PLEASE NOTE – THE TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18 MEETING TIME HAS BEEN CHANGED TO 5-7PM!

For many of us, our introduction to Senate Bill 762 came in a letter from ODF outlining our risk assessment per tax lot. In Jacksonville, too often that risk was “High” or “Extreme”. People across the state had strong reactions to a risk assessment process that was deemed top-down and gave no credit to homeowners who had taken steps to reduce fire risk on their property. Many complained about the lack of citizen input on its development. After public outcry across the state, the map was sent back to the drawing board. But SB 762 has not gone away, and local residents have an opportunity to provide feedback to Senator Jeff Golden on the next steps of the roll-out.

Senator Golden hopes to meet with community members and hear their thoughts on both the revision of the Risk Assessment Map as well as changes to codes which are being developed through the Office of the State Fire Marshall. These codes will have an impact on Jacksonville as much of our land is in the Wildland Urban Interface or adjacent to it.

Firewise Jacksonville is sponsoring the meeting which is open to all Jacksonville citizens. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 18 from 5-7 pm 6-8 pm on the 2nd floor of Jacksonville City Hall in the Assembly Room.

The revised ODF Risk Assessment map and the state code changes will affect many of us. Here is your opportunity to have input on the process before any decisions are made.