Vote on subdivision by North Jacksonville nature preserve stalled in bid to 'meet in middle'

The City Council has delayed action until next month on a controversial rezoning bill that would allow construction of a 97-home subdivision inside a web of North Jacksonville nature preserves.

Neighbors along rural Cedar Point Road bitterly opposed plans to permit construction of the subdivision called Terrapin Creek, arguing the 60-foot house lots built on fill trucked into the site would create drainage and pollution problems for the surrounding area and could be at risk during controlled burns performed regularly to manage surrounding forests of the 7 Creeks Recreation Area.

The council approved one of two bills needed to permit the development, approving a change to the city’s land-use plan on land bordered on three sides by Pumpkin Hill Creek Preserve State Park.

But it postponed a vote on rezoning the 48-acre property at 6131 Cedar Point Road until Feb. 14 after the district councilman pleaded for a final chance to negotiate a less intense development.

“I wanted to make sure that these folks knew that they were heard,” council member Al Ferraro said of residents who turned out at City Hall for the council meeting Tuesday night.

Ferraro said other resident have to accept some development but added: “To move from agriculture down to 60-foot lots, that’s just a disaster.” He said he was hoping to supporters of the rezoning would accept a category of zoning called Residential Rural, or RR.

"If we could discuss an RR, that would do what this community is asking about, having something meet in the middle," he said.

Council member Ron Salem said during the meeting that he understood a similar idea had been raised earlier and rejected in a discussion with attorney Paul Harden, who represents the landowners.

“Obviously, it’s pretty clear why he said no. He had the votes. As long as he’s got the votes, I don’t think he’s going to compromise,” Salem said.

However Salem was among the 10 members who gave Ferraro the narrow majority needed to defer the final vote. The rezoning had been previously approved by the council’s Land Use and Zoning Committee, and eight members opposed giving any more time for consideration.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville City Council stalls vote on allowing subdivision by park