban core downtown right there. I will tell you right now, I would not support this in any other district, because this kind of legislation is not meant for all of Jacksonville. It's meant for only downtown and maybe the beaches. All right? But with that being said, I just wanted to kind of give you guys an explanation as to why I supported this bill today. I looked at the map as well, too. There are only, like, less than a handful of bars in Brooklyn. So this is really only in effect, like, maybe two or three at the most. So it's not a substantial change. But, yeah, congratulations, Councilman Peluso, on getting this in your district. Thank you. Mr. Floilater. Okay. With that, I made two. 2026-249, I move the amendment. You're not in the queue, Mr. Peluso, but if you would like to speak, since it is your bill, I will allow it. Thank you, Mr. President. I don't know if there's something. I'm definitely, the thing's lit up. Thank you, colleagues. I genuinely mean that. I think you could see Stacy's got tears of joy. I made a promise, and I'm very grateful to all of you for allowing me to keep it. It was a mistake that this wasn't in the first bill. I'm grateful to Council Member Arias for running that bill. I concur with you. I believe that this should not be expanded into neighborhoods as well. Thank you all so much, and congratulations, Stacy. All right. Mr. President, item 82-2026-249, I move the amendment. All right. Well, you've got a motion second on the amendment. There's no one in the queue. All in favor of the amendment. Signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed to say nay. The amendment carries. Amended. Got a motion and a second on the bill as amended. No one's in the queue. Actually, the sponsor. Council Member Freeman. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I'll be brief, but I cannot let this moment pass by without putting a few things on the record. One, as I said in finance, the two biggest barriers that our most challenged members of our community face is access and bureaucracy. And I just want to make sure I just run through this real quick. My pastor said this week, you know, when those bring hate or talk hate towards you, do not respond with hate. So my posture has been changed, and I'm just going to give a brief recap. I want to, one, thank Ms. Norris for calling me on a Sunday evening to tell me that they opposed the bill before the Monday that it came to committee. But I also want to ask Ms. Norris, and I know she's watching, that if they know they're going to oppose it, maybe meet with me prior so that we can try to work through this together. That's the first one. The next one, Mr. Delaney, great seeing you there. I admire your father more than you ever could imagine. He is one of the few people that finished their term in politics with over 80% approval rate. And I've told him many times that I aspire to try to do the same. But I will ask, Mr. Delaney, that if they're going to have you sit up here on the dais and give an opinion, that then you too often also come to my office and sit down and meet with me. Because your quote, I believe it said is, it doesn't align with the mayor's priorities. That, to me, was a challenge. Ms. Figueroa, I know she's watching. I want to thank her. I ran into Dr. Hervey at Foxtel Coffee, and I asked her specifically, I said, Dr. Hervey, do you remember the bill that we worked on in my office where you all changed the code? And it was a struggle for me, but I understand that they took a good bill and they made it better. She says, yes, I definitely remember it. I'm like, well, what happened? She couldn't call. She didn't really know. And that's fine. But what's not fine was then pushing it back to August or September and outside of this session. Which is what brings us to this point. Mr. Weinstein, one, your institution of knowledge is something that I think just surpasses most in government these days. But I truly believe he misspoke when he said that microgrants are inefficient and that they're non-impactful. And I do believe that he got microgrants confused with the $300,000 that we gave in response to the rain's tragedy that happened when we lost lives of teenagers. And Gaffney Sr. went to that podium and asked, he said from my lips to God's ears, and got $300,000. And the KHA leader at the time put those dollars on the street, and we understand the challenges that came with it afterwards. The Crime and Safety Task Force also had $9,000, so they were forced with it. But I want to thank Councilmember Salem. Although I didn't quite feel good about the bill, he raised that floor to $25,000. A microgrant now is $25,000. And so I wasn't sure he was working with that. So in closing, I want to say this. I watched a commercial recently, and it referred to someone getting it done. And there were a ton of people that said, so-and-so gets it done. And that's our current mayor. And I want you all to go, and I want you to look at minute one, one minute and two seconds in it. And what it says is that we created 4,300 new jobs and 192 million in contracts for JSEBs. And I think Mr. Peluso just had a meeting on JSEBs as well. So when they say that it does not align with the mayor's priorities, but yet in a commercial they're quoting it, that more likely tells me it doesn't align with who's brought the bill forward. So I ask for your support. I ask for your support on this, because this bill that's $200,000 is going to JSEBs, small