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One neighbor said she was shaking with anger at Tuesday’s meeting after a flub by the city’s traffic department derailed a decision on the controversial project.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Oceanway neighbors came to Tuesday night’s City of Jacksonville land use and zoning meeting prepared with comments on a traffic study looking at the impact a Chick-fil-A would have on the surrounding area.
Neighbors claim there are inaccuracies in the 600-page study.
The city’s traffic chief, Chris LeDew, said he recommended changes to the study including a traffic signal and extra turn lane to accommodate additional projected traffic. LeDew said he received a revised version of the study this morning.
“We reviewed it, and I must say that I agree with the findings. And I think that the Chick-fil-A restaurant will operate adequately, they will handle their cues within their site,” LeDew said.
But neither neighbors or the committee received the revised version before Tuesday’s meeting.
“We’ve been trying to be unemotional, but we’re just being played,” neighbor Christine Brundage, said.
“We waited two months for the traffic study. And it was provided to us, and we spent days going through it, understanding it coming up with you know our analysis of those numbers and figuring out what they meant and what they would look like in reality and now all of a sudden there’s a new traffic study with God only knows what changes.” neighbor, Robin Hood, said.
After listening to several comments from neighbors the committee decided to defer the vote at the request of district councilmember Reggie Gaffney Jr.
“I need to see this [revised) traffic study and I haven’t even read it. I think it’s totally unfair to myself and the constituents,” Gaffney Jr. said.
Neighbors now have a month and a half to get the revised study, look at it and formulate their response.
The only thing to overshadow their frustration Monday may be their lack of trust.
“Literally at the 11th hour they come into this meeting, saying oh no the one we gave everyone isn’t the real one we bait and switched and made a new one here you go. Oh, wait not here you go we don’t even have it ready for you to review,” Brundage said.
“The challenges that happen today are so significant that I think it should reverberate throughout city hall I think the mayor and her staff need to understand what happened today that the government let its people down,” David Clark, a neighbor, said.
The vote was pushed to June 4 where the land use and zoning public hearing on the revised traffic study will continue.
If the proposal is voted on during that meeting it will then head to the next city council meeting for final vote.
