FOLIOExclusive shops, unique restaurants and funky bars have made the Riverside/Avondale area a destination for much of Northeast Florida, especially for those who want to dine, drink, party with friends and listen to music.
But those living literally a stone’s throw from the action have to deal with the lack of designated parking for the hundreds of people who crowd into the bars and restaurants until closing time, parking in the nearby neighborhoods.
Public urination, drunken outbursts, racing engines, honking horns, litter and blocked driveways have caused some residents to become exasperated as they see plans for even more bars and restaurants. A chart prepared by the transportation committee of Riverside Avondale Preservation (RAP), shows 4,359 seats in bars and restaurants and 697 designated on-street parking places.
Since Mojo No. 4 Urban BBQ Whiskey Bar opened more than a year ago, the popular restaurant and nightspot has drawn crowds to the Shoppes of Avondale area. Mojo did not have to provide any parking spaces, under existing rules designed to promote the use of historic structures.
Now plans by Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers to build a new 220-seat restaurant on the site of a former gas station, café and shoe store have some residents seeing red because they believe there’s no parking left for any more bar and restaurant patrons.
Behind the three retail areas in Riverside/Avondale — the Shoppes of Avondale, the 5 Points area and the Park Avenue and King Street area — are hundreds of homes, with narrow streets and towering oaks in an area placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The nearby amenities, small-town atmosphere and diversity have brought people into the area, a quick commute to downtown Jacksonville.
According to an essay, “Riverside Avondale: The Great American Neighborhood,” written by Wayne Wood, the founder of Riverside Avondale Preservation Inc., development of the former plantation land along the St. Johns River started in 1895 and accelerated after the great fire of 1901 destroyed much of downtown Jacksonville. In 1920, nearby Avondale was started by several wealthy investors. Wood wrote that the area was “a laboratory for aspiring architects and competing residential fashions.” He noted the region contains a variety of styles, including Colonial revival, Georgian, shingle style, Queen Anne/Victorian, Tudor and bungalows.
Just two years ago, the American Planning Association listed Riverside/Avondale as one the country’s 10 great neighborhoods.
“The neighborhood is Jacksonville’s hidden gem,” said Paul Farmer, APA chief executive officer.
Small shopping areas sprouted up among the homes and, for some, the growth of the area now has a dark side.
“We are a victim of our own success,” said Alicia Grant, who has lived near the Shoppes of Avondale for more than two decades and has seen the situation worsen.
“Our streets have turned into a parking lot,” she said. “They [restaurants] act as if the neighborhoods are responsible for fixing the problem, and they are not,” said Grant, who said she picks up trash, cups and beer bottles in her yard almost daily, while dealing with late-night parking, loudness and drunken behavior.
She said parked cars have blocked her driveway and it’s almost impossible to have guests visit because there’s no parking.
“We are invested in the neighborhood. We love the neighborhood — the shaded streets, the pretty houses, the walkable areas with lots of green space. People know their neighbors,” Grant said. “It is like a small town, and we want to keep it that way. It is a quality of life and safety issue.”
Simon Keymer, a spokesman for Mellow Mushroom, said the proposed restaurant is not responsible for the existing parking woes and believes it’s being unfairly targeted. Keymer said he believes most area residents support building a Mellow Mushroom in Avondale, and he claims a vocal minority are opposed to it.
Plans call for a restaurant with 220 seats, making it the smallest Mellow Mushroom in town, Keymer said. One of the buildings being razed is the former ’town restaurant, which had 82 seats, plus an estimated 26 outside, Keymer said.
On its local blog, IGetMellow.com, the restaurant chain listed “Ten Great Reasons to Support Mellow Avondale,” including it being a family-friendly restaurant, providing great food, offering a gluten-free menu, creating about 55 new jobs with an annual payroll of $400,000, being sensitive to the historic neighborhood and working to minimize noise, litter and security issues.
Mellow Mushroom is owned by Riverside/Avondale resident John Valentino, who said he supports a parking study and wants political leadership to identify a community solution to a challenge that already existed before he planned the new restaurant site.
