{"id":996063,"date":"2026-08-12T12:40:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T12:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/996063\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T12:40:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T12:40:27","slug":"atlantic-beach-mayor-pushes-dollar-general-market-proposal-on-vacant-land-to-end-mayport-food-desert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/996063\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlantic Beach mayor pushes Dollar General Market proposal on vacant land to end Mayport food desert"},"content":{"rendered":"

ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 For more than a decade, residents living near Mayport have had few options when it comes to buying fresh food and groceries \u2014 a situation many describe as a food desert. <\/p>\n

Atlantic Beach Mayor Curtis Ford is proposing a plan to sell a 1.25-acre city-owned parcel on northern Mayport Road to a developer who wants to build a DG Market \u2014 a specialty offshoot of Dollar General that carries produce, meats, and refrigerated food products.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter so many years of literally having a food desert on Mayport Road, we actually have a solution,\u201d Ford said. \u201cSome may call it a partial solution because it\u2019s not a full-size grocery, but it is a significant step forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

How the area became a food desert<\/b><\/p>\n

The problem has been building for years. A Food Lion closed in 2012, and Terry\u2019s Country Store \u2014 a beloved local mom-and-pop shop \u2014 shut its doors in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cTerry\u2019s Country Store was a mom-and-pop food store that had meats, seafood, produce \u2014 all the things that we are missing,\u201d Ford said. \u201cIt really has become an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, the nearest full-service options are miles away. For residents without a car, the distances are especially difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have so many people that literally walk to Walgreens to buy what little product they can find there and they walk home with a grocery bag,\u201d Ford said.<\/p>\n

One resident told News4JAX the lack of grocery access has influenced their decision to possibly leave. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re planning on moving out because of that,\u201d the resident said.<\/p>\n

What the proposal includes<\/b><\/p>\n

The city of Atlantic Beach owns the 1.25-acre parcel, acquired in the 1990s as part of its purchase of the Buccaneer Water Service. Mayor Ford says the land is currently zoned for mobile home use, meaning a zoning change through the city of Jacksonville would be required before development could begin.<\/p>\n

A developer has submitted an offer of approximately $875,000. The city is now pursuing a formal appraisal before bringing a finalized contract back to the City Commission. If approved, Dollar General representatives told the commission the store could be built within 12 to 14 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a fiduciary responsibility to the citizens of Atlantic Beach to know that number on a true market,\u201d Ford said.<\/p>\n

Residents have mixed reactions<\/b><\/p>\n

Not everyone is on board. While some residents welcome any new food option, others raised concerns about the location \u2014 including parking near an elementary school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI personally don\u2019t think it would be a good idea because we have a school that\u2019s directly across the street from it,\u201d one resident said. \u201cA lot of the parents don\u2019t have anywhere to park when they come to pick up their children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ford emphasized the proposal would serve residents well beyond Atlantic Beach \u2014 including those in Mayport Village near the ferry landing.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. \u2013 For more than a decade, residents living near Mayport have had few options when…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":996064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,31136,8314,3188,723,292091,7310,31005,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-996063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-america","tag-atlantic-beach","tag-duval-county","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-food-desert","tag-jacksonville","tag-mayport","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117082588893576302","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996063","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=996063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/996063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/996064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=996063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=996063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=996063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}