JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Residents on the Westside of Jacksonville are expressing concerns about Shores Liquor Store’s proposal to add a tasting room as part of its new project. The store is currently under construction at the intersection of Collins Road and Old Middleburg Road, just over 1,300 feet from Enterprise Learning Academy.
City code stipulates that any establishment where alcohol is consumed, but food is not served, must be located at least 1,500 feet from a school or church.
The property is situated directly across the street from several homes. Neighbors have voiced their opposition to the project from the start, and they are now particularly against the proposed tasting room due to its proximity to a school.
During a community meeting Thursday night, residents like Garry Kelly had the opportunity to express their concerns directly to their councilman and the developer’s attorney. Kelly, the HOA vice president for Longleaf, emphasized the need to protect the neighborhood, even though it is too late to contest the liquor store’s location.
“If they had moved it a mile up the road to the shopping center up here, probably nobody would care,” Kelly said. “But it’s in the middle of schools and libraries and neighborhoods, where students get let off in the afternoon in the middle of the street, and so it’s very disconcerting.”
Tara Adams was also one of the dozens of residents who showed up to share their concerns about the tasting room. She researched data on the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office website of neighboring areas with liquor stores.
“I looked at the zip codes 32244, and 32210 from 2002 to 2005 these zip codes had 3653 offenses. 32244 had 2359 offenses, while our zip code had 320,” Adams shared. “So looking at the data, our zip code doesn’t have a Shores Liquor Store next to an elementary school, but these zip codes I gave have Shore Liquor Stores and Lounges in the vicinity, and there seemed to be a lot of crime around them.”
Councilman Rahman Johnson, who represents the district, has sought a meeting with the community and the developer for almost a year. He expressed gratitude that the developer agreed to engage with residents.
“I am looking at all of the competent, substantial evidence,” Johnson said. “I can’t have an opinion one way or the other, but I wanted to get all the information that I could. So if there’s a decision that needs to be made, and we do need to put some conditions in this particular piece of legislation, that the conditions can be made, and now is the time to do that.”
During the meeting, attendees discussed several suggestions for conditions to the waiver if it is approved. These suggestions included installing a fence around the property, ensuring security measures are in place, and limiting the store’s operating hours.
Johnson encouraged residents to continue voicing their opinions.
“You can easily go on right now and email me. I’m so easy to find, but send an email. Make sure that you put the details in,” said Johnson. “I’m going to make sure that I share and compile all the suggestions together and then make that as a recommendation. I believe that they will be adopted. You heard the developer tonight. They were certainly open to the recommendations of the community.”
Residents like Kelly were among many who shared their concerns and suggestions during the meeting. If it were up to him, he would prefer that the tasting room not be approved.
“I hope they reject the tasting room,” Kelly said. “I don’t think there’s any question about that. It would give us some sense of relief. I guess, in order, if that happened, it’s not my opinion. They never should have put one in the middle of three neighborhoods to begin with. It makes no sense.”
Adams also has a few hopes for what happens next.
“My first hope is that the tasting room would not open,” she said. “The second hope is that the city would invest in someone to look at these proposed sites to see, are they close to an elementary school? This is not the first time it’s happened in Jacksonville.”
Councilman Johnson will compile all the suggestions from the community to make a recommendation on how the council moves forward.
“I believe they’ll be adopted, and then we move forward, put that in as a PUD and go down the road. So I don’t know where we are. I certainly don’t know,” said Johnson. “I just want to put all those things in and see what our attorneys from the city and the developer will accept.”
