Local

HIGH SPRINGS – On June 17 three police cars parked at a local church with lights on as a group of youngsters gathered around. Police departments and the religious community are joining forces locally in the midst of controversies and demonstrations occurring over policies and actions by police, especially within African American communities. Deaths of unarmed blacks by police in different areas of the country have in some cases created anger toward the police.

With turmoil and negative press regarding police, local police departments want their communities to know them as people not just uniforms. Throughout the year police departments in Alachua and High Springs interact and connect with the community. Each year the High Springs Police Department (HSPD) and Fire Department distribute Christmas gifts to kids who might otherwise have no Christmas. They also host an annual community fair to meet and interact with residents in a non-stressful situation. The Alachua Police Department (APD) is heavily involved with local schools and programs for at-risk children. At Christmas they arrange the “Shop with a Cop” event taking a group of children on a Christmas shopping spree to Walmart using donations.

These are just a few of the things police officers do on their own time to help the community. Unfortunately, it is often the negative actions by a few bad cops that people hear about and the good deeds go unnoticed.

One HSPD officer, Adam Joy, is also an ordained minister. Joy has been a police officer for 13 years, but has also pursued the ministry as a dual occupation. Joy founded Deeper Purpose Community Church in April 2017. Raised in the Church of God in Christ, Joy became a licensed minister in 2007, an ordained elder in 2012, and graduated from Church of God by Faith Theological Institute (CTI) of Jacksonville in December 2018 with his Diploma of Christian Pastor Studies & Certification. His wife, Cherie Muse Joy, assists as the women's religious counselor at the church.

The church has separate programs geared toward youth. Deeper Purpose Youth & Student Ministries (DPYSM) was founded in February 2015 by Joy, who in the months leading up to its founding, would take a portion of his paycheck from his full-time job as a police officer and put it toward youth related activities, outreach, and projects. Friends and family also began to donate. Joy says that since being founded, DPYSM has poured thousands of dollars back into communities in and around North Central Florida.

Each Wednesday, the church holds a separate service for youth with different themes or activities each time. With the controversy occurring over police relations, Joy invited several officers from the High Springs and Alachua police departments to attend a Community Youth and Police Relationship Summit for a question and answer session with community youth.

On June 17 local police and the ministry united at the church as a circle of chairs filled with youths between ages 6 and 17 sat in front of the police cars parked at the church with lights on. “The purpose of this special night was to bridge the gap more and to build more trust and understanding between our community’s youth and law enforcement, as well as building better relationships between the two, by engaging in conversation,” Joy said. “I feel that good lines of communication between our youth and law enforcement are important for the trust of the community and understanding of who each person is.

School Resource Officer Jason Taylor and Officer Joe Tillman from High Springs Police Department, as well as Tiausha Brown from the Alachua Police Department, attended. An interactive discussion followed with both youth and officers asking and answering questions to better understand viewpoints from each. But the gathering also offered recreational activities as Officers Tillman and Brown faced off against the teens in basketball. Officer Taylor let the smaller youth play games with K9 Justice. Pizza, subs donated by High Springs Subway, cupcakes, chips and drinks were a popular addition to evening’s activities.

“This was originally going to be a one-time event, but it went so well that I would like to make it once every three months, so everyone can address issues that are current,” Joy said.

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NEWBERRY – The City of Newberry has approved an application by M3 Development, LLC, acting as Agent for C.L. Brice, Inc., owner of property known as Lexington Station Mixed-Use Development. The property is located directly north and west of the Easton-Newberry Sports Complex on two parcels consisting of approximately 196-acres.

Ordinance 2020-21/LDR 20-02 was heard in a quasi-judicial public hearing on June 22. Newberry Planning and Economic Development Director Bryan Thomas presented the application to allow an amendment to Development Order 05-1, which currently requires a five-foot setback at the front of the house and a 10-ft. setback at the side (interior) yard in the residential development areas.

M3 Development’s David McDaniel said a change to a 20 ft. setback at the front of the house would allow properties to have their own driveways for parking. The other requested change was to reduce the side (interior) yard setback to five feet.

Extended discussion centered on whether the change would prevent cars from parking on the streets, an issue which has been a concern in other subdivisions. Thomas explained that on-street parking would be determined during site plan approval and depended upon whether the roads were wide enough to allow street parking.

He also said keeping the setbacks as they are would mean people would have to access their properties from the rear of the house, which would likely require an alleyway to be created for access.

“The applicant believes that the amendment will facilitate a residential development pattern that more closely aligns with current market demand and provide for adequate parking area in the front driveways without encroaching on the neighborhood sidewalks,” said Thomas.

Thomas also explained that the existing development order was approved in 2005. That order allows for up to 214 single-family, and up to 226 multifamily units. “The proposed amendment would not change the allowable residential density,” he said.

In roll call vote, Commissioner Monty Farnsworth cast the only dissenting vote. The ordinance passed on first reading with a vote of 4-1.

