JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Neighbors in two Southside Jacksonville neighborhoods are raising new concerns over plans for a soccer stadium near the St. Johns Town Center.<\/p>\n
Back in March, Sporting Jax announced plans to break ground on a new sports and entertainment district. But now, some residents living nearby say they are worried about what that development could mean for their homes, the environment, and daily life.<\/p>\n
Two neighbors in particular say the project would be too close for comfort. Kathleen Perera, who lives in the Fox Chase Woodlands Station neighborhood, and Audrey Apelbaum, who lives in Windy Hill, say the proposed stadium could place their backyards right along the edge of a 15,000-seat soccer stadium.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n The plan would bring development through 300 acres of wetlands. Residents say that raises serious concerns about what happens when large crowds begin coming into the area regularly.<\/p>\n They fear overwhelmed septic systems in Windy Hill, drainage backups into Fox Chase Woodlands Station, and long-term environmental damage to an ecosystem that supports endangered species.<\/p>\n Perera said the changes could also bring new costs for homeowners.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re concerned about having to buy flood insurance for the first time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Apelbaum said the scale of what is being proposed goes far beyond an occasional event.<\/p>\n \u201cThey said that they\u2019re planning on having open-air concerts for 30,000 people in this area,\u201d Apelbaum said. \u201cAnd they said that they wanted it to be 365 days a year. So we wouldn\u2019t be talking an occasional disruption, we\u2019d be talking about an almost daily disruption.\u201d<\/p>\n Officials with the St. Johns River Water Management District say they are still reviewing Sporting Jax\u2019s application. The Army Corps of Engineers and the city\u2019s planning department say they have not yet received a formal application for the project.<\/p>\n In a statement, Sporting Jax said:<\/p>\n \u201cSporting JAX is continuing to work collaboratively with city leaders, regulatory agencies, and the community to bring this transformative mixed-use sporting and entertainment district to life. As part of that process, we are in the process of submitting our application to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and we will continue advancing through the appropriate planning and permitting channels in the months ahead. We are committed to a transparent and inclusive planning process and are actively developing a community engagement plan to connect directly with surrounding neighborhoods, hear concerns, answer questions, and ensure meaningful dialogue throughout every stage of the project. Community members can expect to hear more from us soon with additional details on those outreach efforts and opportunities to engage. This stadium and district are envisioned as a true civic asset \u2014 serving as the permanent home for our men\u2019s and women\u2019s professional teams, while also creating a gathering place for high school championships, regional youth tournaments, and inclusive programming for adaptive and special-needs athletes. We are committed to being a communicative neighbor as we build something the entire North Florida community can rally around for decades to come. We will have additional announcements to share in the coming months and are grateful for the enthusiasm and engagement shown by so many across North Florida. Stay tuned.”<\/p>\n Still, many residents say they are not convinced the St. Johns Town Center is the right location for the development.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not against having a soccer stadium. It\u2019s wonderful, but we do want them to go somewhere where that\u2019s better. Especially for the traffic logistics,\u201d Perera said.<\/p>\n Residents say they have requested a meeting with Councilman Kevin Carrico, which they expect to happen within the next two weeks.<\/p>\n The neighbors have created this<\/a> <\/a>online petition calling on the organization to consider another location. <\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n [SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n Click here<\/b><\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Neighbors in two Southside Jacksonville neighborhoods are raising new concerns over plans for a soccer…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":826239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[12189,5229,339265,339269,339263,13029,3188,723,339264,11561,68231,7310,339262,339270,425,260916,263382,207688,8717,339268,339261,339267,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,339266],"class_list":["post-826238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action_news","tag-america","tag-applebaum","tag-army_corps_of_engineers","tag-audrey_applebaum","tag-deja_mayfield","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-fox_chase_woodland_station","tag-jack","tag-jack_deja_mayfield","tag-jacksonville","tag-kathleen_pereira","tag-kevin_currio","tag-local","tag-pereira","tag-saint_johns_river_water_management_district","tag-saint_johns_town_center","tag-side","tag-sporting_jack","tag-sporting_jacks","tag-sporting_jacksonville","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-windy_hill"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826238","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=826238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}