Carnes Street

The Town Council's decision to open the neighborhood doors to Waste Not, Want Not will leave the doors to other neighborhoods wide open, too.

It's a well-meaning decision that doesn't look ahead.

Michael S. Mann

michaelsmann@comcast.net

OneMann--were you there last night? I was. I spoke. But the issue was not about waste not...it was ZONING. Our P and Z in town is a mess. The RG1 zoning on Carnes provides for transitional zoning in between residential and commercial. Our zoning code (in this instance) was copied from Jacksonville 40 years ago. The "door" has been open since then.

Also have you ever been down that section of Carnes--a real mis-match and not pretty at all. I feel bad for the neighbors behind the building. But the whole neighborhood doesn't seem to want anything. A doctor's letter was read, he gave up because of the neighborhood opposition. Not In My Backyard.

The non-profit wanting the exception (which can more with a lot of restriction, should Town Council choose to) It can't open the door to other neighborhoods unless they are in the Town and adjacent to RG1. In a perfect world, I want single family homes behind me...but you can't fight city hall zoning.

Although I wanted and planned to be there last night, I couldn't attend the meeting.  Sorry I missed your speech.

Of course it was a Orange Park town zoning issue that had little to do with Waste No, Want Not.  The fact that the town's zoning law was copied directly from Jacksonville's 40 years ago is hardly a ringing endorsement.  The last thing I want Orange Park and Clay County to look like four decades from now is the Jacksonville of today.

And I hate that you think you can't fight city hall or zoning, clueless, especially when you actually feel sorry for the folks behind the building that was rezoned.  That's one of the reasons so many people just ignore their government.  It's an attitude that is very short-sighted.

Michael S. Mann

michaelsmann@comcast.net

Hmmm. I must learn to be more clear in my comments. When I said you can't fight zoning--I meant that the zoning is IN PLACE, you can't just pull the rug out from under zoning on a case by case basis. If it is IN place (and it is) you must do the legal thing.

The 40 year old zoning codes should have ben cleaned up years ago--ask your opponent who has been on the city council for years why hasn't something been done before now...

I should have said you can't fight zoning on this one. Of course, you can fight--I wasn't suggesting we ignore it. I was there to learn the facts, hear from both sides, and take action that I feel is appropriate. If you think I was there for HOURS sitting in those miserable chairs to ignore my government you are mistaken. I was there as an active, participating, contributing resident.

If you knew me--you would never call my attitude short sighted, short-tempered maybe (ask my youngest kid) but never short sighted.