Mobility Fee Waiver Update:
On April 27, 2020, the Jacksonville City Council approved Ordinance 2020-235, which, among other things, provided various financial incentives for the real estate industry, including certain mobility fee waivers. A summary of Ordinance 2020-235 can be found here. Since the adoption of Ordinance 2020-235, the Concurrency and Mobility Management System Office of the City of Jacksonville’s Planning and Development Department issued the following additional guidance:
- No refunds will be processed for a payment made before May 18, 2020.
- A qualifying project must have a Mobility Fee Calculation Certificate issued between February 1, 2020 and October 28, 2020, and the application for a project must be new in that there is no past mobility certificate for a same, or at all similar, plan of development.
- The waiver relief is tied to the building permit; for projects having individual lots with a permit on each lot, the full mobility fee will be charged for permits after expiration of the waiver periods.
- Concurrency Reservation Certificates, allocations, maintenance fees, time frames and other types of contracts or fees are not affected.
- Both the application fee and the mobility fee qualify for the waiver, but each requires a separate waiver request.
- The applicant is responsible for demonstrating the number of jobs calculated, created or retained in conjunction with the project.
- A single-family residence with a value less than $1,000,000 must be certified “Finalized” by the Building Inspection Division prior to April 28, 2022.
- A non-single-family residence, and single-family residences with a value greater than $1,000,000 and other projects must be certified “Finalized” or have received Certificate of Occupancy (CO), as appropriate, by April 28, 2023.
- The Building Inspection Division database will be scanned on or following the deadlines and representatives of projects not in compliance with completion requirements will be billed.
Public Hearing Update:
During the COVID-19 outbreak, the City of Jacksonville has, generally, not held public hearings on rezonings and land use amendments before either the Planning Commission or Land Use and Zoning Committee. Additionally, applications submitted during or just prior to the outbreak have not had legislation for any such rezoning and/or land use amendment introduced at City Council.
At the time of this writing, the Planning and Development Department and Office of General Counsel of the City of Jacksonville intend to file legislation for new applications, such that those applications will be introduced at City Council on June 9, 2020. Additionally, the Planning Commission has scheduled an in-person meeting for June 18, 2020. Due to the current backlog in public hearings on rezonings and land use amendments, a follow-up in-person Planning Commission meeting is scheduled for June 25, 2020. The Planning Commission intends to implement appropriate social distancing measures for the safety of the public, applicants and commissioners.
At the time of this writing, the Land Use and Zoning Committee intends to hold an in-person meeting on June 16, 2020. Given that most pending applications have not yet had a public hearing and vote at the Planning Commission level, very few applications will be heard by the Land Use and Zoning Committee on June 16, 2020. However, it appears that the Land Use and Zoning Committee intends to continue to hold in-person meetings, beginning with its first meeting after the City Council break on July 21, 2020.
The Planning Commission and Land Use and Zoning Committee have not yet released full procedures for these upcoming meetings, including whether there will be an opportunity for applicants and the public to participate by alternative means (e.g. Zoom) should they not desire to attend a meeting in-person due to health concerns.
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