In a June 20 letter to the Riverside Avondale Preservation Board, Valentino wrote, “We do not underestimate the parking management challenge, and we are developing strategies that will ensure that we come up with solutions that mitigate our parking impact.”
But Kay Ehas, chair of the group’s Transportation Committee, which is seeking a community-wide study of parking, said there is little room in Avondale for a large restaurant such as Mellow Mushroom, which would have the most seats in the district.
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It’s just out of scale for the neighborhood,” Ehas said. “It is just too big.”
Once Mellow Mushroom is built, there will be 185 designated on-street parking spots for 1,055 bar and restaurant seats in the Shoppes of Avondale.
The situation is even more critical in the Park Avenue and King Street part of Riverside/Avondale, where there are 1,898 bar and restaurant seats and only 211 parking spaces, Ehas said. A similar situation exists in 5 Points, where there are 1,406 restaurant bar seats and 301 parking spaces.
“We think it is causing a lot of heartache for a lot of people,” Ehas said, noting that all the retail areas back up to residential areas.
Ehas and others want a study of the situation and want to solicit input from the residents.
“We have to take it to the community and see what they want,” Ehas said. She would like a study to be neighborhood-driven. “The community needs to have some financial skin in the game.”
Carmen Godwin, executive director of the influential Riverside Avondale Preservation organization, is trying to walk a tightrope between business interests and the surrounding neighbors.
“I don’t believe you are ever going to please everybody,” Godwin said. “My main goal is that we come up with a long-term plan.”
RAP was heavily involved in negotiating a compromise with Kickbacks, another restaurant and bar experiencing parking issues in another part of the Riverside/Avondale area.
District 14 City Councilmember Jim Love, whose district includes these parts of Jacksonville, said when city ordinances and parking rules were first developed, city fathers didn’t anticipate large restaurants and bars in the typically quiet spots, where most of the shops and cafés were small “mom-and-pop” businesses.
They were structured to encourage businesses to move into historic structures by wiping out any requirement to provide parking.
In late July, the parking squeeze caused Jacksonville City Council to approve changes to the overlay for the areas to require that new restaurants or remodeled restaurants in historical structures there provide some parking — about one space for every eight seats.
The new requirement will not apply to existing restaurants like Mojo No. 4 or Kickbacks.
Godwin said she believes the change is a step in the right direction, but actually doesn’t create more parking spaces in the area.
“Most people feel it is one piece of the puzzle,” she said.
Love understands the concerns of the surrounding neighborhoods and acknowledges “it can be aggravating to some people.” He wants the city to conduct a study to find a fix for the problem.
There are creative solutions to the parking issues, Love said. Some of the ideas being floated include providing valet service and parking cars at other nearby lots, installing parking meters, requiring employees to park outside the area and perhaps installing No Parking Signs for certain areas and times of day.
“There are a lot of ways to solve it. You don’t want to tear down houses and build parking lots or parking garages,” Love said.
“We are looking at different things,” he added. “In some ways, it’s a good problem to have,” noting that some areas of town would like their businesses to be as successful as those in Riverside and Avondale.
Allan DeVault, a Jacksonville restaurateur who has run venues in Avondale, believes changes to the parking requirements will hurt the neighborhood and its economy. He said he believes some restaurant owners in the Shoppes of Avondale are trying to stifle competition.
“There is a problem. There is a challenge,” said DeVault, who’s currently building a new restaurant in 5 Points next to Mossfire Grill. “The ordinance is a poor way of doing it. To me, it’s not very well thought out.”
DeVault also said there should be a professional parking study done to identify ways to improve the situation. “The only way they are trying is to stifle business development when we are trying to come out of a recession,” he said.
“The law is a de facto ban on new, sustainable restaurants in the neighborhood,” he wrote in a letter to the editor in The Florida Times-Union in late July. “It condemns buildings to stay derelict, developers to shelve their plans and restaurant staff to remain unemployed.”
Ron Word
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