Don't talk East Gainesville plans to death: Make sports complex, other ideas happen

City Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut said last week that she doesn’t want her plan for an East Gainesville sports complex to be “loved to death” and miss the opportunity to make it happen.

Perhaps a bigger concern is commissioners talking the plan to death. East Gainesville has been promised big projects for years, with residents continually getting paid lip service about why they’re still waiting.

The City Commission’s General Policy Committee meeting Thursday was a good example of the roadblocks that get put in the way of such plans. Chestnut made a strong presentation in support of expanding and improving the city’s sports facilities on the 40 acres it owns near Waldo Road and Northeast Eighth Avenue, only to have some of her fellow commissioners come up with ways to delay moving forward on the idea.

Commissioners questioned whether the plan was in the right location or should be split into multiple locations, whether the city should also be considering commercial and residential development there, and whether the process in considering the plan was being rushed or was “deliberate” enough.

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Mayor Lauren Poe offered greater praise for the plan, saying that improvements at Waldo and Eighth were supposed to be a top priority when he was first elected mayor in 2016.

“It’s a point of frustration” that they haven't happened yet, Poe said.

Rodney Long, a former Alachua County and Gainesville commissioner now running for state Senate, showed that frustrations go further back. Long noted that developing the Waldo Road corridor was a centerpiece of the Plan East Gainesville initiative that he led, which made the recommendation nearly 20 years ago.

“It’s time for us to do something,” he said, arguing that East Gainesville already missed out on the opportunity for a sports arena on the former site of the Alachua County Fairgrounds.

That arena is instead being built west of Interstate 75 in the Celebration Pointe development. Chestnut initially pushed for a similar indoor sports complex for East Gainesville, but has since revised her plan to focus on outdoor recreation.

Her plan includes desperately needed improvements to 60-year-old Citizens Field, which is barely adequate to continue hosting high school football games and could be used for many more events. The Dwight H. Hunter Northeast Pool and Martin Luther King Jr. Multipurpose Center would also see improvements under the plan, such as a new senior fitness wing in the center.

Commissioner Harvey Ward suggested including new soccer fields in the plan, given that youth players and their parents now mostly go to west-side fields to play. Commissioners should add these kind of suggestions that strengthen the plan, while avoiding complicated or costly ideas that just delay and possibly kill it.

But the commission must do much more for East Gainesville to fulfil the promise of major investment there. Ward, who is running for mayor, released a list of ideas on social media that include a possible conference hotel at Ironwood Golf Course and redeveloping the Tacachale site when the state eventually closes it.

Commissioners need to make sure improvements actually happen at these East Gainesville locations, rather than loving or talking plans for them to death.

Nathan Crabbe is The Sun's opinion and engagement editor. Follow him on social media at twitter.com/nathancrabbe and facebook.com/nathancrabbe.

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This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Nathan Crabbe: Make plan for East Gainesville sports complex happen