Downtown Overlay Zone & Design Standards

In Spring 2019, the Jacksonville City Council adopted a new zoning code for the Downtown Overlay Zone to promote and encourage revitalization and growth in downtown by:

• Maximizing the use of all available resources,
• Ensuring a high degree of compatibility between new and existing uses,
• Promoting mixed-use developments,
• Promoting access to and focus on the St. Johns River and its tributaries, 
• ​Streamlining the review and approval process for projects,
• ​Providing flexibility in both the uses allowed and the physical design of projects, and
• ​Ensuring quality development that is in keeping with the traditional Downtown urban fabric, which creates a single zoning district for almost all Downtown properties (excluding Planned Unit Developments) into one Commercial Central Business District (CCBD) zone.

Downtown Design Guidebook

The Downtown Design Guidebook serves as an appendix to the Community Redevelopment Area Plan, adopted as part of the Business Investment and Development (BID) Plan via Ordinance 2022-0372-E. The Downtown Design Guidebook has been developed to provide design guidance for developments within the Downtown Overlay District area, while supporting the overall standards in the City’s Zoning Code, Subpart H – Downtown Overlay Zone and Downtown District Use and Form Regulations, as codified.

The Downtown Design Guidebook includes District Specific Standards. These standards recognize each Downtown District as having unique characteristics that should be reflected in the architecture, mass and scale, pedestrian design and relationship between public and private spaces. Projects are reviewed to meet the design intent and character of that specific district with respect to the following areas:

• Form and scale of the buildings
• Design
• Open spaces/art
• Overall branding of the district
• River connections
• Color palettes
• Landscape palettes
• Typical streetscape layout
• Streetscape furnishings

For questions about the Downtown Design Guidebook, or other zoning and land use matters, please contact Guy Parola, Operations Director, at (904) 255-5305 or GParola@coj.net. 

Note: The Downtown Zoning Overlay regulations may be in addition to other land use and zoning regulations.  Please contact the Downtown Investment Authority on zoning and land use matters.