JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Dozens of residents on Jacksonville’s Westside shared their concerns about a potential liquor store coming to their neighborhood.
Officials said the property rezoning happened in 2021 in the area of Old Middleburg and Collins Road, but hundreds of area residents expressed concerns about the project’s next steps.
Councilman Rahman Johnson hosted the meeting at the Argyle Branch Public Library on Monday at 6:30 p.m.
He said the developer told him five minutes before the meeting that they wouldn’t be attending the meeting.
“What I know is this community is passionate about their community and caring for it and at this point they don’t want this liquor store here,” Johnson said. “Now I believe we can reach a compromise because there are property rights that the owner of that parcel has but this community has property rights as well and they want to be good neighbors, so we want to see if we can find a compromise so the community can figure out what our next step is.”
Community members said they’re concerned about property values going down if the liquor store is built.
There were also concerns about traffic in the area and how a new business could add to that.
Ernest Carraway said he feels there are too many liquor stores in the area.
“We have Publix that has a liquor store, Winn Dixie has a liquor store,” Carraway said. “Why would you open up another liquor store and take away from where we go to on a normal shopping times so I think it’s unnecessary to bring another Shores liquor establishment. I think it devalues the value of the property around we’re trying to increase our value and yet it does seem like it’s trying to decrease the value of our neighborhoods.”
Johnson said the next steps include putting together a report on the property to figure out what recourse they have
He added that he still wants the developer to sit down to figure out a compromise with the community.
