Jacksonville Beach moves forward with midnight curfew for restaurants, cites public safety

Restaurants in Jacksonville Beach could soon have to close at midnight instead of 2 a.m.

Wednesday night, city leaders decided to move forward with these changes, saying the downtown area has become unsafe.

Business owners tell Action News Jax this will hurt their sales and impact jobs.

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City leaders say the murder of local father Leon Bennett in June kicked off a serious discussion about safety in Jacksonville Beach.

Mayor Charlie Latham said fights are breaking out practically every night in the area known as the Central Business District, which runs from A1A to the ocean and 1st Avenue South to 8th Avenue North.  That’s where Latham said we’re seeing more violence, including shootings.

“Our downtown at night is not safe,” Latham said.

Wednesday night, the City Council agreed to draft a new ordinance requiring restaurants in the CBD that have a special restaurant exemption, or SRX, license to close at midnight.

That license allows them to serve alcohol, and many restaurants take advantage of it by staying open until 2 a.m.

Many want it to stay that way.

“We're busting our tails, we provide good jobs,” said a business owner.

Habibi owner Faried Elchaer agreed.

“If we had to close, we would be hurt,” Elchaer said.  “I would have to lose an estimate of maybe six servers, because I wouldn’t be able to support them without those extra hours of business.”

Latham said it could take a month or so to draft the new ordinance and have its first public reading.  He said the council could approve it at the second reading two weeks later.

He believes there will be a grace period for business when and if this takes effect.

Cox Media Group