Mandarin Road at Brady Road, part of the street set to gain sidewalks. | Dan Scanlan, Jacksonville Today
Published on May 12, 2025 at 4:51 pm
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A $4.5 million project that would add 2.3 miles of sidewalk to an oak-shaded part of historic Mandarin is coming under fire from residents.
The residents do not want an inch of the leafy part of their community damaged or removed by the Jacksonville Transportation Authority project.
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JTA and district City Council member Michael Boylan could hear the complaints when they host a public meeting on the sidewalk project at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Mandarin Community Club, 12447 Mandarin Road.
The proposed sidewalk is the target of a Change.org petition started by Renee Slater that is nearing 500 signatures. It states that many trees will be knocked down or damaged to make way for the sidewalks, while some mailboxes and fences might be removed, “altering the very landscape that we call home.”
Tree removal in suburban neighborhoods doesn’t just change the view — it affects the entire ecosystem, including wildlife, humans and the environment, Slater told Jacksonville Today.
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“This area’s natural and historic character is irreplaceable,” Slater said. “The sidewalk project, as proposed, threatens to alter it. … Not one tree, and once you make an exception, you open the door to irreversible damage in my opinion, and many others’ opinions, arborists included. We have already seen markings and survey flags on trees that are healthy, mature and historically significant.”
Boylan, who represents Mandarin, said any work JTA does has to live under restrictions imposed by City Ordinance 2001-1009, which designates parts of Mandarin Road as a scenic and historic corridor.
The ordinance says any live oak with a diameter of 6 inches or more within 20 feet of the street right of way “shall be considered a private protected tree. … Removal of any such protected tree is prohibited.”
As far as this project, Boylan said JTA will be “honoring and exceeding” the ordinance.
“Before permits are going to be issued, the urban forester or arborist has to be consulted, as does the City Council, so permitting is going to be required to do whatever installation JTA is going to be doing,” Boylan said. “The arborist is going to be part of the review committee that will make a determination of whether or not a permit is issued, so that is over and above what the ordinance calls for.”
Mandarin Road describes a 6-mile arc through the western part of the community. One end is at the northern part of San Jose Boulevard, then runs through neighborhoods until it intersects the boulevard again south near Julington Creek.
The road has a 3-mile-long sidewalk from the southern terminus to Red Cypress Drive, where it ends at the Cypress Bay neighborhood. As the road winds through the older part of the community, a 1.5-mile-long sidewalk resumes at Walter Jones Historical Park and County Dock Road, then ends at the northern San Jose Boulevard intersection.
Despite repeated requests from Jacksonville Today, JTA did not provide any public documents showing the parameters of the work, cost estimates, design or construction dates. The agency responded only that it would present all of the information Wednesday.
JTA’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget report has information on the “Mandarin Pedestrian Safety Improvements” project, saying it will repair sidewalks along Mandarin Road from Orange Picker Road to Red Cypress Drive. It will build new sidewalks along Mandarin Road from Red Cypress Road to Walter Jones Historic Park, the report says.
Final design is being done this year, with estimated construction in 2026 to 2027.
Boylan, in a text message, said $3 million of the $4.5 million set aside for the project has been appropriated from the U.S. government with the help of Rep. John Rutherford.
Residents in the historic part of Mandarin Road have been protective of their older live oak trees, some of them 100 years old or more. In the early 2000s, residents fought proposals to use directional boring — drilling a tube underground — to install a water main under Mandarin Road. Many were concerned the underground drilling would damage the oak trees’ roots.
Remembering that controversy, Boylan said he does not want part of his legacy to include compromising part of that historic corridor.
“The lion’s share of the work that will be done can be done immediately adjacent to the trees,” Boylan said. “Sidewalks don’t go much deeper than 18 inches. It is those locations where they have to put in sewage lines to accommodate the sidewalk where we will have an issue, and that is what we will learn about Wednesday night.”
The area “where we will see the most challenges” to trees is a small stretch between Loretto and Brady roads, Boylan said. What will be presented at Wednesday’s meeting is not a final design, he added.
“The JTA’s approach to this as it was the last time — ‘This is what we are thinking; what do you think,’ as opposed to ‘This is what we are going to do — what do you think?'” Boylan said.
Ultimately, Slater’s petition said that sidewalk construction would displace wildlife, and birds would lose nests and shelter. Soil erosion would increase without tree roots to hold it in place, and stormwater runoff would worsen, leading to flooding or water pollution, opponents say.
“Even if a single tree is cut, even for root cutting, then it is not the right project,” Slater told Jacksonville Today. “The only acceptable solution is one that preserves every tree. That’s our red line, and that is the standard that we are asking city leaders to honor.”
