Sweetwater Branch Greenway Loop would connect neighborhoods, rehabilitate creek

Ron Cunningham
·3 min read
The section of Sweetwater Branch that runs through the Duck Pond neighborhood, pictured, remains a showcase. But the rest of the creek is little more than a weed-choked drainage ditch. The Sweetwater Branch Greenway Loop would rehabilitate the creek while connecting central Gainesville neighborhoods to downtown.
The section of Sweetwater Branch that runs through the Duck Pond neighborhood, pictured, remains a showcase. But the rest of the creek is little more than a weed-choked drainage ditch. The Sweetwater Branch Greenway Loop would rehabilitate the creek while connecting central Gainesville neighborhoods to downtown.

There is a lot to unpack in the first go-round of the downtown strategic master plan commissioned by the city of Gainesville and the University of Florida. Its recommendations about density, business development, affordable housing and so on provide much fodder for discussion.

But give the consulting firm MKSK credit for recognizing this reality: Downtown is not an island unto itself.

No, downtown is the epicenter of a collection of largely unconnected neighborhoods. And “connecting the dots” — bringing those neighborhoods into closer communion — is crucial to sustaining a successful downtown.

“Downtown’s major attractions and destinations are within a 6-minute walk of each other,” the preliminary report observes. “However they feel disconnected due to gaps in walkability.”

More from Ron Cunningham:

With his every pronouncement, Gov. Ron DeSantis turns Floridian against Floridian

Florida has a pedestrian fatality crisis. Gainesville must be part of the solution

Floridians don't seem to care that our environment is being fouled

Hence the consultant’s recommendation to create a “greenway loop that connects neighborhoods, links to regional trail networks, and is within a six minute walk of downtown destinations.”

As it happens, for nearly two years, I, and a handful of other residents, have been advocating creation of just such a greenway loop. One that would connect Springhill, the Duck Pond, Grove Street, Fifth Avenue, Porters and other central Gainesville destinations to downtown.

We have been calling it the Sweetwater Branch Greenway Loop. And if you want to know more, please follow our Facebook page of the same name.

Sweetwater Branch Greenway Loop would largely follow the course of Sweetwater Branch creek. It would connect Sweetwater Preserve, on Williston Road in the south, with Tom Petty Park in the north. At that point a six-mile loop could be created by connecting the greenway with the nearby Sixth Street rail-trail on Northwest 16th Avenue.
Sweetwater Branch Greenway Loop would largely follow the course of Sweetwater Branch creek. It would connect Sweetwater Preserve, on Williston Road in the south, with Tom Petty Park in the north. At that point a six-mile loop could be created by connecting the greenway with the nearby Sixth Street rail-trail on Northwest 16th Avenue.

Long story short: During the pandemic I did my personal “lockdown” on a bicycle, roaming the city, avoiding contact with people, taking photographs and making observations about the physical and aesthetic state of my beloved city.

Which is how I became interested in the abysmal physical and aesthetic state of Sweetwater Branch Creek.

Listen, in 1883, a visitor to Gainesville was moved to write favorably about the “excellent brand of water known as Sweetwater Branch” that he discovered flowing through the middle of town.

If Carl Webber came back today, nearly 140 years later, he wouldn’t recognize it.

Since then, Sweetwater Branch has been buried, ditched, straightened, polluted and otherwise abused in the name of progress.

Much of the Sweetwater Branch creek is little more than a weed-choked drainage ditch. The Sweetwater Branch Greenway Loop would rehabilitate the creek while connecting central Gainesville neighborhoods to downtown.
Much of the Sweetwater Branch creek is little more than a weed-choked drainage ditch. The Sweetwater Branch Greenway Loop would rehabilitate the creek while connecting central Gainesville neighborhoods to downtown.

True, the section of the creek that runs through the Duck Pond remains a showcase ... residents of one of Gainesville’s premier neighborhoods would expect nothing less.

But the rest of Sweetwater is little more than a weed-choked drainage ditch.

What we are proposing is a greenway that largely follows the course of the creek. It would connect Sweetwater Preserve, on Williston Road in the south, with Tom Petty Park in the north.

At that point a six-mile loop could be created by connecting the Sweetwater Branch greenway with the nearby Sixth Street rail-trail on Northwest 16th Avenue.

Designed thoughtfully and creatively, the Sweetwater Branch Greenway Loop would simultaneously “connect the dots” between neighborhoods while at the same time restore, rehabilitate and “daylight” a long-abused creek.

The Downtown Gainesville Strategic Development Plan calls for capitalizing on the Sweetwater Branch creek corridor by turning it into a network of urban parks, green spaces, trails and recreation areas spanning from Depot Park to Sweetwater Park to past the Thomas Center.
The Downtown Gainesville Strategic Development Plan calls for capitalizing on the Sweetwater Branch creek corridor by turning it into a network of urban parks, green spaces, trails and recreation areas spanning from Depot Park to Sweetwater Park to past the Thomas Center.

At what cost? We don’t know that yet. But virtually all of the right-of-way necessary to create the loop is already in public hands. Expensive land acquisition shouldn’t be an issue.

We also know that voters will be asked to reauthorize the Wild Spaces and Public Places tax initiative later this year. So, if the City Commission wants to create the sort of greenway loop recommended by the downtown consultant, there is potentially a source of funding for it.

Why a greenway loop? To “make downtown feel like a part of the surrounding neighborhoods, not foreign to it,” the consultants say.

Gainesville Sun columnist Ron Cunningham
Gainesville Sun columnist Ron Cunningham

Why the Sweetwater Branch Greenway Loop? Because it’s time to stop treating Gainesville’s original and once-vibrant creek like a convenient spillway into Paynes Prairie.

Ron Cunningham is former editorial page editor of The Sun. Read his blog at www.floridavelocipede.com. Email him at ron@freegnv.com.

Join the conversation

Send a letter to the editor (up to 200 words) to letters@gainesville.com. Letters must include the writer's full name and city of residence. Additional guidelines for submitting letters and longer guest columns can be found at bit.ly/sunopinionguidelines.


Journalism matters. Your support matters.

Get a digital subscription to the Gainesville Sun. Includes must-see content on Gainesville.com and Gatorsports.com, breaking news and updates on all your devices, and access to the eEdition. Visit www.gainesville.com/subscribenow to sign up.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Ron Cunningham: Sweetwater Branch Greenway would connect neighborhoods