JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville City Council voted to remove most of a key funding element from the Jaguars stadium renovation deal during a special meeting Thursday.
Initially, the $1.4 billion stadium renovation deal with the Jaguars also included a $300 million Community Benefits Agreement, split evenly between the team and the city. The city would’ve paid $150 million over four years, while the Jags would’ve given $5 million a year over 30 years.
However, incoming City Council President Randy White crafted an amendment, along with the mayor’s office, to keep $56 million for parks development in the stadium bill but remove $94 million so it could be considered later after objections by some council members.
“The mayor’s office and Councilmember White came to that compromise, and I’m very supportive of it. I was always supportive of the park part. It was the other portion of the bill that I thought should be discussed as part of the budget. And this will allow us to do that,” Current City Council President Ron Salem said after White introduced the proposal.
With the new proposal, much of the money for the Eastside community improvements was removed from the stadium deal and will instead be taken up later in the summer.
Part of the issue was that several council members work for organizations that could’ve received some of the $94 million in funding that would’ve gone toward workforce development, affordable housing and addressing homelessness. Separating that funding allows the maximum number of council members to vote on the stadium deal.
“I didn’t think it was right that five or maybe as many as six would have to abstain from voting,” White said.
With the Eastside neighborhood and the CBA removed from the deal right now, the real concern that the city council was going over is about the future of the renovations — that’s the next vote coming Tuesday.
The city council will vote on whether the city is going to pay $775 million for the “Stadium of the Future.”
City council members will vote to go ahead with the plan and spend tax dollars to make major improvements to keep the Jaguars in town.
During Thursday’s special meeting, News4JAX heard the fine details of the agreement, such as how parking revenue will be divided, what could happen with land around the area, and more talk of an entertainment district. It was also a time when council members could ask questions, and Councilman Mike Gay said there is a lot of information and not much time to digest it.
“They’ve been working on this for years, and we only get worked on it for a matter of weeks. And so it’s, you know, I’ve always erred to caution. We need to slow it down. That’s where I’m at,” Gay said.
News4JAX asked Mark Lamping, president of the Jaguars, about the upcoming vote and his thoughts on how the negotiations have been progressing.
“When you’re looking at a duck, sort of floating across a lake, you know, it looks pretty serene at the top, but you don’t know what’s going on underwater with that duck,” Lamping said.
In terms of the CBA being mostly removed from the deal, Salem said he hopes those programs can still happen sooner rather than later.
“So, we’ve got a lot to look at, see what our financial position is. And hopefully, we can we can fund as much of this as we can. As I said, my priority, personally, is towards Out East. I’d like to see us really try to elevate that community,” Salem said.