Daily Record Financial News &
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Vol. 103, No. 204 • One Section
35¢ www.jaxdailyrecord.com
DIA finalizing financial plan Proposal could involve seeking $759,218 loan from city
By Max Marbut Staff Writer For a Community Redevelopment Agency, budget time each year is for housekeeping and projecting. That was the agenda Wednesday for the Downtown Investment Authority, which acts as the redevelopment agency for the three districts in the urban core’s Community Redevelopment Area: Downtown East, North-
west and Southside. Board members realigned the 2015-16 CRA budget that expires Sept. 30, now that actual revenue and expenses are known, and prepared a 2016-17 budget based on projected revenue and expenses. Funds for development expenses within the area are derived through a Tax Increment Fund District, which is the increase in property tax collections in a district that exceeds the amount of
tax collected in a baseline year established along with the redevelopment area. The increase in revenue from the three districts is placed into the Downtown Development Trust Fund and may be used only for infrastructure improvements, development, redevelopment and professionals services, such as studies and planning. City Council President Lori Boyer advised the board that since capital improvement proj-
ects are involved in Downtown redevelopment, specific details such as designs and construction schedules must be provided. “For the city to determine if money is properly spent, the DIA must describe the projects,” she said. On another budget issue, last year, the DIA was granted by council a $1.655 million loan from the general fund to cover debt and incentive obligations approved by council that were not covered
by tax increment funds. The loan request for the 201617 budget will be $759,218. “When the City Council gives money to the DIA, it’s characterized as a loan, not a gift,” said Assistant General Counsel Susan Grandin. “It has to paid back out of the 16-17 budget.” The authority is scheduled to appear before the council Finance Committee this afternoon during the budget hearing to lay out its DIA continued on Page A-4
Oakleaf getting Wawa and Aldi?
Convenience store also set for Wilson Boulevard
One of several older playground pieces and covered pavilions at Lonnie C. Miller Sr. Regional Park in Northwest Jacksonville. The site is due for a $3.1 million upgrade with improvements to basketball and tennis courts among other features.
Photos by David Chapman
By Karen Brune Mathis Managing Editor
A needed community facelift
Northwest park receiving $3.1M in upgrades
By David Chapman Staff Writer
The city’s seven regional parks are intended to be community hubs of activity with varied offerings for families and children. Baseball fields, soccer fields, walking trails, tennis courts, playground equipment and people — the components that make a park a park. Ed Austin Regional Park in East Arlington has many of those, plus a skate facility that’s often packed. The 140-acre respite at McCormick and Monument roads is really the standard bearer for what Jacksonville wants to do with its regional facilities. Lonnie C. Miller Sr. Regional Park in Northwest Jacksonville is on the other end of the spectrum. From the park, people can hear the hum of cars speeding down Moncrief Road and Soutel Drive. They can see a series of covered pavilions with grills. A cluster of sun-bleached Park continued on Page A-3
Public
The park at Moncrief Road and Soutel Drive has a walking path around a chain-linkfenced area containing playground equipment.
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Two more Wawa locations have surfaced on plans in West Jacksonville –– one that identifies the chain and another that indicates it could accommodate one of the gas station and convenience stores. Plans for Wawa, already with four sites confirmed for its North Florida entry, were submitted to the city for a 3.22-acre site at 6787 Wilson Blvd. in Westside. The Ferber Co. of Ponte Vedra Beach is listed as the developer for that Wawa, which wants to build on three parcels that will be assembled into one. Meanwhile, a preliminary site plan for the tentatively named Oakleaf Corner shopping center in the growing Argyle and Oakleaf area of Southwest Jacksonville raises questions whether Wawa, as well as Aldi, might be opening there, too. That site drawing doesn’t specify Wawa, but there’s room for one, as well as an Aldi and other retailers. “I cannot tell you any specific names because of confidentiality agreements,” said Oakleaf Corner property owner and developer Kevin Carpenter. While no tenants are identified, that plan shows the 11.6-acres site for Oakleaf Corner at northeast Argyle Forest Boulevard and Old Middleburg Road could comprise seven parcels. Carpenter said more than half of the parcels are “already spoken for.” He said site work most likely would break ground toward the end of the year and he expects to see some tenants in place by the second or third quarter of 2017. Of the parcels on the site plan, one is designed as a grocer, another as a pharmacy with a drive-thru, two are fast-food parcels, another is an auto-service center and two others don’t show a use. The Cantrell & Morgan real estate firm lists the property on its website, along with the preliminary site plan. Mathis
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