Westside residents steamed over liquor store coming soon near OakLeaf

Dozens of residents of the Jacksonville’s Westside came out to a community meeting Monday night to voice opposition to a shopping center with a liquor store at the northeast corner of Collins and Old Middleburg roads.

It was standing room only at the Argyle Branch Public Library, a crowd who shared concerns about traffic, property values and the fact that the planned 11,000-square-foot Shores Liquors would be the third package store within a mile of the site — and within walking distance of a daycare and the pre-K-5 Enterprise Learning Academy.

Daren Jones, who lives off Argyle Forest Boulevard in the Chimney Lakes subdivision, said the area is saturated with liquor stores.

“We have enough of this type of establishment,” Jones said. “I’m a big fan of free enterprise and capitalism. However, I think the push to have a sixth liquor store within a 3-mile radius is a little bit excessive.”

The problem for the residents is the site, about a mile from Oakleaf Town Center, is already being cleared away for the development. The city approved the property’s rezoning several years ago. And not just for the liquor store.

Documents by Trinity Commercial Group , which is handling commercial real estate services for the site, show the forthcoming Collins Plaza at 7715 Old Middleburg Road S. will include four outparcels — space for businesses — as well as a stormwater pond and a cell tower on nearly 7 acres across from the Chimney Lakes and Longleaf subdivisions.

Property owner Vrihi Development LLC, which is based in Orange Park, got approval from the city back in 2021 to rezone the land to a planned unit development. They then tweaked the plans for the site last year, when, some residents acknowledge, they did see rezoning notices on the site.

According to city records, though, no one from Argyle showed up at City Hall to oppose the rezoning in 2021, when the original rezoning was approved, or in 2023, when an additional parcel was added.

Other residents say they never saw the posted signs or were confused by the notices changing over time. They say it wasn’t until a large sign went up on the property recently, announcing it as a future location in the St. Augustine-based Shores Liquor chain, that they knew what was coming into their area.

That led to District 14 City Council member Rahman Johnson’s receiving an outcry of opposition via phone and email. So Johnson, who was elected in 2023, hosted this week’s meeting to get a conversation going between the landowners and the community.

But while the meeting was attended by a city traffic engineer, representatives of the Planning Department and the Office of General Counsel, and city council members Ju’Coby Pittman and Reggie Gaffney Jr., the property owners and developer declined Johnson’s invitation.

“The project developer, unfortunately was not able to make it,” Johnson told the crowd Monday. “It’s not smart. No, because I got another three years on the council.”

Reached by phone Tuesday, a Shores Liquor representative said the company understands the concerns residents have, and they aim to work with the city, but promise the store will be an “upscale” establishment that would look similar to their stores at Beach Boulevard and San Pablo Parkway and off County Road 210 in St. Johns County. The representative said the plans — in motion for years — have already been approved and all the local rules will be followed.

Landowners Pruthvi and Vipulkumar Patel own at least 17 liquor stores across Duval County, Clay County and St. Johns County, several of which include lounges and bars, according to state business records.

As of this week, the store planned for Collins Road did not include on-premise consumption of alcohol. For that type of business, Jacksonville’s land rules don’t allow it within 500 feet of a school or a church. The property is, according to Johnson, around 300 feet from The Discovery Tree Academy at Oakleaf, but that is a Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten and daycare center and not considered a “school,” according to land use rules.

Johnson said some people told him arranging the meeting was a bad idea.

“There were people who said, ‘You should not have that meeting because there’s nothing you can do,’” Johnson said. “I don’t believe that. I believe there is always a way.”

Several residents referenced recent action by the city to purchase a property in Jacksonville’s Brentwood neighborhood, where a liquor store was built but never opened amid public outcry . The city decided to pay $1.8 million for the 0.38-acre lot at 865 Golfair Blvd., next to the KIPP Voice Academy school, and aims to repurpose the site as a community center.

Johnson said he “vehemently disagreed” with the mayor on the decision to purchase the Brentwood property.

“I would have rather taken that to court as opposed to spending taxpayer dollars to buy that particular property,” Johnson said. “Because of just what’s happening now. Other communities will say, ‘Well, you bought theirs, why won’t you buy ours?'”

He said it isn’t that simple, but he insists the community has options.

Dylan Reingold, chief deputy general counsel for the city, told residents that the developer will still need to obtain a certificate of occupancy from the city and would need to go through additional steps to allow on-premise consumption of alcohol, if that is what they want to do.

“The ball is still in our court,” Johnson said. “That’s what I need us to understand. But we gotta work together to make this happen.”

Regardless, Johnson said the city’s land code needs to be reviewed, in part, for the distance between a liquor store and a school.

“Our code is broken,” Johnson said. “And the longer we keep putting bandages on bullet wounds, the longer we’re going to hemorrhage. We’ve got to fix the code.”

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