Alachua County has focused its years-long efforts for a new Animal Resources Shelter location to a 12-acre UF site just south of campus.
The Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) voted 4-1 on Tuesday to continue working with UF on a draft agreement for the site, with Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler in dissent.
A draft agreement between the county and university comes as animal services experienced nearly double the number of calls in 2023 as the year before—from 5,187 to 9,845. Alachua County has also struggled with overcrowding at the current shelter, halting intakes in 2022.
With a new director and management protocol, the animal shelter saw positive numbers in 2023. Adoptions accounted for 51% of animal outcomes—up from 39% in 2022 and the highest over the last five years.
Animal Resources Director Julie Johnson, who joined in 2022, said the department has handled more calls with the same number of staff. Citations increased from 75 in 2022 to 149 last year.
“We took in more animals by using managed intake as the tool,” Johnson said.
Still, the department needs more room. The current site has issues with wetlands, and the county has been searching for years.
County Manager Michele Lieberman said staff has been in discussions with UF since this past summer on the project site—currently used for the Swine Unit by the university. However, Lieberman said staff continued to work on parallel tracks, negotiating with UF while looking for open land and commercial spaces.
Only in the last few weeks has the county halted those efforts to focus on the UF deal, Lieberman said.
“We’ve not stopped that parallel track until we’ve gotten to a point now where, basically I’ve said as your manager, it’s time to fish or cut bait,” Lieberman said.
The draft terms for the agreement shows Alachua County paying a one-time $3 million sum for a long-term lease on the site. UF will be responsible for environmental studies and taking down current structures to make the site ready for construction.
UF will have 12 months after the contract is signed to prep the site for construction.
Lieberman said the county will be using that time to prepare site plans and work through the development process that lasts around a year anyway.
County staff said positives include the central location, adequate room and proximity to UF staff and students.
The exact length of the lease remains unknown. UF doesn’t own the land; it leases the property from the state. So, to lease the property to the county, it needs state approval.
UF’s lease expires in 49 years, but the county can only sign a 30-year maximum lease. Lieberman said the agreement will likely stipulate a 30-year lease followed by 19 years to align with UF’s own lease expiration/ extension.
At first, Wheeler said she’d vote to make it unanimous but then decided to cast the lone ‘nay.’
Wheeler said she worried about entering a deal with UF, who she called an “iffy at best” partner. She also questioned whether the county would own the building if the lease expires without renewal.