JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. — All “No’s” came from Jacksonville Beach council members as they voted against a 120 day moratorium that would have put a temporary stop on issuing permits for special events or large gatherings at the beach.
Mayor Chris Hoffman believes ordinances like this, would have done more harm than good.
“We have hundreds of events here. There's almost at least one a weekend throughout the week. And we have some really great activities here that our residents, visitors enjoy. And this would have really been a detriment to them,” said Mayor Hoffman.
Dozens of events happen at Jacksonville Beach throughout the year, something residents believe contributes to the beach’s unique community.
“We need our activities at the beach, I’m looking forward to the Blues festival coming up this weekend, I can’t imagine having a 120-day moratorium, yeah not a good idea," Romain Dean, a Jacksonville Beach resident, said.
“What I really think they should do is maybe up the police protection or the presence of the police," Dean said.
The move comes nearly two weeks after hundreds of people gathered at the beach for an event on St. Patrick's Day. As police worked to remove the crowds, three shootings took place, leaving 1 dead, and 3 injured.
Many people heading into city hall Monday afternoon still remember the three shootings that rocked the community two weeks ago.
“It was unfortunate, I don’t think the DJ that was inviting people to come down here, didn’t mean for it to be something like it ended up being, it did get out of hand," John Simpson, a Jacksonville Beach resident, said.
Police say 250 to 400 people came to the beach for the event which was promoted online.
RELATED: Organizer of large crowd at Jacksonville Beach says shooting had nothing to do with the group
First Coast News Crime and Safety Expert Ken Jefferson adding his perspective on the vote, citing trust in law enforcement.
“I'm glad to see that the ordinance did not pass because the people support their law enforcement agencies, their trust and belief in their law enforcement system to serve them and to protect them passing an ordinance and we're gonna suspend especially this says that we give up we're gonna give over to the criminal element,” said Jefferson.
Jefferson also believes Jax Beach Council should turn to the people in deciding what’s best for their community.
“Some of the best ideas comes from the community. I think we should hold some type of community townhall meetings to discuss the things that's happened here. So they got to work together, the community along with the police, along with the council, people, everybody has to work together with this because they know how to, they know how to protect their little space here at Jax. All they got to do is put all the pieces together one by one and they'll be successful.
Since the ordinance failed, the Jax Beach City Council will reconvene next week to discuss potential safety opportunities.
As far as the investigation into the three shootings, the FBI is offering up to a $10,000 reward for anyone with information that leads to the conviction of the shooters.
First Coast News asked Jacksonville Beach Police if they have made any arrests or are looking for any suspects. They said they are following up with people in their investigation.
Information on the city's current special event permit process can be found here.