JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A disagreement between two Jacksonville City Council members is building up as the city debates a new housing development in parts of Northeast Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
The dispute came to the surface during a recent Land Use and Zoning Committee meeting, where Councilman Raul Arias voiced frustration over opposition to a higher-density development that he supports outside of his district.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe fact is if people don\u2019t want density, go somewhere else,\u201d Arias said during the meeting. \u201cI\u2019m getting fed up with it.\u201d<\/p>\n Arias represents District 11, which is Jacksonville\u2019s Southside, and said his district has shouldered a disproportionate amount of the city\u2019s growth. He argues that other areas, including San Mateo, Black Hammock Island, Pumpkin Hill, Ft. George Island and Hecksher Drive need to accommodate more development.<\/p>\n The comments were directed at constituents of District 2 Councilman Mike Gay, who have pushed back against a rezoning proposal for an eleven acre, 47-home development planned for Cedar Bay Road between Main Street North and Cedar Branch Road.<\/p>\n Gay said residents deserve a voice when changes are proposed in their neighborhoods.<\/p>\n \u201cTo say people don\u2019t have a say in it and to basically move out — that\u2019s not a good thing to say,\u201d Gay responded.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n Recently, neighbors have also spoken out against rezoning on Scarwin Lane, Starratt Road and Jake Road.<\/p>\n According to the most recent records that are available from the Property Appraiser\u2019s office in 2024, District 11 had the third most housing starts with 806, compared to District 2 that had 164, the third fewest. These figures include various structures and lot sizes including single family homes, townhouses, and apartments.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile I\u2019m understanding of the community that\u2019s been there for decades, I also understand progress must take place,\u201d Councilman Rahman Johnson said.<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n After initially opposing the proposed Cedar Bay Road development, some nearby residents have softened their stance. The change comes after the developer offered $45,000 each to both the Cedar Bay Neighborhood for a new playground and Bay Harbor for dock improvements.<\/p>\n The proposal passed the LUZ committee with a 6-0 vote.<\/p>\n The full City Council is scheduled to vote on the housing development on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A disagreement between two Jacksonville City Council members is building up as the city debates…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[34901,34902,34903,116,118,117],"class_list":["post-115737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-1-28-22","tag-alex-arias","tag-alex-p","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}