Council approves rezoning for five single-family lots on Stockton Street after parking mitigation condition

Jacksonville City Council voted 6-0 to approve PUD rezoning ordinance 2024-0539, allowing a developer to reconfigure a 0.23-acre parcel along Stockton Street in the Riverside‑Avondale historic overlay into five single‑family residential lots. The council attached a condition directing the applicant to "minimize the impact on parking to the extent practicable" during construction.

The rezoning replaces a prior 2009 PUD that allowed multifamily and commercial uses on the site and would reduce the site’s theoretical trip generation (staff and the applicant contrasted roughly 800 daily trips for a three‑story commercial development with about 50 daily trips from five houses). Planning staff recommended approval, finding the new PUD consistent with the city’s 2045 Comprehensive Plan and compatible with the Riverside‑Avondale overlay, and the Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval after hearing opposition testimony at its August hearing.

Neighbors and local business owners gave extended public comment opposing the proposal, citing worries about parking, flooding and pedestrian safety. Thomas Licato, who identified himself as a resident of the nearby John Gory condominium, said the proposed 30‑foot‑tall row homes would “change the nature of the historic district” and exacerbate parking and traffic problems on Stockton. Garth (Ernest) Cooper, owner of a nearby bicycle shop, told the committee the…