A mix of problems related to growth are raising the ire of some Northside residents.

After attending numerous meetings and conducting many interviews, Eye on Jacksonville has pinpointed some of the issues bothering residents.

One issue is haphazard development without sufficient input from residents.

“There are a lot of residents, including me, who are getting tired of all the building on the Northside without any consideration from residents,” said Republican Executive Committee Chairman Charles Barr, a lifelong Northside resident. “The building is getting out of hand. So. many people are complaining but basically what the people say falls on deaf ears.”

Barr said that traffic has become a real problem in areas where development is occurring, including north of Trout River, around the airport areas, and off I-95 on Lem Turner.

“They don’t do a lot with infrastructure on Northside,” Barr said. “Land currently zoned for single-family homes is now being rezoned to allow multi-family.”

Another issue is clean-up.

“Development is nice, but not when it becomes jammed up,” said Northside resident Sharon Bivins. “While I am sure they could plan better for development, I am more frustrated with the city’s general lack of clean-up on the Northside.”

Bivins said that Jacksonville’s airport is in the Northside and the area should reflect the true beauty of the city to visitors.

“The Northside is the opening to our city, and it is a mess,” Bivins said. “You would think that city officials would want to make it more attractive. We complain constantly, but we have had little help. I don’t know what we can do to make sure people understand that our Northside neighborhoods are not dumping grounds.”

Ronnda Jamison agrees with Bivins concerning development, but she said another issue is the lack of resources given to businesses on the Northside.

“I am not really angry about development, but the city does need to invest in businesses on the Northside by providing resources and incentives,” she said.  “They need to do for the Northside what they are doing for the Southside.”

Barr listed another complaint. Trains in the Dinsmore area often are lengthy and slow and prevent motorists crossing the railroad track on Old Kings Road. He said one resident, in particular, would like to see an overpass built over the train tracks in the Dinsmore area where he lives.

“The main problem, as I see it is that the city of Jacksonville is lagging way behind on planning for future growth,” said Ray Pringle, president of Concerned Citizens of NW Jax, an organization with 766 members in the Dinsmore area. “There are several troublesome issues, especially the CSX and Norfolk Southern trains that block entrances to the Dinsmore community for up to an hour.”

Pringle, who is also a pastor, explained a recent incident that he described as bearing similarity to a third-word community.

“There was one incident recently where the train blocked a school bus for over an hour preventing it from getting to Dinsmore Elementary to pick up over 60 boys and girls,” he said. “The school had locked up and the girls and they had no place to go to the bathroom. The little girls and boys had to go to the bathroom in the weeds and bushes which created a huge problem. This is like being in a Third world community, instead of 2025 America.”

Pringle sent a letter he sent to the mayor, city councilmen, State Rep. Dean Black and Congressman Aaron Bean.

“I overheard one of the city officials say in the Town Hall meeting that Councilman (Reggie) Gaffney held that Dinsmore has always been a second-class community,” he said. “I said to that person, and I will say it now, we living in Dinsmore are proud Americans that respectfully demand the same treatment given to the proud Americans living in Mandarin.”

Pringle added that there is a plan to build more than 10,000 homes in Dinsmore within a mile of where he lives and the city, so far, is dreadfully lagging to initiate the infrastructure needed to handle a potentially huge traffic and safety problem.

Paul Forte, who has lived in Jacksonville for more than 50 years, has been actively involved with the numerous issues on the Northside.

“The Northside used to be such a pretty area,” Forte said. “There were large tracks of land with horses and beautiful farms, but over-development has brought about many changes, some that aren’t good for the Northside.”

Recently, Forte has been fighting a huge development project that calls for building more than 240 homes in Broward Point, a community of 70 existing homes. This, according to Forte and others, will create major road, traffic, safety, water, and sewer issues, and destroy the beauty of the island.

“I am usually referred to as someone who drives the city crazy, but I just want to see the city be fair,” Forte said. “The city is not abiding by its charter, and we need to get where we can vote on what our taxes pay for. We can’t get roads fixed, traffic has become a real problem, especially Main Street, and the infrastructure is overloaded. Not a lot of attention is given to our complaints.

“I say, if they (city officials and City Council members) can’t fix it, they need to get out.”

These photos show development on Broward Point, an island community of 70 existing homes. More than 240 additional homes are being constructed on the island. Residents point out that there will be only one way in and way out from Main Street (US 17) that will create massive traffic and safety issues.