City commissioners should reject development on rural edge of north Gainesville
A proposed land-use change that would allow for a massive new development along nearly 2,000 acres on the rural edge of north Gainesville was approved 4-3 on first reading by the Gainesville City Commission on Oct. 6. If passed again on second reading, thousands of new homes could soon be coming to the sparsely populated area along Highway 121 north of U.S. 441.
Many of us understand that Florida is growing and there needs to be some accommodations made in our urban areas to allow for increases in population density. But putting thousands of new residences in a rural agriculture area, within a flood zone, without city services and surrounded by critical wetlands is most definitely not smart growth. It’s sprawl, and Gainesville city staff and commissioners should know better.
Owned by Weyerhaeuser/Plum Creek, the property was annexed from Alachua County in the 1990s. It was zoned for agriculture by the county and has not been rezoned by the city.
Back in 2009, the city modified its comprehensive plan to allow for single-family zoning to the property but never applied actual zoning changes. Fast forward to 2019, and the City Commission rejected plans to modify the comprehensive plan to allow for more density.
This month’s vote comes after city staff worked to make changes that they say will better conserve wetland areas on the property and allow for even higher density. But the wetlands on the site are undevelopable in any case. And how does one rationalize putting high-density housing next to them as constituting meaningful conservation?
The Weyerhaeuser property directly abuts a high-value conservation easement protecting the headwaters for three creeks. It’s also designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as being in Flood Zone A.
That means any resident most likely will be required to purchase flood insurance at additional cost, while also being more vulnerable to the growing threat we’re seeing from mega hurricanes like Hurricane Ian. Just days before the commission vote, the hurricane caused rampant flooding in low-lying inland communities throughout Florida — just like this one in north Gainesville.
Many residents also cite traffic concerns, with 121 being the only viable road accommodating future traffic to and from the Gainesville urban core. There is nothing in the proposal that addresses these traffic concerns.
City staff and some on the commission have argued that they are compelled to add planned development at the site or else they will be subject to legal action by Weyerhaeuser, which has already unsuccessfully attempted to sue the city after commissioners voted down the 2019 proposal. We do not agree that the landowner has a winnable case to sue should the city decide to keep the property as agriculture or de-annex. We thus strongly urge the city to do just that.
We ask concerned citizens to contact the Gainesville City Commission and ask them to vote no on these changes. Mayor Lauren Poe and Commissioners Adrian Hayes-Santos, David Arreola and Reina Saco voted for the proposal the first time. Ask them to change their vote for the second hearing.
The city should then either downzone the site to agriculture in their comp plan or de-annex it and allow the county to continue regulating the area as agriculture or conservation.
Tim Martin is on the executive committee for the Suwannee St Johns Group of the Sierra Club. He is also the former conservation chair for Sierra Club Florida.
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This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Tim Martin: Gainesville land-use change would create urban sprawl
