Also, we had Bob Mann on Urban Jacksonville Weekly tonight to talk streetcars and transit. It was awesome! I’ll be posting the audio this week.

Regarding establishing an urban growth boundary – in 2004, Volusia County approved a 2004 charter amendment for urban growth boundaries. However, this was overturned due to a lawsuit filed by the Volusia Home Builders Association. The citizens were trying again in 2006, but I don’t know what happened to that effort. Here’s a link to some Oregon urban growth boundary information, though: http://snurl.com/jbhqp.

As for Jacksonville establishing one, it appears the new growth management law signed by Crist will require the City to adopt one, but just how meaningful will that be, I don’t know. If you look around, pretty much everything is built up. How much agriculture land do we have left? Does anybody know?

And the Governor just signed a bill exempting the outer beltway from paying taxes, so that public/private partnership toll road project will get started up again. It is primarily located in large expanses of undeveloped land. The road will have 8 interchanges, that will only help to spur development in one of the last remaining rural areas of Jacksonville. And the worst part is, there will be no roads or inadequate roads to handle that growth – and under the new growth management law, it appears developers won’t have to pay for any road improvements….at least not for any projects undertaken prior to any mobility fee that ends up being put in place.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=248

Zyscovich Architects, out of Miami, are the official consultants hired by the city to develop a vision plan for the Urban Core, Southeast and Arlington planning districts.
http://www.zyscovich.com/project.cfm?pid=387

“Who is the city’s top planner? I should know this but do not.”

Brad Thoburn left the post in March (http://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=51870) and the spot has yet to be filled to my knowledge. Someone here probably knows much more about it than I do.

@ Joey

“How do we get the City to take action on an existing plan for street cars when Ocklawaha has been advocating new forms of mass transit for 29 years to no avail.”

I agree with Lake, I think the public is looking for benefits that public transit can provide. That’s not to say it will be easy, but I think it’s feasible. While the streetcar plan is a start, we need a comprehensive, multi-modal regional transit plan, much like the one Met Jax has been pushing. As great as downtown streetcars would be, we need to deal with getting people to work on the Southside, people commuting from St. Johns and Clay counties, etc. I think the article Ock wrote a week or two ago hit the nail right on the head: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2009-may-birth-of-a-new-livable-city-a-blueprint-for-jacksonville

As far as additional voices go, are you looking for more people for the UJW show or just for the transit chat? I don’t know of any urban planners, but UNF has burgeoning railroad and transportation engineering programs. While I don’t think there’s anyone there who is an expert for this discussion, they may know someone who could join the chat or the UJW show by phone (if that’s even an option) and provide some insight. It may even get them more involved in pushing the plan through. Let me know and I’ll do some digging.

I’m sure Lake or Ock can correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe Scott Clem is a certified planner. He’s obviously not impartial, but I’m pretty sure that’s his background.

@ Lake

I agree, I think the recent JTA system revamp was largely positive. We’ll have to see how effective it is, but I think it was handled properly and executed well and shows what I hope is a new direction for JTA: smart planning!

Who is the city’s top planner? I should know this but do not.

However, even while these changes are in the works, modifications should be made in relation to a plan that will complement future rail corridors. This can not be done without locking down a commitment to various forms of rail and routes.

As for extremely qualified urban planners…..any suggestions?