JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Residents of a Northside Jacksonville neighborhood are pushing back against a proposed townhome community by a developer.
Juanita Wilson and Bidwell Chambers recall a home that once stood on a property in the 1960s in the Carver Manor neighborhood when they first moved there. Over a decade later the home was torn down.
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Now, a developer is planning to build new townhomes on the site, and they are not pleased with the idea.
“What’s so hard about putting a nice home here?” Wilson questioned, expressing a sentiment shared by many residents.
The neighborhood, located along Richardson Road, already hosts hundreds of homes, several churches, a park, and even a school. Residents feel that the area is bustling enough as it is.
“Sometimes I can’t even get to my house from US 1,” Chambers said. “I have to cut through the graveyard back here on Edgewood to get to my house—that’s how traffic is sometimes. Especially when you have events, ball games, and Ms. Carter, especially if St. Paul is having any type of big service there. You’d be surprised.”
If the bill is approved, the townhomes would sit directly across from Sarah L. Carter’s funeral home. Carter herself opposes the development, citing concerns about increased traffic and safety.
“We oppose those townhomes because of the increased volume of traffic and the number of fatalities that we already experience in this area alone,” Carter said.
Carter’s business already deals with heavy traffic daily, and she worries about the impact of the proposed development.
“Can you imagine what 40 units would do?” she asked.
District 10 Councilwoman Ju’Coby Pittman is hosting a community meeting on Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Legends Center to discuss the matter further.
The Land Use and Zoning Committee is expected to vote on the proposed development at its next meeting.