City Council locks in city's share of agreement with Jaguars for community improvements

Jacksonville City Council finalized putting up $150 million for a community benefits agreement and that commitment will attract the maximum $150 million match from the Jaguars in a partnership that will mainly direct spending to the Eastside neighborhood and downtown parks in walking distance of the stadium.

City Council agreed Tuesday to the full amount of city taxpayer dollars that Mayor Donna Deegan negotiated with the Jaguars for the community benefits agreement, which is a side agreement to the $1.4 billion renovation of the football stadium that will keep the Jaguars playing there for another 30 years.

The city's $150 million for the community benefits agreement will be on top of the $775 million it will pay toward the stadium reconstruction in tandem with Jaguars owner Shad Khan. City Council approved the stadium deal in June but spent another two months examining the community benefits agreement before finalizing it on a 13-2 vote Tuesday night.

"Tonight we delivered for all of Jacksonville an investment that will transform our community for generations," Deegan said in a statement after the vote. "The boulder of progress moves quickly when we are all pushing it together."

The version of the agreement passed by City Council has the same $150 million bottom line that Deegan sought but will shift more of the city's spending to the Eastside neighborhood and spread the overall spending by the city over a longer time frame. The increased amount for the Eastside, which is immediately north of the sports complex, came after residents turned out in force at council meetings .

Ariane Randolph, who is the fourth generation of her family to live in the historically Black neighborhood, said Eastside residents "had a seat at the table and that was empowering" when the special committee did its work on the legislation.

"Residents like myself have been working very hard to advocate for our children to come back and make Eastside home and make Jacksonville home," she said. "So we want to continue that. This is just another step."

The agreement put forward by Deegan consisted of $56 million for three downtown parks — Riverfront Plaza, Shipyards West and Metropolitan Park — and the city-owned flex field in the sports complex. Council approved that portion in June.

Deegan's proposal also contained $50 million countywide and $30 million for the Eastside to do programs for workforce development, affordable housing and fighting homelessness. The council changed that to $40 million countywide and $40 million in the Eastside neighborhood, also known as Out East.

"Not only did we do something tremendous for the city, but more importantly for the neighbors Out East, we went from $30 million to $40 million which is something that was not in the scope of work in the past," said City Council member Raul Arias, chairman of a special council committee that crafted the final agreement.

The last piece of the city's share of the agreement is $14 million for parks countywide, the same amount Deegan sought. The money will be split up at $1 million apiece for each of the city's 14 district council members to decide where to spend it in their districts.

Deegan's proposed agreement would have spent the money in the Eastside over a three-year period starting in the 2025-26 fiscal year. City Council's version will start that spending sooner in the 2024-25 fiscal year but spread it out over seven years.

For the countywide program, Deegan proposed the spending over four years. City Council stretched it to 15 years.

Deegan said the goal will be to "maximize the city's investment in the shortest amount of time possible to create the greatest impact for our residents."

The Jaguars will pay their $150 million commitment over a 30-year period. The team and the city have not determined exactly how that will be spent but it would go toward the Eastside and countywide programs similar to what the city will be doing, and also could dedicate a portion of the team's spending for maintenance of downtown riverfront parks.

The Jaguars' commitment will be the most ever by an NFL team, eclipsing the roughly $100 million the Buffalo Bills will spend in connection with a stadium deal the Bills struck with the state of New York and Erie County. The Jaguars initially proposed $100 million and then agreed to boost the team's spending if the city of Jacksonville contributed as well, resulting in the total $300 million package.

City Council member Jimmy Peluso, whose district contains the Eastside, said the agreement "will have a cascading effect in that neighborhood for the next 100 years."

He said the city needed to step up for the Eastside because the $1.4 billion renovation of the football stadium will bring more private investment in areas around the sports complex that will either strengthen the Eastside for current residents or push them out through gentrification.

"So these dollars need to come in at a higher amount and much faster than the rest of the countywide dollars," he said. "It's in the best interest of the community and if we find ourselves years from now with that community harmed or in shambles, then we really didn't do our job."

Arias said that while the the funding is split $40 million apiece for the Eastside and countywide programs, residents citywide also will get another $14 million for improvements to their neighborhood parks.

The Jaguars and city are part of a coalition of businesses and non-profit organization that have come together through LIFT Jax on revitalizing the Eastside. LIFT Jax Chief Operating Officer Travis Williams said the grand opening of the Debs Store, a neighborhood grocery store, last week shows the type of quality investment that will coming.

The work to break the grip of generational poverty in the Eastside could be used as a model in other neighborhoods that have suffered from lack of investments for decades, said Suzanne Pickett, executive director of the Historic Eastside Community Development Corp.

Three council members — Kevin Carrico, Reggie Gaffney Jr. and Ju'Coby Pittman — abstained from the vote Tuesday because they work for or have connections to non-profits that could seek grants from the community benefits agreement.

Council members Rory Diamond and Mike Gay voted against the legislation.

Voting in favor were Peluso, Arias, Randy White, Ken Amaro, Michael Boylan, Joe Carlucci, Matt Carlucci, Tyrona Clark-Murray, Nick Howland, Rahman Johnson, Will Lahnen, Chris Miller and Ron Salem.

Council member Terrance Freeman was absent.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville finalizes community benefits agreement with Jaguars