As the city of Jacksonville continues to grow, city leaders are considering slowing down the pace to make sure the infrastructure can keep up. The city is considering a one-year moratorium on the development of multi-family dwellings.
This pause would include the development of apartments, townhomes and multiple duplexes on one lot.
“We’ve had some unprecedented growth here in the last few years…in spite of the pandemic,” said Ben Nunnally, public information officer for the city of Jacksonville. “Based on what we’ve seen it is really just a matter of the demand. As much as we can meet it, we want to, but we don’t want to over task our infrastructure.”
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Jacksonville state university had record breaking enrollment in fall 2023 at 9,672 students. On top of that, the city has seen around a 14% population increase since 2010.
“We are at that weird spot where you are seeing the friction between small town and big town and kind of the conversion into one or the other,” said Nunnally.
The one-year break from these developments would give the city the opportunity to slow down.
During this time, the city would conduct studies to test its ability to serve systems like water and power. As well as deal with increased traffic that comes from more people moving into the area.
“It’s a good thing that people want to build places to live in Jacksonville, we just don’t want to outpace our ability to grow with the growth,” said Nunnally.
If the one-year moratorium is approved, this would not affect projects that have already been approved for one-year. The item is expected to be up for discussion on the next council agenda on Monday, June 24.