JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Neighbors say they moved to Black Hammock Island for a reason.
"When we moved out here the reason why is because it was rural. We didn’t want a city life, we wanted a rural life with wildlife, deer and things like that," said Herb Jones, Black Hammock Island resident.
Neighbors worry a new development would destroy that rural nature.
The planned development would include 95 homes on roughly 50 acres of land on the property adjacent to Pumpkin Hill Creek Preserve State Park.
The original application for the project listed Pulte Homes as the developer.
However, a marketing agent for the company says that application is out of date. The current listed applicant is land use attorney Paul Harden, and the property’s owners are identified as Jeffrey and Catherine Andring.
The Pulte marketing agent did not address questions about whether the homebuilder will be involved in the development if the rezoning request is approved.
“Allowing this will have a negative impact on the environment. It's not consistent with the area as you can see it all rural out here," said neighbor Stu Jones.
The city, state, and federal government spent millions of dollars to save the Timucuan ecological and historical preserve which includes Pumpkin Hill Creek.
Sharlene Byrum says houses aren’t needed in this area.
“What we need in Jacksonville is more affordable housing that needs to be built in areas that’s close to schools, shopping, jobs and public transportation. We have zero transportation here, it's miles down the road," said Byrum.
This isn’t the first time a developer wanted to put homes on this piece of land.
About two years ago, a developer wanted to do something similar and city council denied it.
“The community is saying that coming in and clustering smaller homes in a tighter area is not being consistent with the area and they use examples of other projects that have gone in there that have wiped out all of the trees and the vegetation that is the huge concern with the community out there," said City Councilman Al Ferraro.
Ferraro says he stands behind these neighbors and at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, at Sheffield Park, they will have a neighborhood meeting to strategize.