Downtown stakeholders map roles, press for clearer coordination on maintenance and funding

At a special Committee on the Future of Downtown meeting Oct. 27, Jacksonville public agencies and downtown organizations outlined who is responsible for upkeep, operations and project approvals as the city prepares to open multiple new riverfront parks and major development sites.

The presentations — from the city’s Public Works and Parks departments, the Downtown Investment Authority (DIA), Downtown Vision Inc. (DVI) and the newly formed Jacksonville Riverfront Alliance — emphasized overlapping responsibilities for cleaning, landscaping, traffic control and capital investment and called for clearer, written agreements so projects opened at full scale can be maintained.

The question of who does what matters because the city and private sector are investing heavily in downtown public space. “Starting now, we will begin looking at new projects that are coming down the conveyor belt prior to them getting packaged up,” the committee chair said at the opening of the meeting, describing the committee’s charge to map stakeholders and review CRA and incentive processes. Public Works detailed its five downtown-facing divisions — right-of-way and stormwater maintenance, mowing and landscape maintenance, public buildings, traffic engineering, and engineering and construction management — and described specific service levels such as street sweeping…