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NEWBERRY – For the past 74 years Newberry has hosted an event to celebrate the community’s rural history and the crop the town has become known for—watermelons. But this year, the milestone 75^th Anniversary almost didn't happen due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to the need for social distancing to slow the infection rate, all public events in the spring were canceled, including traditional spring festivals in many small towns.

“This was our 75th anniversary and we really wanted to celebrate that,” said vendor coordinator Christina Bridwell. “We are the longest running consecutive festival in the United States and felt that as the state was reopening that the festival would bring hope and a sense of normality to the community.”

Bridwell said they had been working on the festival for months and had the sponsors and vendors lined up before the stay at home orders. “However, we also wanted to be safe and follow the guidelines, Bridwell added. “We tried to be cognizant of social distancing and sanitation though as well, so even though much of the work had already been done, it was not until May 20 that we made the final decision to go ahead with it,” Bridwell said.

This year, festival coordinators spaced vendors farther apart than in the past and put hand washing stations throughout the event as well as hand sanitizer and also recommended that attendees wear masks.

Bridwell said, “We want to make this is a successful event to show we can have festivals safely. There are other festivals and events sponsors that are looking at us to see how this goes. We really wanted to keep the tradition going.”

The Newbery Watermelon Festival has a rich history that started in 1946 at the end of World War II. It was not only a celebration of the town’s livelihood, but also a festival to bring happiness and normalcy back at the end of a tumultuous time. Seventy-five years later the world is facing another crisis and the festival committee felt there was again a need to bring the community together,

Newberry began as a mining town in the 1880s after phosphate was discovered in the western part of Alachua County. In 1893, the Savannah, Florida and Western Railway was extended south from High Springs to Newberry, providing transportation for the mines and leading to its formation as a railroad town and trading center. By 1896 there were 14 mines operating nearby. Newberry grew quickly, with hotels, boarding houses, and saloons to accommodate the often transient workforce. But the demand for phosphate ended abruptly in 1914 when war was declared against Germany who was the principal customer for Newberry's phosphate.

The remaining community had to find a new way to produce income and the local economy turned from phosphate production to agriculture and new commodity crops. It was particularly successful in producing watermelons and Newberry became well known for their watermelons. In 1946, the year after the end of World War II, a committee of local citizens decided to hold a festival celebrating watermelon production and the Newberry Watermelon Festival was born. Until this year, the event has been held annually on the third Saturday in May.

The festival is organized and produced by a committee of local residents with the support of the city and business sponsors. The event is produced with a large group of volunteers, including Police Explorers who help manage traffic and parking. Sponsors provided donations either as cash or in-kind products. The festival also gets additional funds by charging for parking. Some of the money raised is used to fund three $1,000 scholarships for Newberry High School seniors to cover tuition and books to attend Santa Fe College. Any additional money goes to the schools for supplies and to the Red Cross for any local need that arises.

The festival also hosts several special events and contests celebrating the rural history of the town, such as hog calling, watermelon seed spitting and watermelon rolling contests. A separate area is set up for a kids playground featuring bounce houses and a miniature train ride with the cars pulled by a tractor. The festival is meant to be a family event with various activities for a younger audience, including The Rage, a mobile Laser Tag game with different sections and objectives similar to a video game set up.

On the opposite side of the event was Mister Crabs Entertainment Center. Referred to as “edutainment,” the booths featured various educational material on butterflies, hermit crabs and other sea creatures. They also offered hermit crab adoptions, crab races and a butterfly tent where kids could feed the butterflies. Other vendors served a variety of food or sold products and crafts. Some vendors offered services or public information and being an election year, several candidates also hosted vendor tents.

But one of the big draws is always the free watermelon slices to cool down on a hot day. The servers, all wearing masks and gloves for everyone's safety, handed out slices to a seemingly never-ending line of eager customers. The melons are donated each year by local farmers; this year it was by Frey Farms. Any watermelons still available after 2 p.m. could be purchased with the remainder donated to local food banks and churches. Although the festival closed at 4 p.m., the celebration continued with live music from the Ronny McKinnley band from 6-10 p.m. While the event was smaller than in years past, it still went on and was well attended. Similar to its roots in 1946, the festival again brought enjoyment and a sense of normalcy during challenging times.

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NEWBERRY – Newberry may be one step closer to instituting a program they have been working on since 2015. During the June 22 Commission meeting, City Manager Mike New reviewed progress in researching and establishing an Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI) program for Newberry.

Commissioners authorized New to negotiate an agreement with the only company compliant with a request for proposal (RFP) put out by the City in March to provide AMI system services. In the event the city manager is unable to negotiate contract terms with the compliant submitter, Commissioners also authorized the termination of negotiations and re-issuing an RFP for AMI services.

With the assistance of Quanta Technology Engineering Project Manager Bob Dumas, the City developed the RFP and pre-qualified four firms from which to solicit proposals.

“We received proposals from three of the pre-qualified firms,” said New. “The fourth firm, Aclara, declined to submit a proposal citing previous commitments.”

Quanta performed a high-level compliance review of the three submittals and found that only one, Sensus, was compliant with the RFP document. The other two submittals by Honeywell and Landis+GYR were found to be non-compliant, New said.

