{"id":74861,"date":"2025-07-19T07:58:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T07:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/74861\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T07:58:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T07:58:13","slug":"why-are-there-smokestacks-on-the-new-medical-examiners-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/74861\/","title":{"rendered":"Why are there smokestacks on the new Medical Examiner\u2019s Office?"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 Free local news and info, in your inbox at 6 a.m. M-F. Sign up for the\u00a0Jacksonville Today\u00a0newsletter.<\/a><\/p>\n

Q: <\/b>People in the Metro Gardens Neighborhood Association have been battling the new Duval County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office since construction began<\/a> over two years ago next to their neighborhood.<\/p>\n

The group even sued the city<\/a> over the facility at 4368 N. Davis St.<\/p>\n

Now\u00a0Jacksonville Today\u00a0reader Joyce J.\u00a0has another question about the office, which is due to open in September next to Interstate 95 and the Metro Gardens neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy does the new morgue have 4 giant smokestacks that you can see from miles away?\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

A:<\/b>\u00a0City spokesman Phil Perry said what Joyce sees atop the 51,000-square-foot facility are not smokestacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are for room ventilation,\u201d Perry said. \u201cThere is no cremation happening. There won\u2019t be any burning of waste either. Any hazardous materials will be disposed of off-site.\u201d<\/p>\n

City officials began construction<\/a> on the new medical examiner\u2019s office in May 2023, to replace one that began as a one-story facility in 1968 behind what is now UF Health Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

City officials said that the 57-year-old facility on North Jefferson Street has to deal with hundreds of bodies a year and needs more space \u2014 despite expansion with an addition and a second floor.<\/p>\n

The new Medical Examiner\u2019s Office remains under construction. It is seen here from its future entrance off North Davis Street. | Dan Scanlan, Jacksonville Today (Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

The choice of a new site only 32 feet from the KIPP Voice Academy\u2019s elementary and middle school, and adjacent to the Metro Gardens community, has resulted in numerous protests by neighbors.<\/p>\n

The group sued a year ago, saying the city did not inform them of its intentions to build the facility there. They also say the area was rezoned from commercial property to public property, after the 2023 groundbreaking.<\/p>\n

Metro Gardens Neighborhood Association members protest the new Duval County Medical Examiner\u2019s Office next to their neighborhood in front of the federal courthouse in late June. | Michelle Corum, Jacksonville Today (Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

Along with those issues, the group\u2019s lawsuit claims the city didn\u2019t tell the community about the facility, which residents say violates city ordinances.\u00a0The lawsuit is set for a nonjury trial July 24, 2026.<\/p>\n

The neighborhood group also asked a federal judge June 20 to stop the office from opening, saying it threatens their health, safety and dignity. The city filed a motion to dismiss that complaint on Tuesday, saying it fails to satisfy standards for federal pleadings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis Court lacks jurisdiction over the matter because Plaintiffs lack standing,\u201d the city\u2019s motion says. \u201cThe Plaintiffs have failed to state claims against the City for which relief can be granted; and Plaintiffs cannot demonstrate they are entitled to preliminary injunctive relief.\u201d<\/p>\n

The federal judge has not ruled yet on the city\u2019s motion, and the Metro Gardens plaintiffs had 21 days to respond to it, Perry said.<\/p>\n

The city had no further comment about the case now. The new facility is scheduled to be turned over to the Medical Examiner\u2019s Office by November, Perry said.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Free local news and info, in your inbox at 6 a.m. M-F. Sign up for…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":74862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[52136,5229,3188,723,7310,52137,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,36070],"class_list":{"0":"post-74861","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-askjaxtdy","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-fl","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-together-4-jax","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa","20":"tag-wjct"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114878841233433420","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74861","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=74861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}