The Jacksonville City Council Neighborhoods Committee approved Ordinance 2025-0539 on Oct. 20 to create a Business Improvement District (BID) covering the 5 Points commercial area of Riverside and nearby blocks, after public comment from merchants and property owners and amendments clarifying assessment rules and governance.

At a public comment segment before the committee vote, multiple business owners urged approval. Dory Thompson, president of the 5 Points Association, said the BID would provide "consistent security" and "proactive beautification" for the commercial area and that the board would be "managed by local business owners and landlords." Casey Roth, representing Riverside Avondale Preservation, told the committee he supported the ordinance and quoted national comparisons of increased property values and foot traffic in areas with BIDs.

Support and concerns from the district

Several merchants described repeated theft, vandalism and threats. Maria Cox, who owns Midnight Sun and two properties in 5 Points, said: "The homelessness and the mentally ill people that are just loose there... Yesterday, we had a homeless person in the shop try to steal a piece of jewelry." Natalie Worth, manager of 5 Points Dental, described multiple calls to 911 and said: "We have lost over 7 small businesses in the past 2 years."

Proponents argued the BID would enable locally managed, consistent cleaning, security and landscaping where current responses are ad hoc. "This is local funded, managed locally, and directly accountable with visible outcomes," Dory Thompson said during public comment.

Council amendments and committee debate

Council staff and legal counsel presented an amendment described in committee as the NCSPHS amendment. Philip Peterson (Council Auditor's office) summarized changes attached to the agenda: clarifications of services to be provided by the district, removal of administrative duty language referencing the district charter, method for assessing heated square footage and GIS-based assessment for parking, appointment process for supervisors, a church exemption and an updated parcel exhibit.

Councilman Jimmy Paluso moved an additional amendment to cap the annual assessment increase to no more than $1 per heated square foot (and $0.50 per parking unit) in a single year; that amendment was seconded and adopted. Committee discussion focused on levels of documented support: proponents said they collected more than 60 letters of support and 83 total supportive responses under the notification procedure used; several council members requested the underlying signed notices for review. Councilman Ron Salem said he wanted to review the supporting letters before full council consideration.

Vote and next steps

The committee voted to approve the ordinance as twice amended and forwarded it by a verbal ballot of 6 ayes and 1 nay. The ordinance establishes the BID framework, sets the assessment methodology, allows city council confirmation of appointed supervisors and exempts churches from assessment. The administration and sponsors said no assessments would be levied until the district board adopted a budget and the procedure required assessments to be forwarded to council.

Ending: The committee approved the BID ordinance with amendments. Sponsors said the first year would be financed in part by community benefit agreement dollars from the sponsoring council member's district so property owners could see the BID's effect before assessments begin.