Alachua County’s Local Planning Agency and Planning Commission split their votes Wednesday on a change in land use and zoning for an 82-acre parcel just west of Newnans Lake and bordering Hawthorne Road. 

The meeting lasted nearly five hours, and the first vote didn’t occur until just before the four-hour mark. The second vote took place a little before 11 p.m. and ended the meeting.  

The Planning Commission lacks the power to finalize the changes. Instead, this commission makes recommendations to the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), and both items will likely soon appear on a BOCC meeting agenda.   

The proposed land use change and rezoning would allow 149 single-family homes to be built on the site, according to Clay Sweger, agent for the developer and senior planner for eda consultants.  

The property’s current land use and zoning already allow around 120 homes by right, and Sweger said the site would remain 40% or more open space or green space.  

The property includes portions of the Eastside Greenway Strategic Ecosystem. Alachua County mapped the most ecologically valuable areas of land in the 1990s, designated them strategic ecosystems and created more stringent development criteria for the lands that contain them.  

But Sweger said the project would completely conserve the portions of the strategic ecosystem on the 82-acre parcel, all clustered on the northern side. By agreeing not to build there, the developer isn’t required to complete a special area study and special area plan.  

Because of Alachua County’s code requirements on tree removal and stormwater, Sweger said trees throughout the site would be kept and the development would likely reduce the current level nutrients flowing off the site and toward Newnans Lake.  

Just west of the property is the Green Grove neighborhood with residential R1-a zoning. To the north and east is agricultural zoning that has conservation easements on them, while Hawthorne Road, SR 20, forms the southern boundary. Around 1,700 feet to the northwest is Eastside High School.  

Alachua County staff recommended approval of the project and said the plan fits with county codes.  

A few dozen residents showed up to oppose the project. They wore stickers to declare “no” to the rezoning and pooled their public comment time in order to allow a few members to present to the Planning Commission. Before the first vote, they received an hour and 6 minutes of time to speak, and other citizens not with the group also spoke in opposition.  

Kelly McPherson and her husband live nearby and own the adjacent Workman Forestry business. She outlined concerns shared by many in the group: flooding, impacts to wildlife, roadway traffic and incompatibility with the surrounding areas.  

The property lies within one of Alachua County’s urban clusters. These are areas that the county considers urban and appropriate for concentrated development. These clusters border Gainesville’s city limits, like along Newberry Road west to Jonesville, but are managed by the BOCC.  

However, residents said the lifestyle and development pattern around Newnans Lake is more rural than urban—and the property is very close to the edge of the urban cluster. 

“That’s really hard for somebody like me to, kind of, internalize because the nature of the neighborhood is quite rural,” McPherson said.    

Several residents also supported the project and urged the commissioners to vote in favor of the project. 

Speakers in support of the project said the county established the urban cluster to allow these developments. They also emphasized East Gainesville’s need for residential development to hopefully bring more commercial development.  

Gainesville Plan Board members and Gainesville is for People co-founders Jason Sanchez and Joshua Ney spoke in support. They said this area of Gainesville has been neglected and needs investment, especially from private business.  

According to the group, East Gainesville hasn’t seen a private residential development of this size come forward for 40 years. Many projects in this area (Heartwood Estates, Jessie’s Village and the Eastside Health and Economic Development Initiative) only occur with city or county subsidies.  

“Here’s a rare opportunity for a private developer that actually wants to be here. They actually want to develop in East Gainesville,” Sanchez said. 

Greater Gainesville Chamber of Commerce President Eric Godet also spoke in support along with, via letter, Evelyn Foxx, president of the Alachua County NAACP. 

Sweger addressed some concerns but said many of the issues, like flooding or traffic, require studies at the next stage of development but not the land use or zoning level. 

An initial motion to accept the land use change failed in a 3-4 vote. A subsequent motion to recommend the BOCC not transmit or accept the land use change passed 4-3, with commissioners Barry Rutenberg, Samuel Mutch, Melissa Norman and Janice Vinson in support.  

Commissioner Kristen Young first made the motion on the zoning portion. She said the Planning Commission should recommend the zoning change despite the previous disapproval of the land use. She said the BOCC could decide from there.  

“This is within the urban cluster; that is the growth boundary. Growth belongs in the urban cluster. Growth does not belong outside the urban cluster,” Young said.  

However, Norman, Vinson and Mutch said they didn’t think the project agreed with the comprehensive plan and listed environmental concerns with the project.  

Young’s motion failed, and a subsequent vote passed to not recommend the zoning change.