Covering a third of the land mass but with only 18,600 residents, eastern Alachua County differs from the dense Gainesville core and the fast-growing western areas of Newberry, Alachua and High Springs. 

The Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) wants to further study those differences and look for grant opportunities to aid eastern residents in ways tailored for the area—including the cities of Hawthorne, Waldo and Micanopy. 

Proposed earlier this year by a community member, the idea started as a study of the U.S. Highway 301 corridor and still retains that name, but the BOCC approved an expanded scope in August that ranges across the eastern county.  

“It’s its own thing, geologically, with its own people, with its own history and its own needs and issues,” said Sean McLendon, the county’s strategic initiatives manager.  

McLendon said the county compiled the initial scope and presented it to the BOCC on Aug. 8, but a lot of the study will evolve as the county meets with residents, community leaders and city officials.  

McLendon said this study is unique in size but also in the range of issues. Nothing is off the table, and he said no single county department can cover economic development and health needs and educational opportunities and infrastructure changes. 

He said the study will ask what the residents want and need. County staff might have educated guesses based on data and trends, but the community must put forward the reality of living in the area. 

“It’s that critical aspect of county staff has to have a certain degree of humility in this,” McLendon said. 

The study is scheduled to last for the next several years with three phases: community profile during 2025, economic and social service assessment in 2026 and the final report in 2027. 

The study could cost $500,000 depending on the needs for outside consultants, survey software and distributing materials.  

McLendon said the county will likely bring in consultants for temporary technical expertise on particular parts of the study. He said the exact areas where the consultants will be needed depends on the conversations with the community and the areas the study highlights.  

“The board’s direction is to not just think about the economic imperatives in the area but also what are some of the community and social needs,” Mclendon said. “So, it’s very multifaceted.”   

Hawthorne Mayor Jacquelyn Randall said she appreciates the county taking constituent concerns seriously enough to create action. She hopes everyone can align to make the study a success for the entire eastern side.  

A big part of that, according to Randall and McLendon, will be the feedback from the community to join the data sets like census tracts, incomes and household numbers.  

“Hopefully, we can all can sit to the table and figure out what our communities need, collectively as well as individually, and be heard and see our concerns, our messaging, our issues, our thoughts, be taken seriously and implemented at the county level,” Randall said.  

She added that the city of Hawthorne has already started organizing action around its priorities through its new strategic plan, created out of a community meeting in 2023.  

In the middle phase, the county wants consultants to generate a mid-project report with a grant-ready strategy to address identified needs along with non-grant-eligible funding needs.  

McLendon said the study, besides identifying potential grants, also provides background information that grant providers, like the federal and state government, want to see before approving the funds.  

McLendon said the county plans to start with a community meeting in October as it hears what people expect from the study and options to analyze.  

“We can read the information and the data it tells us, but is it truly the most important thing,” McLendon said. “That’s the community aspect of this, that meaningful engagement and conversation that we need to have.”