JSEBs, businesses, a part of their number of 4,300, a part of them 192 million, and maybe call to question when they do come back later and say they oppose bills like this and ask them why. Thank you. Please add me as a co-sponsor. No one else in the queue. Open the ballot. Record your vote. 17 yays, zero nays. By your action, you have approved 2026-0249. Councilman Freeman gets it done. Thank you, Mr. President. And I wanted to make sure I got through the vote before I asked this. I challenge each of you all to track this and see if it gets done. I don't care if we're Democrat or Republican up here. When we pass bills, we do it because we feel it's best for our constituents and our community. It does not just belong to the executive branch. Collaboration. That's all I'm asking for. So I'm looking forward to this. It's on our agenda tomorrow now for JSEB committee. You're welcome to come join us in the JSEB special. We'll hear what the board talks about. Thank you. All right. Councilmember Boylan, you're on cue. Thank you, Mr. President. I supported the bill this evening. And I understand the rationale of Councilmember Freeman pushing it forward. But I would be remiss as the council liaison for PSG to encourage my colleagues next year to support the work of the PSGs going forward. It's going to be a challenging year for them as well. I'm going to count on Mr. Councilmember Freeman to live up to his word to support and encourage the increasing of the funding for the PSGs next year to make up for this $200,000. Thank you, Mr. President. All right. It is time for second reading. Mr. Thiel, may you please read the bills. 2026, 269, 270, 277, 280, 2026, 273, 274, 275, and 276. Thank you, Mr. Thiel. We do have two action items in this section. Item 83, 2026, 269. First of all, I have no public participation cards for any. Item 2026, 269. Move the amendment. Got a motion to second on the amendment. No one's in the queue. All in favor of the amendment. Signify by saying aye. Aye. And you oppose, say nay. The amendment carries. Move the bill as amended. Got a motion to second on the bill as amended. No one's in the queue. Please open the ballot and record your vote. 18 yays, zero nays. All right. Your action, you will approve 2026-0269. And for those of you that don't remember, those are the young men that performed at my installation ceremony. For those of you that were able to make it. Yeah. Colleagues, item 86, 20. All right. One more action item tonight. Item 2026-280. Okay, colleagues. Let's say we got one action item left here. 2026-280. We are going to take action on this item tonight, but there are several steps for this. Council President, you first need to announce that the bill is being discharged from committees. All right. And upon request of the bill's sponsor, at least Mr. Peluso of the introducers. He made that request through his office to my office today, and I granted that request, so I am discharging this bill from committee. Understood, sir. We move to declare resolution 2026-280 as an emergency. Got a motion and second on the emergency. No one's in the queue. All in favor of the emergency, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. Emergency passes. Thank you, Mr. President. I have a floor amendment that has been passed out. It is fairly self-explanatory, just adding the emergency language, so I move my floor leader amendment. Got a motion and second on the floor leader amendment. No one's in the queue. All in favor of the amendment, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. The amendment carries. I move the bill as an emergency, as amended, and I have no public participation cards. We have a motion and second on moving the bill as an emergency, as amended. There is no public participation. Council member Peluso, he recognized. Thank you, Mr. President, for recognizing me. I didn't know bills could move that fast, guys. This is really something else. I am great. I am very grateful. Thank you, Mr. President, for allowing for this process to go through. The reason why we had the emergency, why we're in this place right now, is the James Beard Award. Obviously, highly prestigious. If you've never been at Chacho King, I highly encourage you to go. It's in Murray Hill, the place where Council member Salem grew up. It's right off of Edgewood. It's an incredible place. They have really, not only do they have great food, but they also have great food. They also have great events throughout the week as well. The owners, Maria and Chason, are both up for the James Beard Award for Best Chef, which is obviously the top tier. It's like getting the Oscar for Best Actor. Point being is, this resolution will be used as a part of their application for the James Beard Award. We'll know if they've won by June 15th. I highly encourage you all to go out there. Very grateful to you this evening. Thank you. All right. Dr. Salem, you were in the queue. Do you wish to speak? Yes. Please. Thank you, Mr. President. I, in no way, shape or form, want to stop voting on this bill. But how do you have, this is through the Chair to Ms. Mary, public participation on a bill that we just discharged? How does the public weigh in on that? I want to be educated. Through the Chair to Council Member Salem. So, this was already marked for public participation because it's on second reading. So, in this instance, there were no individuals who came forward and filled out a card. So, what we did, though, in