LUZ committee grants appeal, clearing way for demolition permit for Henry C. Arpin House

The City of Jacksonville Land Use and Zoning Committee voted 6-1 on Feb. 19 to grant an appeal of the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission’s December denial of a demolition permit for the Henry C. Arpin House, a single‑family farmhouse listed on the National Register of Historic Places and located at 2747 Littlejohn Road in Mandarin. The committee’s action will allow the demolition permit to issue for agenda item 2025‑0035.

The vote comes after hours of testimony in which the city’s Office of General Counsel and neighbors argued the developer violated the PUD conditions and the zoning code by removing the house’s chimney, moving the structure off the approved site without final move‑on permits and allowing it to deteriorate. The applicant and his attorney said the house became structurally unsafe after prolonged delays in the city permitting process and after an intended recipient withdrew, leaving no viable relocation site.

The matter is significant because the Arpin House is individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places and because its preservation had been a condition of the Melkin Farms PUD approved by the council in December 2020. The dispute raised questions about enforcement of PUD conditions, the city’s permitting processes and the practical protections offered by national historic listing versus local landmark designation.

Carla Lopera of the Office of General Counsel summarized the city’s account at the start of the hearing. Lopera told the committee the house was added to the national register in August 2019, and that the PUD approved in December 2020 included conditions requiring the…