JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The deal between the city and the Jacksonville Jaguars to build the so-called “Stadium of the Future” is just about done.
City council members are ready to sign off on it next week.
On Friday, members added some tweaks to the agreement, basically to make sure local workers get to help build the new sports complex.
“It’s very important because just think about such a large project, you got $1.4 billion, and we need to have our workers or our tradesmen involved in this and they definitely have a stake in the stadium of the future being built here,” said councilmember Tyrona Clark-Murray.
A day after the Jacksonville City Council voted to remove most of a key funding element from the Jaguars stadium renovation deal, the members met again Friday to consider even more amendments to the proposal.
Not all council members could vote on the amendment for workers. Four declared a conflict of interest because their outside jobs could benefit from the deal. That was also the reason the controversial Community Benefit Agreement (CBA) was separated from the agreement on Thursday. It will come up in a separate vote in mid-July.
A lot of the proposed amendments were centered on what will ultimately happen at the stadium during and after renovations. Several council members said these amendments were not deal breakers.
Friday’s meeting sets the table for next week’s final vote on the proposal to transform EverBank Stadium. That vote will come Tuesday when City Council decides whether the city is going to pay $775 million toward the renovations.
“This is been a long process,” Jaguars President Mark Lamping said. “It’s an effort that began a long time ago. A lot of public outreach, a lot of dialogue, a lot of different sake. A lot of listening, a lot of reacting to what the public wanted. And in the very beginning of this, the goal was to ensure that the Khan family kept NFL football here in Northeast Florida for generations to come. And that goal that Shad and his family had at the very beginning, I think we’re on the verge of turning that goal into reality. And it’s a goal that the entire community shares.”
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 have paid $150 million over four years, while the Jags would have 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.
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 was 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.
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 toward Out East. I’d like to see us really try to elevate that community,” Salem said.
The city council meeting is on Tuesday and will start earlier than usual at 3 p.m. but the stadium vote won’t happen until the end of the meeting.