the process was make sure that it was clear the bill was being moved for action this evening before the public participation cards would have been taken up so that anybody who was present to speak on it would know that you're speaking on the bill slated for final action as opposed to just participating in public participation with the expectation it would go to committees next week. Thank you. All right. No one's in the queue. Please open the ballot. Record your vote. 18 yays. Zero nays. By your action, you've approved 2026-0280 as an emergency as amended. Colleagues, please jump ahead to page 58 for our addendum. I move the addendum. We've got a motion second on the addendum. All in favor of the addendum, signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed to saying nay. The addendum has been moved. Mr. President, that concludes our business for the evening. All right. Mr. Floor Leader, as always, thank you for your help in keeping us organized and on track. Do we have a roll call? Let's do a roll call. 18 present. All right. Before we go to announcements, it is Dylan's last council meeting with us. Mr. Reingold. Mr. Reingold, would you like to give a speech? No speech? All right. He is doing what every good city employee does. They go to the private sector and make some money. So we all wish you good luck in your ventures and thanks for your time with us. Vice President Howland, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. President. Earlier this year, Councilman Matt Carlucci had a great idea. Yes, you just heard those words come out of my mouth. Councilman Matt Carlucci had a great idea. He called a notice meeting where he said he would like to share with the rest of council his priorities in his last year on council before he's termed out. So now that I have pledges where it's very likely I will be council president, I've decided to leverage his idea and take up and try to have notice meetings for any termed out council member to find out what their priorities are going to be for their last year to see if we can't make sure that those priorities come to fruition. So Amber will be reaching out to the seven of you who are termed out. And we'll have meetings likely in the month of May. And let me know what you want to see done. Thank you. All right. Dr. Johnson. Thank you, sir. And again, I just want to say re-echo your comments, Mr. President, about Dillon. Thank you for your service to the council. You are, this has been a really great experience just learning from me at LUZ. We didn't always agree, but one thing I know is that Dillon's going to come with some legal knowledge and it forces me to do more research to be the best version of what we can do. And that's why we're here to help people. So thank you, Dillon, for that. And we look forward to seeing you on the other side of the dais. I also want to say very quickly, Mr. President, in March of 1993, my good friend, Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, from Miami, founded a program. At the time, she was a member of the school board of Dade County. She went on to become state representative, state senator, and now a member of the U.S. Congress. But while she was there, she started a program called the 5,000 Role Models. It is one of the most exemplary programs in the country. In fact, it is not only down in Dade County and Broward County and now in Duval County since 2016, it's in the Bahamas, in the LA Unified School District in Los Angeles. It's in Louisiana. It's all over the country. And Congresswoman Wilson didn't do it because she wanted recognition for it. She did it because it was the right thing to do. Well, the reason I'm wearing this tie tonight, it's very conspicuous, but it shows hands, a hand of a large hand and a small hand. And it's very intentional. This is the official tie of the 5,000 Role Models of Excellence. I want to say that several members that are on this dais right now, including Dr. Salem and former President Dr. Salem and former President Freeman, have the 5,000 Role Models tie and are part of this program. I myself went out for my first time with the 5,000 Role Models over at Darnell Cookman Middle School and spent time with those young men. And so I encourage, I wore this to bring attention to what the 5,000 Role Models are doing. I know Councilman Arias, forgive me. I know you've talked to 5,000 Role Models on your side of town. And you've got some that are interested in running now that you're planning to do the Ironman Athlon. So the beauty is we can all be a part of this. And so I encourage you to do that. The 5,000 Role Models director was here with us earlier tonight. But I wanted to wear this tie to bring attention to what they do. And our opportunity to move those things forward exists. Thank you, colleagues. I appreciate it. And I hope you will, too. Get a 5,000 Role Models tie and go. And ladies can wear it, too. Get a 5,000 Role Models tie. But give back in this way because there's some, I had the most incredible experience with these young folk. Thank you. All right. Councilwoman Pittman, any birthdays? First of all, I want to give a little credit to Councilman Miller, who is the assistant to Councilman Lane, to helping him, how you say, keep organized. I was hoping you were able to say something a few minutes more. But anyway, we thank you for supporting him and getting him organized where he makes sure everything goes smoothly. I also want to acknowledge Councilman