History & Capabilities

San Marco by Design

The Health Planning Council has been facilitating a community planning process in partnership with San Marco Preservation Society (SMPS) and the City of Jacksonville Planning and Development Department (COJPDD) to create an improvement plan focusing on healthy and sustainable community design. Five focus groups have been conducted to garner input for the project. The meetings were attended by residents, property owners, merchants and business leaders. The discussions spurred an abundance of fresh, new ideas toward a future vision for North San Marco.

Themes emerged around creating a healthy community that conserves the character of the neighborhoods. “The community is working towards developing an alternative set of guidelines or policies specifically for North San Marco. We want to facilitate the creation of future vision that is appropriate for this community and will lead to a healthier, attractive and sustainable San Marco,” says Valerie Feinberg, Director of Health Assessment and Urban Planning for the Health Planning Council. “This is a great process for convening the community to foster open dialogue. The resulting visions for North San Marco will truly be a product or the community.”

The next step in this process is planning a community wide event scheduled for late April where members of the community will have the opportunity to share their opinions on the plans developed by the project leaders with input from the focus groups. Attendees will be encouraged to share their view of the plan and what they would like to see added or removed.