\u00a0Renew Arlington Community Redevelopment Area (CRA)<\/a>, a long-term revitalization initiative aimed at improving the look and feel of the neighborhood. But some say the program\u2019s strict design rules, and lack of clear communication, could put them out of business.<\/p>\nPatrick Mulloy and his wife started working on their dream back in February, The Lazy Manatee, a laid-back neighborhood spot offering craft beer, wine and food. They leased a former restaurant space and began renovations, hoping to open within months.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s now nearly September, and they\u2019re still not allowed to open.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve now frozen our funds and aren\u2019t providing us any more funding until they can get a clear picture of when we\u2019re actually going to be able to open the doors,\u201d Mulloy said, referring to the Small Business Administration loan they were depending on.<\/p>\n
Their Certificate of Use, the document required to open, has been delayed because the property doesn\u2019t meet CRA design standards. The problem? Mulloy is the tenant. The required changes fall on the landlord.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the way this whole thing was rolled out was a little hot and heavy. There\u2019s no clear answers to be given by inspectors, by city workers, by anyone associated with this,\u201d Mulloy told Anthony Austin.<\/p>\n
Mulloy is not alone. Cheryl Kammire, who runs a small consignment shop nearby, said the mounting list of compliance citations left her no choice but to shut her doors for good.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne day, a city code enforcer came and gave me six citations of things I had to correct within 30 days or I would be fined,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Kammire removed all her window coverings, as instructed, but said doing so made her feel unsafe. She reported seven thefts before deciding to close.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t feel safe in the building with all of the window treatments down,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Just down the road, longtime business owners John Warren and Randy Miller say they\u2019ve invested thousands of dollars trying to comply, only to get cited again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were one of the first ones on board with it. We did the big improvements, $350,000 out of our pockets, and now we\u2019ve been cited recently for the glass,\u201d Miller explained.<\/p>\n
After making what he thought were all the necessary upgrades, Warren was shocked to learn his building still doesn\u2019t meet city standards.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first, the garage bay facing Arlington Road, we were going to be OK. Now I get cited. To fix that, I would have to tear the building down and rebuild,\u201d Warren said.<\/p>\n
Anthony Austin brought their concerns to Jacksonville City Councilman Ken Amaro, who represents Arlington. He said the CRA manager has been in direct contact with each business owner who\u2019s voiced a concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate that some perceive that this is a government-led effort when it\u2019s a community-led effort. Government is just implementing it,\u201d Amaro said.<\/p>\n
The Renew Arlington CRA was created in 2015, and Amaro says businesses and property owners have had nearly 10 years to comply.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know there\u2019s an effort to put the CRA on pause, but that\u2019s not going to happen,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause if that occurs, then the decline will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amaro added that while the rules were created by the community, he is talking with the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office about safety concerns, particularly regarding visibility and window coverage rules.<\/p>\n
While the city maintains that the CRA\u2019s rules are part of a long-term revitalization plan, some business owners say they\u2019ve reached a breaking point.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m being the pawn in the situation, and it\u2019s unfortunate,\u201d Mulloy said. \u201cThat I have to fall on the arrow, but somebody had to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mulloy says he\u2019s still hoping to open The Lazy Manatee. Amaro said he will continue to work with the couple to help make that happen, but emphasized that city rules must be followed.<\/p>\n
Business owners say they\u2019re not asking the city to abandon the CRA, just to press pause, clarify the rules, and listen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Business owners say the city\u2019s redevelopment rules are confusing and unfair. Jacksonville leaders say it\u2019s a community-led effort…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":184641,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,3188,723,7310,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-184640","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fl","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-jacksonville","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115112242269067292","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}