Johnson last week. I had an opportunity to go to the annual award that LISC has. And they had several awards. And our Councilman, Rockman Johnson, received the Janet Owens Award. And I'm sure some of you all know who Janet Owens was. She was definitely a community advocate, especially for housing and community outreach. So let's just give him a big round of applause for him receiving such a beautiful award. And again, I want to remind you all, if you all are receiving awards or highlights in the community, I think our community needs to know what you're doing. You know, all you have to do is just shoot me a text or email because I want to make sure that I recognize you and your endeavors in the community. We do have birthdays scheduled for May the 5th. And let's give it up for our Councilman Roy Diamond. And so you want the Stevie Wonder style or you want just the regular? What you want? You good? You good? You good? Okay. I just want to know, you know, we like to make sure we please you. You know what I'm saying? Because you know you and I don't always agree, but we agree on the birthdays, right? All right. Y'all ready? Let's sing happy birthday. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, my dear. Happy birthday, dear Roy. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, my dear. And then, of course, we have Council Secretary Jason Teel. Yay. Happy birthday to you as well. And then legislative services. We have Sharon Nelson. Her birthday is on May the 5th. And Steve, his birthday is also on May the 5th. So that's what we have for this month. All right. Well, if we have nothing else, we are adjourned. We'll turn it over to the chaplain. Thank you, Mr. President. Let's not take our birthday celebrations lightly. It's always good to have one. I'm reminded by something that Council Member Johnson said a second ago. I'm reminded that we are all here because we're standing on some big shoulders, those that went before us in whatever lane of life that you traveled. And let's not forget that. Let us pray. Gracious God, we thank you for this evening. We thank you for everything that you've given us. We thank you for the breath of life. And we thank you for the wisdom that you've imparted. And thank you for the spirit of this sermon. Thank you for the desire in our heart to do what is best for our community. God, I ask you to continue to be with us and give us strength and wisdom for the days ahead. I ask you to cover each and every one of our families, wherever they may be. You're a God with some big arms, God with a big heart, a loving God. And so we thank you. We give you honor, glory, and praise. Now unto him that is able to keep us from falling and present us faultless before his presence with exceeding joy. To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Travel safely in Jesus' name. Amen. We have seniors. A lot of individuals without cars call my office and let me know they can't make it to City Hall. It's in the area where I live in. You know, we can just walk from our house and come here. Coming to greet us and meet us and find out the things that we need in the community instead of going to City Hall and can't get to you, you know, whatever. But I think it's a great idea and I think it would motivate the community as well, knowing that you're out there doing the work for us. So I hope that this is just not one thing, and not just for our community, but maybe you're spreading throughout the city of Jacksonville. All the other districts and areas are doing the same thing. Since we've been having these events, we've been averaging anywhere, you know, from 20 to 25 people coming on the office on the block. So, you know, and some people just want to discuss what's going on in their neighborhood. Some people just want to meet me. You know, some people, you know, just want to give us ideas or just find out what's going on. At the end of the day, it's about bridging the gap, meeting the community halfway, and that's why we're here today. I just want to take the load off they plate. You know, if I can make they life a lot easier by coming to their homes or coming to their backyard, I made a big difference right there. So for me, it's how can I make the constituents and the community lives a lot easier. That's what we're here for, to make a difference. What makes our cookies unique to other shops is that they are a taller cookie due to baking directly from frozen and our recipe. So our cookies are gooey on the inside and crispy on the outside. It makes for the best of both worlds. Truly, and honestly, our most popular cookie is chocolate chip. And truly, once you've had a bite, it's probably going to become your favorite too. But another extremely popular one that we have for Jacksonville is called the Duval Delight or the Duval Double Chip. And so it's semi-sweet, chocolate chips, walnuts, and Heath Bits. The Heath Bits kind of caramelized, and that one is unique to our city and our store. Something that's also unique to us is our frozen dough to go. So we are able to package all of our frozen dough and you are able to bake it in the comfort of your own home. We're also looking to get more involved in different community events. It's something also that makes Cookie Fix unique. So you will see us out at the J Fund, which will be coming up here in early 2026. And we look forward to getting more involved with some of the school fundraisers and PTAs. So we are very grateful to be