Mural Remains Big Issue in High Springs, Springs Garden Village Inching Forward

HIGH SPRINGS ‒ An application for an “Educators’ Mural” to be placed in front of the historic old school house and concerns about a zoning change to allow for a multi-family planned development were issues of concern at the July 27 High Springs City Commission meeting.

Mural Application

Murals remain a subject of debate in High Springs. Although the Historic Preservation Board voted 4-0 against recommending placement of the “Educators’ Mural” in front of the old school building, the item appeared on the July 27 City Commission meeting agenda. The Educators’ Mural contains artwork highlighting Thomas “Pop” Diedeman and Essie Mae Williams Gassett, both educators at the former school.

The Heart of High Springs group proposes the mural be placed in front of the old school building, not on the building, along with associated landscaping, which the group said they would maintain.

The Historic Preservation Board’s reasoning for denial on July 17 was the mural’s placement on City-owned property. The Board suggested finding an alternate location. An additional issue raised with the proposed placement was blocking a window view and also being located where the popular Pioneer Days shootout has been located for the past several years.

City Manager Ashley Stathatos said that the proposed mural is in compliance with the City’s historic preservation regulations and mural ordinance.

Although drawings and photos were provided by the Heart of High Springs, it was unclear to some Commissioners exactly how high the mural would be and whether it would block the building’s windows.

Suggestions were floated to either place the mural at Lee’s Preschool, the side of the High Springs Police Station facing the old school building or at the High Springs Community School.

The Commission tabled the item and requested that the Heart of High Springs provide drawings to scale to see whether the mural would block some of the old school building’s windows.

Springs Garden Village Agreement

The proposed multi-family housing development, Springs Garden Village, faced some pushback from the Commission at the Thursday meeting. The Commission ultimately approved the Developer’s Agreement with the City but tabled a rezoning request by developer Trinacria Estates, LLC.

The proposed project is a master planned multi-family/duplex development with a maximum of 38 units with a minimum size of 1,000 square feet. The proposed project location is on 3.71 +/- acres with Northwest 176^th Street to the north, Southside Court to the east and South Main Street to the west.

The agreement offers the City higher standards than current regulations require. “The stipulations in the Development Agreement that the developer has agreed to are above and beyond what is required by City Code,” Stathatos said.

The agreement specifies the use of City water and sewer, five-foot sidewalks, enhanced subdivision entrances, increased landscaping and native vegetation requirements. A 30-foot buffer along the west side and 10-foot buffer along the north, east and south sides and architectural design guidelines are also included in the agreement.

Based on an earlier hearing by the Planning and Zoning Board, eda Consultant’s Planning Director Clay Sweger, representing the developer, said the developer agreed to put up a six-foot fence along two sides of the property and a berm to help mitigate noise from industrial businesses across the street. Commissioner Ross Ambrose wanted more density in the setbacks to help keep noise levels to a minimum for the residents.

A concern voiced in the previous meeting was the claim that sinkholes were present on the property. The City’s engineers, Mittauer & Associates, and the developer’s engineering firm, GSE Engineering and Consulting, had both walked the property and provided letters stating that no sinkholes were found on the property, but that further geological studies needed to be done during the engineering phase of the development.

The Commission approved the developer’s agreement in a 3-1 vote with Commissioner Katherine Weitz casting the dissenting vote. A stipulation of the approval was that staff will work with the developers to mitigate traffic on Southside Court and determine if the driveway could be moved more to the west. The landscape plan will be considered along with the site plan when the plant buffering could be addressed.

Springs Garden Village Rezoning

Regarding the same 3.71 +/- acre property, the developer requested to change the current zoning classification from C-2 (Commercial) to PD (Planned Development).

The project, located along High Springs Main Street just north of the Dollar General, is a 38-unit multi-family development, with units in duplex style buildings.

At the July 17 Plan Board meeting, the Board recommended approval with conditions that there be sound barriers and ground density reports from the applicant.

At that meeting, the matter of possible sinkholes was raised, which prompted the City to engage City engineers Mittauer & Associates to visit the site, resulting in the letter of no sinkholes found, which was discussed in the developer’s agreement.

Weitz and Commissioner Byran Williams both expressed concern about the zoning change. As Commissioner Tristan Grunder was not present at this meeting, a motion was made by Ambrose and seconded by Williams to table this item until all five commissioners would be present to vote on the issue.

Mayor’s Youth Council

In other business, the Commission approved an ordinance on first reading to amend the Mayor’s Youth Council Ordinance to change the number of Board Members from seven to five members and two alternates. The ordinance permits the alternates to vote. Another change has to do with the board members’ terms, which will now begin and expire in November of each year instead of in April.

The Board is made up of students from High Springs who are in eighth through twelfth grades. Students can be in private, public or homeschooled to qualify.

SROs

The Commission also approved an agreement between the City of High Springs Police Department and the Alachua County School Board, requiring the School Board to pay up to $60,071 as its share of funding for a School Resource Officer (SRO) for First Christian Academy for the 2023-24 school year.

Millage Rate

The Commission set the tentative millage rate for Fiscal Year 2023-24 at 6.99 mills for the purpose of notifying citizens through the “Truth in Millage” TRIM requirement that will be sent out by Alachua County.

This amount is higher than the Commission expects will be required once the budget is set, and the Commission can set a final millage rate at a lower amount to match the budget.

The City will conduct its first budget workshop on the General Fund Departments on Thursday, Aug. 3. The public hearing to consider the proposed “not to exceed” millage rate and tentative budget is Thursday, Sept. 14 at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall Commission Chambers.

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