Mayor Lenny Curry’s administration will withdraw a bill that refunds $1.725 million in federal grant funding instead of finding a replacement for Metropolitan Park Downtown.
The move comes weeks after a development company owned by Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan released a plan that incorporates the park into its mixed-use Shipyards development, according to WJCT News partner the Jacksonville Daily Record.
City Council member Matt Carlucci said Aug. 10 that Ordinance 2019-555 will be withdrawn at the Council Finance Committee’s Aug. 18 meeting.
City officials wanted to return the unused National Park Service grant money it received in 1981 through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
Curry administration officials hoped that would satisfy the city’s contractual requirements in the grant so the park at 1410 Gator Bowl Blvd. could be redeveloped as part of Khan’s proposed Shipyards project near TIAA Bank Field.
The bill has been continuously deferred at Curry’s request since then-Council President Scott Wilson introduced it in August 2019.
A spokesperson for Khan’s development company, Iguana Investments Florida LLC, said in an email Aug. 10 the decision to kill the bill will not affect the development timeline for the Shipyards.
Read the rest of this story at JaxDailyRecord.com.