here. And thank you, Jacksonville, for all of your support. The sacrifice, all these men on the wall, the 28 men on the wall, the sacrifice they made and their families. It means a lot to us to bring their families here and support them and show them the love that the city has for their family members and the JFRD employees. Today is a time for us to remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. Those who were selflessly serving our city and died in line of duty. And so once a year, we come together and not only remember and honor and reflect on what they did for us, but we also make sure the families, that they really know that we're all here for them and that we will never forget their loved ones who have given their all for us. And so that's what it means for us, but also it's a time for us to say it shouldn't just be one day a year. So let's make sure every day we remember and respect and honor those who serve us, not only those who have gone before us, but also those who are still serving. We need to make sure they understand we have their back and we're going to be there for them no matter what. This is a tough job, this is a dangerous job, and we've got to remember them because then there will be, unfortunately, more names in the future added to this wall. We do all we can to make it as safe as we can, but there's things that, I'd say it's dangerous, so we've got to always remember them, and we will. Isla Day Spa is a place for women who are dealing with any of the challenges of life. When you come here, this is a luxury spa that donates a percentage to our private foundation. So this is not a nonprofit spa, this is a for-profit spa that gives back. The stories that I've heard are miraculous, and just getting to give back and love on them has been amazing. And so if you come, you're a part of that. So just coming and getting a massage here, you're not only taking care of yourself, but you're giving back. Welcome to Jax Plus, Jacksonville's public information television channel. Your go-to source for the stories, services, and updates that shape our city. From public safety messages and essential news to in-depth profiles, community features, and citywide developments, Jax Plus keeps you connected and informed. Whether you're a resident, business owner, community leader, or stakeholder, this is your channel for all things Jacksonville. Updated regularly and available anytime, Jax Plus airs on Roku, YouTube, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and streams live on the City of Jacksonville website. This is your city. This is Jax Plus. Please welcome Councilmember Rockman Johnson to present a Lifetime Achievement Award. Angelou once said, on the pulse of morning, and this morning our city gathers again to remember and to recommit to progress. Before I move on, I'd like to recognize, although he is not here, it is in the program, our president of the Jacksonville City Council, Kevin Carrico, Vice President Nick Howland, and members of the City Council who are there. Could you salute my colleagues, please, from the City Council who work so diligently to ensure thank you council members to make sure these things like this breakfast continues moving. Now, today we're standing in a space where history breathes and responsibility listens. There are people who understand Dr. King's legacy was so much more than just speeches. It required structure and discipline, but most importantly, love that was strong enough to endure. And Mrs. Lenny Hilliard-Findley is one of those people who understand. Now, at the beginning of this breakfast, there were visionaries like someone seated here with us, Ronnie Ferguson, who at the time was president of the Urban League, State Representative Willie Dennis, Bill and Sandy Bond, and later Wally Lee, who helped to create what this gathering is and has become. But it was one small, and I won't say quiet, but certainly dedicated individual, and that was Lenny Finley, who took the idea from that table of brotherhood and made it a reality. As vice president of community development for the Jacksonville Urban League, she built the operational soul of what we know as this breakfast. Mrs. Finley booked speakers, cultivated tomorrow's leaders, and did the work to align partners that solved problems before they even arrived. She did this year after year and made sure the trains ran on time. And when challenges appeared, Mrs. Finley pressed forward. When obstacles arose, Lenny Finley could find a way. Now, this moment is deeply personal for me because I was there at the beginning, at the table, watching her work. I was the first youth speaker for this Martin Luther King breakfast. I'm not going to tell you how many years ago that was. But Mrs. Finley believed in me before I knew what belief was. You see, the breakfast committee had asked me to say the I have a dream speech. And as you can imagine, I was a kind of different child. And I told them that I would rather not say the I have a dream speech, Dr. Danford. I would rather write my own speech. And instead of pushing me back, Mrs. Finley said that she believed in me. I said I'd rather speak to a moment that was here instead of repeating familiar words. And she protected my voice and ensured the truth remained intact. And that's who she's always been, a builder of people and institutions. This is to come to me. And this is a real question. Let's go well. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.