Waterways commission approves small‑scale land‑use amendment for 7960 Arlington Expressway

The Jacksonville Waterways Commission voted March 13 to approve a recommendation on a small‑scale land‑use amendment for a 9.56‑acre property at 7960 Arlington Expressway (L5801‑23C; adoption ordinance 2025‑087). Planning department staff described the site's existing community general commercial and residential/professional institutional land uses and the proposed change to high‑density residential.

Planner Ed Lukakovic said the site contains about 0.2 acres of wetlands that buffer Strawberry Creek and lies within the Strawberry Creek and Arlington River drainage basins. Under the currently mapped commercial scenarios the property could support substantial commercial floor area; under the proposed high‑density residential designation the site could allow a potential maximum of roughly 773 multifamily dwelling units (he described the high‑density residential standard as 60 units per acre). Lukakovic showed aerials, flood‑zone maps and soil mapping and noted that about one third of the site lies outside mapped FEMA flood zones while the remainder lies in AE 100‑year zones and the floodway.

Commissioners raised drainage questions from the site's existing parking lot and whether the redevelopment would require on‑site retention. Lukakovic said because the site is already extensively developed, the project is not expected to add impervious area and redeveloping could reduce runoff through added landscaping and stormwater improvements.

A motion to approve the recommendation passed on a voice vote after a short public and commissioner discussion. Lukakovic said the application had already been scheduled for Planning Commission and preliminary city council hearings and that the Land Use and Zoning Committee and final council hearing were set for later March.