Newberry Set to Annex 600 Acres

NEWBERRY ‒ The City of Newberry is set to expand its footprint again. During the Sept. 13 City Commission meeting, Commissioners approved a series of ordinances that would annex more than 600 acres into the city limits of Newberry.

If approved again on second reading, scheduled for Sept. 27, 13 new parcels will be brought into the City.

Newberry Planner Wendy Kinser-Maxwell explained that the seven separate voluntary annexation requests were in different locations, each of which is “contiguous to the municipal boundaries of the city”. “The proposed annexations serve to strengthen continuity and improve overall compactness of the municipal boundary in the subject areas,” she said.

Each one of the petitions was heard in separate quasi-judicial public hearings.

The first, Ordinance 2021-38, was a petition by Morgan Lee Smith, Agent for RPM Auto, LLC, owner of approximately three acres of land located on the southwest corner of West Newberry Road and Southwest 225^th Street.

Ordinance 2021-39 was a petition by Robert F. Carter, Jr. and Barbara Carter, owners, to voluntarily annex approximately 5.06 acres. This property is located on the east side of Southwest 282^nd Street, approximately 1/2 mile south of Southwest 95^th Road.

Ordinance 2021-40 was a petition by Mark Halink, agent for Halink USA, Inc., owner, to annex two adjacent parcels together consisting of approximately 12.26 acres. These properties are located on the east side of Southwest 266^th Street, approximately .13 mile north of Southwest 15^th Avenue.

Ordinance 2021-41 was a petition by J. Keith Lerner, agent for Farm Gelt, owner, to annex approximately 254 acres and is located on the west side of U.S. 41 and the north side of Northwest 78^th Avenue.

Ordinance 2021-42 was a petition by Alvin D. and Suzanne M. Holder, owners, to annex two adjacent parcels totaling approximately 40 acres. These properties are located on the east side of Northwest 298^th Street (county line) and along Northwest 32^nd Avenue.

Ordinance 2021-43 was a petition by Brad Richardson, agent for the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund of the state of Florida, owners. This was the largest number of acres consisting of five adjacent parcels totaling approximately 256.25 acres. These parcels are located on the north side of West Newberry Road, approximately 1/2 mile east of Northwest 202^nd Street.

The last voluntary annexation request was included in Ordinance 2021-44. This is a petition by G. Leonard Emmel, agent for Emmel Family Partners Ltd., owners, to annex approximately 40.76 acres located approximately 3/4 mile north of West Newberry Road and approximately 3/4 mile west of Northwest 170^th Street.

Kinser-Maxwell said that letters notifying the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners and the Alachua County Growth Management Director had been sent on Aug. 19 with no response from either party.

#     #     #

Email cwalker@

alachuatoday.com