As always, a huge thank you to the Elks Lodge for letting us use their space for our meetings! They want to share with us that they’ll be having their 250th Celebration on July 4 at the Lodge at from 11am to 4pm. Anyone in Sans Souci who wants to join is more than welcome. And thank you to everyone who came to our meeting, we had some great discussions!

 

Neighbors had some concerns about the Dean/Terry development, and what changes may have been made after City Council initially approved the new zoning to accommodate the project. I emailed with them, and got a reply today, with all of the current paperwork. The biggest change to the current plan seems to be the relocation of the drainage pond. There will be 77 townhouses. Email us if you want me to forward all of the paperwork to you.

Speaking of email. We want to make sure our mailing list is up-to-date. Send us your email address if you want to be added to the SSNA mailing list, to get reminders about our meetings and other relevant information.

And speaking of our meetings. A couple of SSNA officers, as well as a few of our regular attendees, will be out of town for summer travels next month, so we are not going to hold a meeting in July. We will get together again in August, on the second Thursday, 7pm at the Elks Lodge, as always.

We spoke about Council member Rory Diamond’s latest introduction, Ordinance 2026-0367, which would allow the city’s Planning Department to grant applications for administrative zoning deviations without the currently required public hearing, and with eased requirements for approval. As did with his previous proposal to re-define low-density residential to allow some medium-density buildup without any public hearings, this too received a lot of immediate opposition from the community. After looking into it, saw an article in Jax Today that says this too has been withdrawn.

Karen has submitted our Association’s application for non-profit status, and it is currently being processed. Once approved, this will open up a lot of doors for us, in the ability to acquire grants and tax-deductible donations for communications, community projects, and events! Along with this, we plan to make memberships official, along with membership cards, and hopefully discounts from participating neighborhood businesses.

We have a new website, and new logo! We are putting the finishing touches on it over the next couple of weeks. I am excited about this for several reasons. We now have an official domain, which we’ll be able to include on the next round of SSNA lawn signs, and any other flyers we distribute. And as part of the website, we will have an open forum which is open to all neighbors, without the requirement of any particular social media membership. It will be much easier to share news and discussions with everyone.

The topic of the City’s free tree planting program came up. I’m always singing the praises of this program, and encouraging neighbors to request a free tree(s) for their right of way. You can call 904-630-CITY and request yours and they’ll send you a list of tree options to pick from, it’s super easy. They’ll also remove dead trees from your right-of-way. One neighbor asked if trees could also be planted through this program on city-owned land that is not a right-of-way on the road, specifically in this case, the ditch behind Elisa Drive. I wrote to the City Arborist, and unfortunately the answer there is no. She encourages anyone who wants free trees that they can plant themselves to take advantage of Greenscape’s annual tree giveaway, where they give up to 3 free trees.

After several neighbors expressed displeasure that the summer opening of the Wurn Park Pool is once again delayed, I contacted Daryl Joseph, the parks and rec director. The pool needs a major mechanical overhaul, but he spoke with the contractor and they changed the plan, to just do repairs needed to make the pool work to be open by July 4, and then do the major overhaul after this swimming season. Until that pool opens, he points out that Sans Souci residents are welcome to use the Englewood High School swimming pool for free.

Speed humps have been installed on Terry Road. The speed limit is also reduced to 25 MPH. I put in a Google maps update, letting them know, and requesting that they route traffic during peak periods through Barnes Road, as was planned in the original design. It’s currently in review. The topic of the shape of our roads continues to come up, and all I can really say is, keep putting those tickets in with the city. If enough of us complain enough, they do eventually do something about it, eventually. You can put in a ticket online, or by calling 904-630-CITY.

The Jacksonville Transportation Authority, through the Safe Routes to School Federal Grant Program, is designing and preparing construction plans for new sidewalks on Nathan Drive, Renee Terrace, and Ryar Road to increase pedestrian connections to Hogan-Spring Glen Elementary School. This project will improve pedestrian safety and connectivity in the Sans Souci area.

We are currently looking to fill officer roles in our association for Secretary and Treasurer. If you or anyone you know may be interested in getting more involved, let us know.

See you in August!