diff --git a/smithy-model/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/model/loader/ModelAssembler.java b/smithy-model/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/model/loader/ModelAssembler.java
index 46e00197360..0b3fef2b74b 100644
--- a/smithy-model/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/model/loader/ModelAssembler.java
+++ b/smithy-model/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/model/loader/ModelAssembler.java
@@ -304,7 +304,11 @@ public ModelAssembler addImport(URL url) {
         Objects.requireNonNull(url, "The provided url to ModelAssembler#addImport was null");
         inputStreamModels.put(url.toExternalForm(), () -> {
             try {
-                return url.openStream();
+                URLConnection connection = url.openConnection();
+                if (properties.containsKey(ModelAssembler.DISABLE_JAR_CACHE)) {
+                    connection.setUseCaches(false);
+                }
+                return connection.getInputStream();
             } catch (IOException | UncheckedIOException e) {
                 throw new ModelImportException("Unable to open Smithy model import URL: " + url.toExternalForm(), e);
             }