Argyle Area Civic Council

Government Subsidized Housing comes to Argyle Forest 3-13-2001

Controversy Erupts at the Argyle Baptist Church March 8th, 2001

Tempers flared at a three-hour meeting as hundreds of Argyle Forest residents voiced their opposition to a mixed-use apartment complex that will include some public housing.

Construction on the $25 million complex, known as Lindsey Terrace, is slated to start in mid-April, with the first units available in January.

Many residents at the town meeting sponsored by City Council President Alberta Hipps Thursday night said they had just learned of the project and wanted to know how they could keep it out of their neighborhood.

Speaker after speaker said it would turn their already overcrowded roads into a nightmare, decrease property values, place a burden on their schools and bring prostitution, drugs and crime to their community.

The Vestcor Cos. are building Lindsey Terrace on a 25-acre site on Youngerman Circle near the entrance to Argyle Forest. It requires no zoning change. The 336-unit complex, being built in 14 three-story buildings, reserves 70 percent of its units for families who earn no more than 60 percent of Jacksonville's median income, 25 percent for public housing residents and 5 percent for fair market housing.

The Jacksonville Housing Authority is under a U.S. Justice Department decree to integrate 225 housing units into non-minority areas by 2006 or face prosecution.

But residents said the decree does not require any of those units be built in Argyle Forest.

In response to questions, a Vestcor official said that a unit would be set aside for a community police officer and two for management staff. Kristen Packard, vice president of housing development for Vestcor, also said a criminal background check would be done on potential residents and that they must have six months of consecutive employment.

(Text taken from Times Union Story http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/031401/ner_5626840.shtml )

Bill Lewis Email Sent to each City Council Person Individually.

Dear City Council President Hipps,

I know that you were elected to represent District 13 and that you do a great job of representing Argyle Forest/Chimney Lakes, Bent Creek, Cecil Field, Maxville, Tree Top Estates, & Wesconnett neighborhoods.
You may be wondering why I am sending you this email even though you may not be my direct representative. A friend of mine, U.S. Representative Charlie Norwood (R-GA 10th District) http://www.house.gov/norwood/biog.html, corrected me when I told him that I was sorry that I could not vote for him because I did not live in his district. Rep. Norwood told me, "Bill, you may not be able to vote for me, but I can always vote for you." That quote has always stuck with me and is the reason that I am asking you to look into all the issues that affect the current homeowners and residents of the Argyle Forest and Chimney Lakes neighborhoods.

There are four issues that will cause significant burden and inconvenience to the current homeowners and residents of the Argyle Forest & Chimney Lakes neighborhoods:
. 1. Overcrowded schools.
. 2. Overburdened roads and not re-evaluating a 25 year old concurrency study.
. 3. Overwhelmed police force and sexual predators that are allowed to live in Vestcor Properties.
. 4. Overwhelmed fire department and latest fire report that has not been yet addressed.

School Board Member, Ms. Cindy Rounds, for District 7 spoke to the the Town Hall meeting last Thursday, March 8, 2001, and listed the schools that children from Lindsay Terrace would attend (Chimney Lakes Elementary School, Jefferson Davis Middle School, and N.B. Forrest High School http://www.educationcentral.org/Schools_Info/SchoolsA_Z/Schools_Region/schoolsbyregion3.htm ). The fact that these three schools are already overcrowded has not been taken into consideration. Also, there are already two major housing projects that have already broken ground that are going to send additional children to these already overcrowded schools.

Argyle Forest Boulevard is a two lane road that already cannot handle the vehicles from Duval and Clay counties that use Argyle Forest Blvd and Youngerman Circle. Upgrades on Argyle Forest Boulevard will not begin until 2003 http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/020301/ner_5281583.shtml and the ground breaking on Lindsay Terrace is scheduled to begin next month. The concurrency study that was conducted over 25 years ago that Jacksonville City Attorney, Cindy Lacadera, mentioned on Thursday, March 8, 2001, never took into consideration all the new housing projects in Clay County and the two new housing projects that have already broken ground.

There is not enough police protection for the Argyle Forest and Chimney Lakes neighborhoods. Adding a HUD project to this area will only create more stress to an already overwhelmed police force. Almost everywhere a HUD project has been started, the crime rate in that area has increased. Kristen Packard of Vestcor Development Corporation Affordable Housing Development http://www.vestcor.com/develop/default.html spoke at the Town Meeting on Thursday, March 8, 2001. She explained about the detailed screening process of its residents and that anyone with a criminal background would never be allowed in a Vestcor Property. This system does not work because there are at least three sexual predators already living in Vestcor projects in Jacksonville (See attached MS Word Document: Sexual Offenders that Vestcor Allows to live in their Properties.DOC) This information was available from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Sexual Predators web page on the internet at http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/Sexual_Predators. This information was very easy to obtain, but Vestcor Properties does not seem to care about the safety of its residents or others in the community. City Council President Hipps, I cannot believe that you or your fellow councilmen would dare put this type of project in my neighborhood. I would hope that you would not Allow Vestcor Properties to place sexual predators in close proximity to my wife, my two little girls, or the children and wives of my neighbors.

The Jacksonville Fire Department is overwhelmed and there is a recent study that recommends more fire stations be added to rapidly growing areas of Jacksonville among which the Argyle Forest / Chimney Lakes area is one. This study contains important information regarding the need for new fire stations. The draft of the report was reported on Sunday, February 25, 2001, http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/022401/met_5483757.html in the Florida Times-Union and the final report was presented to the Jacksonville City Council just last week. So, I know that not enough time has been devoted to investigating how this will affect homeowners and residents the Argyle Forest and Chimney Lakes neighborhoods.

There are many other reasons why this bill should be voted down, but I do not have enough information on these other reasons to present in this letter.

City Council President Hipps, I ask you to please vote against Finance Bill 2001-129 on Tuesday, March 13, 2001, and don't rush into a decision that will adversely affect the current homeowners and residents of the Argyle Forest and Chimney Lakes neighborhoods. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this letter. I look forward to speaking in front of you on Tuesday, March 13, 2001.

Sincerely,

Bill Lewis
Resident Chimney Lakes Neighborhood
8852 Ivymill Place South
Jacksonville, FL 32244
Cell Phone: 904-813-9455
eFax: 978-334-6582
bill-lewis@netzero.net

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ArgyleACC@joimail.com

News Article Links

WJXT - Council Approves Controversial HUD Complex 3-13-2001
WJXT - City Council To Vote On New HUD Housing Site 3-13-2001
Times Union - Argyle Forest housing gets Council OK 3-14-2001
TU - Argyle vents anger over complex (3 Cop Meeting) 3-14-2001
WJXT - City Faces Deadline On Public Housing 2-7-2001
TU-Residents say public housing will compound problems 6-11-2001
Public housing proposal falls short 3-10-2001
84 HUD units projected for Argyle Forest 2-7-2001
Agency OKs public housing plan 2-27-2001
TU - Argyle apprehensive about dealership move