County officials will look into plans to prevent urban sprawl in western Nassau.
Department of Planning and Economic Opportunity Director Taco Pope invited Mayor Bobby Rau to attend a panel session Nov. 7 in the Multipurpose Building in Callahan. The panel will meet for a series of individual interviews with elected officials throughout the day. Public input will be sought 6-8 p.m. Nov. 8.
Pope visited the Callahan Town Council Monday to announce the meetings, which will be hosted by the Urban Land Institute’s Technical Assistance Panel.
The ULI is a non-profit education institute supported by its members with a mission to “provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide,” according to a handout from ULI.
The county paid a fee of $15,000 to utilize the group’s services.
On the first day of the two-day meeting, Pope, Office of Management and Budget Director Justin Stankiwicz and Public Works Director Scott Herring will give staff presentations.
Commissioners George Spicer and Justin Taylor or their designees are also invited as well as mayors Cris McConnell and Rau or their designees. Nassau County Schools Superintendent Dr. Kathy Burns and Greater Nassau County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Daveda Smith Newsome are invited to provide input as well.
Ultimately, the goal is to identify methods and incentives that will “promote high-wage job creation, economic development and supporting services in balance with preserving the rural nature of the area,” according to a handout provided by Pope.
Pope said in future planning the goal is “to move toward what the desires of what citizens in western Nassau want it to be.”
He said that residents have expressed their concerns about urban sprawl.
“If we do nothing, we’ll end up like Orange Park and be told how the land will be developed, possibly lending itself to urban sprawl, thereby losing itself to urban sprawl,” Pope said. “So the idea is to look at best management practices where development has worked.”
During his presentation, he briefly outlined how the ULI-TAP made recommendations for planning projects in Jacksonville’s Southbank, Tallahassee and Orange County.
Rau said that the town does not want urban sprawl. But he does desire specific growth that won’t turn Callahan into “a little Orange Park.”
Pope said that in the 1980s and 1990s regional builders dictated how commerce was planned. But with this concept, citizens could have more say.
“There’s no harm, because it’s purely a planning experience at this point,” he said.
Rau asked the council to email their ideas to him so that he can present them to the panel Nov. 7.