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Council approves changes to industrial parking and landscaping rules after amendments
Summary
Jacksonville City Council approved ordinance 2025448 to reduce industrial parking ratios and change landscaping thresholds after committee amendments that lowered the proposed trigger from 70% to 60% and extended some changes to commercial properties; vote was unanimous, 7-0.
The Jacksonville City Council approved an ordinance amending parking and landscaping rules for industrial development and, as amended, extended parts of the change to commercial properties.
The ordinance (2025448) reduces required parking for industrial uses in the code (staff noted the proposal shifts industrial parking toward a 1 space per 5,000 square foot ratio from an existing 1 per 2,000 square feet) and revises the city’s landscaping trigger for major site work. The original draft proposed raising the threshold that triggers required landscape upgrades from 50% of improvement value to 70% and lowering required landscaping funding from 20% of project cost to 5%. After committee debate, members adopted a TEU amendment that reduced the 70% proposal to 60% and removed a two‑year compliance sentence; a subsequent amendment added commercial uses to the landscaping changes. The final ordinance passed 7–0.
Council members and staff framed the changes as incentives to encourage redevelopment of industrial parcels that are expensive to rehabilitate. "Industrial is really hard to redevelop," Councilman Rory Diamond said, and supported the amendment as a tool to keep jobs and investment in Jacksonville. Industry representatives said the changes respond to barriers developers face. "We did support ... changes after talking to the industry about the roadblocks they're seeing about supporting redevelopment in the areas," industry representative Chris Hagen told the committee.
Public Works staff voiced concern about extending the reduced landscaping standards to commercial categories. Nina Sickler of Public Works said commercial development (retail, hotels, offices) is much more numerous and that reducing landscape requirements citywide for commercial could be detrimental to the city’s appearance and long‑term attractiveness.
Planning staff told the committee the Planning Commission had recommended keeping the 50% threshold and had been divided on raising it; the planning department also noted support for allowing a certified appraiser option in the ordinance language. The committee moved forward with the amended version that sets the landscaping threshold at 60% for qualified projects (as amended) and applies the reduced landscaping percentage (5% of project cost) and the parking standard adjustments; the ordinance was approved by the committee 7–0.
The ordinance will proceed according to the council’s legislative schedule.
