Adventure Community Church leaders asked the Duval City Council on Sept. 16 for two forms of relief as they rebuild a historic church that burned in 2020: a waiver of a building-permit extension fee of roughly $4,000 and reconsideration or financial assistance for a requirement to underground utilities along a short segment of street frontage that a contractor estimates will cost about $137,000.

Jeff Hanson, the church’s lead pastor, told the council the congregation’s 100-year-old building burned in March 2020 and that the group has continued community programs — including food gleaning and recovery meetings — from temporary locations while it rebuilt. Hanson said site and public improvements required by the city, multiple inspector-directed changes, worsening contractor estimates and soil-mitigation work have driven nonbuilding costs to about $1 million and that the church has been fundraising to cover those expenses.

Hanson said construction began after an insurance dispute delayed the project for about a year; the project received a building permit in March 2024, went into construction and is now about six months into work with a target completion in 2025. The church asked the council to waive the permit-extension fee because the construction delay was caused by efforts to settle the insurance claim and not by the congregation.

The second request concerns a city directive to underground roughly 170 feet of utilities along the church’s frontage. Hanson said an initial contractor estimate of $45,000–$55,000 has escalated to $137,000, a figure he described as unaffordable for a small nonprofit and one that provides minimal public benefit because the adjacent block retains overhead utilities for much longer distances. He asked the council either to waive or modify the undergrounding requirement for that short segment or to provide financial assistance to cover the contractor’s estimate.

A church supporter, speaking from the audience, said granting the request would save individuals in the congregation “many thousands of dollars.” The clerk indicated the church’s written request had been submitted and that staff would include the architect’s memo and the church’s materials in the next packet and bring the item to a future agenda for council consideration. No formal council action was taken that night.

What the church asked council to do: place the two items — (1) permit-extension-fee waiver and (2) relief or assistance for the undergrounding cost — on a forthcoming council agenda for formal consideration.

The requests raise questions about how the city applies public-improvement and undergrounding rules to small nonprofit rebuilds, how the city evaluates extraordinary contractor-estimate escalations and what types of financial relief the city can lawfully provide; council staff said the items would be scheduled for a future council packet for consideration and public review.