City of Jacksonville

We're less than a week away from 904 Day! 🙌 Whether it's shopping at your favorite local business, or exploring one of our beautiful parks, trails, or shorelines, show us how you celebrate all things Duval on September 4th. Post your adventures with #904Day and go to https://lnkd.in/dN3ScA6C for more information and ideas from Visit Jacksonville and Downtown Vision Inc.

The City of Jacksonville has unveiled “Express Lane Permitting,” the latest update to its civil plan review and permitting process. “Express Lane Permitting” allows applicants to get an expedited review for an additional fee. “Since we instituted express lane permitting, we are already seeing a reduction in the time it takes to get a permit in the city,” said Nina Sickler, Director of Public Works for the City of Jacksonville. “For example, we issued building and civil permits for a new fast-food restaurant in just 15 days for the civil plan review and 18 for the building permit.” To put this into perspective, the average first review turn-around time for commercial permitting had been 30 days in the past. As of August, it was down to just 13 days. And with “Express Lane Permitting,” it will be even faster. “As we all know, time is money, and a faster, more efficient permitting process means more money in the pockets of everyone along the chain,” said Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan. Another way the city will accelerate permit approval will be with AI-driven tools, which can improve comment analysis and permitting efficiency before plans reach a human reviewer. The city will be implementing an AI program in partnership with Swiftgov.ai, which has been successful in significantly reducing review times in other Florida counties. In May, the city announced an 8-point action plan to streamline its civil plan review and permitting process, which covers the horizontal elements of construction projects, such as stormwater drainage, roadways, landscaping, and parking. For more information on commercial “express lane permitting,” go to https://lnkd.in/eP7eX4Ee

Job seekers ‼️ CareerSource Northeast Florida is hosting a Jax Authority Career Fair tomorrow, Thursday August 28th at the Bethel Institution Multipurpose Center (215 Bethel Baptist St. 32202). Check out open jobs at the City and several other agencies in one place. ◾️ For questions and more information, please go to: https://lnkd.in/eVvtZBaF

Save the date ♻️ The 2025 International Coastal Cleanup is Saturday, September 20th. Join us and Keep Jacksonville Beautiful in world's largest volunteer effort to help protect our ocean, lakes and rivers. Site Locations and times: 7 a.m. – 9 a.m. Oceanfront locations: 16th Avenue South - At the Ocean Atlantic Boulevard - At the ocean Beach Boulevard - At the Ocean 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. Boone Park South - 3725 St. Johns Ave. Burnett Park - 3740 Burnett Park Rd. Charles Reese Park - 1200 Ken Knight Dr. Fishweir Park - 3925 Valencia Rd. Five Points - 1028 Park St. Hogans Creek - 701 E. Beaver St. Hollybrook Park - 319 Cherokee St. Klutho Park - 204 W. 3rd St Leonard Abess Park - 12743 Leonard Abess Park McCue Park and Boat Ramp - 2510 Second Ave. North Mandarin Park - 14780 Mandarin Rd. Riverside Arts Market - 715 Park St. Riverside Park - 753 Park St. Tillie K. Fowler Regional Park - 7000 Roosevelt Blvd. Willow Branch Park - 2870 Sydney St. Additional Times All Wet Sports/Beach Boulevard Boat Ramp (10 a.m. – 12 p.m.) - 8505 Beach Blvd. Ft. Caroline National Memorial (1 p.m. – 3 p.m.) - 12713 Ft. Caroline Rd. Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park (8 a.m. – 10 a.m.) - 500 Wonderwood Dr., Atlantic Beach Lonnie Wurn Boat Ramp (8 a.m. – 10 a.m.) - 4131 Ferber Rd. Reddie Point Preserve (1 p.m. – 3 a.m.) - 4499 Yachtsman Way Riverview Community Senior Center & Park (8 a.m. – 10 a.m.) - 9620 W. Water St. (Note: Site locations and times subject to change) Bags and gloves will be provided at each location. Pre-registration is not required. Participants must be over 18 or accompanied by an adult. Service hour certificates will be provided for students.

Job seekers ‼️ CareerSource Northeast Florida is hosting a Jax Authority Career Fair tomorrow, Thursday August 28th at the Bethel Institution Multipurpose Center (215 Bethel Baptist St. 32202). Check out open jobs at the City and several other agencies in one place. ◾️ For questions and more information, please go to: https://lnkd.in/eVvtZBaF

We want to hear from you 📢 Mayor Donna Deegan will host a new round of town halls, which will be focused on the city’s budget. Each town hall is free and open to the public, with no RSVP required. The first one will take place at 6 pm on Tuesday, September 2nd at the Mandarin Senior Center, 3848 Hartley Rd, Jacksonville, FL 32257. The remaining town halls will take place as follows: • September 4: First Coast High School, 590 Duval Station Rd. - 6pm • September 11: Ed White High School, 1700 Old Middleburg Rd. - 6pm • September 15: Fletcher High School, 700 Seagate Ave. Neptune Beach - 6pm • September 17: Riverside High School, 1200 McDuff Ave. S. - 6pm • September 18: Fort Caroline Middle School, 3787 University Club Blvd. - 6pm

We had some great news from our Animal Care & Protective Services team over the weekend as the 1st, 2nd, and 8th longest stay dogs found foster to adopt homes! To celebrate International Dog Day today, we are highlighting new #1 Nana who has spent 500+ days in the shelter and would love a fur-ever home ❤️ If you would like to visit sweet Nana, or any of the other lovable pets available for foster or adoption, please visit the shelter at 2020 Forest Street in Riverside, or go to https://lnkd.in/ekQG4Sj6 for complete information.

It has only been a month, but we can already see the difference in the Park Street Road Diet 🚴 🚶 What was once a vehicle dominated corridor, now has increased pedestrian and bicycle connectivity while improving safety for all users. It also connects LaVilla with the Five Points and Riverside neighborhoods via the Emerald Trail. For more information on this and several other "I Dig Jax" infrastructure projects throughout Jacksonville, please visit: https://lnkd.in/eGn7TzNw

🌤️ Good Morning 🌤️ Happy Monday Duval! How was your weekend? We hope everyone had another safe and fun one. It’s a brand new week with another gorgeous morning to start it off. Let’s use it as motivation to make today the best we can - Make it happen Jacksonville! Today’s goals: Coffee and kindness. Maybe two coffees, and then kindness. ~ Nanea Hoffman

Great stuff JSO and Happy Birthday Ms. Emily! 🎂