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Citizen advisory committee convenes to review Jacksonville's urban growth boundary
Summary
Jacksonville's new Citizen Advisory Committee met for the first time to begin reviewing the city's urban growth boundary, hear background on state housing requirements and consultant support, and set a timeline and meeting schedule for the review process.
The Citizen Advisory Committee to review Jacksonville's urban growth boundary met for the first time, with Planning Director Ian Foster convening members and outlining the group's role in reviewing consultant research and forwarding recommendations to the Planning Commission and City Council. "We want input from the community on how we grow as a community," Foster said as he described the committee's charge.
Foster told members the city contracted a multidisciplinary consulting team, secured a grant from the Department of Land Conservation and Development to cover most consulting costs and will use consultant analyses to produce a revised housing capacity analysis and updated materials for the CAC. He said consultants will not attend every meeting but will produce the documents the committee will review.
Councilor Andrea Lerner Thompson, who said she intends to attend selectively, urged members to record dissenting opinions so the City Council can see the range of community views. "It is really important to note that people should be sharing their individual feelings," she said.
Members discussed committee procedure, the baseline statutory criteria the city must follow and whether the CAC should adopt an explicit prioritization framework for site evaluation. Foster said the statutory ranking provides the baseline and the consulting team will help draft an evaluative framework that the CAC will review and seek consensus on.
Foster also reviewed meeting logistics and timing: the city aims to complete the UGB amendment process under its grant by December 2026, staff will update packet documents to reflect new state rules, and CAC meetings will generally be scheduled "as needed." Members tentatively agreed on Thursdays in the midafternoon, with a recurring start time around 2:30 p.m.
The committee will be responsible for reviewing buildable-lands materials, weighing trade-offs between infill, rezoning and UGB expansion, and making a formal recommendation that the Planning Commission — and then the City Council — would consider in any adoption process.