The RFP evaluation committee consisting of Florida Municipal Power Agency (FMPA) Manager of Member Services Development Mike McCleary, Lakeland Electric Utilities Assistant General Manager for Customer Service David Kus and Mike New met remotely on June 11 to discuss Quanta’s compliance review. The RFP evaluation committee unanimously approved a motion to find the same two company’s proposals non-responsive and recommended that staff be authorized to negotiate a contract for AMI service with Sensus, and that staff be authorized to re-issue the AMI service RFP if negotiations with Sensus are unsuccessful.

If negotiations are successful, this project could be rolling out as soon as this fall.

The City estimates deployment cost for AMI to range from $1 million - $1.2 million. “The budget for FY 2020/ 2021 includes funding for this project,” New said.

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ALACHUA – The City of Alachua has approved the Business Incentive Program to spur economic development within the city. During the Sept. 23, 2019 meeting, the Commission directed staff to develop legislation to initiate a Business Incentive Program to encourage economic development and business relocation by maintaining a welcoming business environment, create business growth and increased employment in Alachua.

The program consists of six specific business incentives. The Business Development Electric Discount provides an incremental discounting of Alachua electric rates over a five-year period. The Electric Contribution in Aid of Construction provides for the discounting of costs associated with the extension, addition and/or modification of City of Alachua electric infrastructure. The City will also offer expedited permit approval.

Since much of the program is geared toward attracting high tech and biotech businesses and startups, the City is also offering funding incentives for small businesses. These will include an Incubator/Accelerator Graduate Lease Subsidy, which provides for rental subsidies for incubator and/or accelerator graduates. A Small Business Assistance Program will provide for reimbursable matching funds related to City of Alachua fees/charges for small businesses. The final part of the program is a Tech Matching Grant Fund which will provide matching funds for technology-focused events and programs.

In other business, the Commission approved on first reading a preliminary plat and final (PD) planned development plan for Phase 1 of the Tolosa PD-R. The proposed new subdivision is sited on an 18.74-acre property and consists of 43 lots with associated common areas and rights-of-way. The proposed subdivision is located north of Northwest 158^th Avenue and west of Hipp Way. Access would be provided by one ingress/egress point located on Hipp Way, with a stabilized emergency access point onto Northwest 158^th Avenue. The initial Tolosa PD-R Zoning was approved on June 10, 2019 for the development of 160 residential units consisting of 120 single-family houses and 40 multifamily units. At the June 9, 2020 meeting of the Planning and Zoning Board, the Tolosa Final PD Plan was approved unanimously and forwarded to the City Commission with a recommendation to approve.

In other business, the Commission approved a contract with Jacobs for $65,000 to provide engineering services to assist in the engineering design for wastewater lift station modeling. Funds for the project will come from the Waste Water Fund.

The Commission also amended the Fiscal Year 2019-2020 Budget for the receipt of unanticipated revenue to establish the Children's Trust Grant Special Revenue Fund. The Children's Trust of Alachua County (CTAC) Board approved grant rankings on Feb. 10, 2020 and directed that contracts be executed with the recommended grant recipients. These rankings resulted in an award $135,002 to the City of Alachua for the proposed youth enrichment program.

Brightmark, LLC, a private company focused on transforming plastic waste into renewable fuel, is considering locating in Alachua to expand its operations. The firm is projected to create 352 new jobs over three years beginning in 2023 with an average annual compensation of approximately $41,870.

The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) offers several incentives to prospective and expanding businesses, such as Brightmark. The Qualified Target Industry (QTI) Tax Refund is such a program. If approved for the program, a company may receive refunds on taxes it pays including corporate income tax, sales tax, and ad valorem tax following job creation.

Brightmark, LLC. is making application for participation in the QTI program totaling $1,760,000. The total award amount is derived from a formula developed by DEO that places valuation on each new job created. Brightmark qualified for $5,000 per expected new job created. The QTI program requires a 20 percent local government match. The local government match totals $352,000 divided equally between Alachua County and the City of Alachua.

The company may only receive refunds on taxes paid and must demonstrate job creation and will only receive a refund for actual jobs created. The company must have paid taxes to the City of Alachua totaling at least the City's refund amount to receive the refund. The City's share of the funding, $176,000, is payable over four years following job creation from each prior year.

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HIGH SPRINGS – A suspect in the May 29, 2020 High Springs shooting that left one person injured has been arrested.

Nineteen-year-old George Mack Strawder III was apprehended by authorities Sunday.

Strawder was identified by witnesses as the man who shot another man during an argument. The High Springs Police Department (HSPD) responded to a call involving a shooting near the Catherine Taylor Park and arrived on the scene within minutes of the call. Officers discovered an adult male victim on the ground, suffering from a single gunshot wound near the lower back. HSPD personnel administered first aid until EMS arrived on the scene. The victim was then airlifted to a local hospital.

According to the investigation, the victim was part of a group involved in a physical altercation with another group and the victim was allegedly shot by Strawder, who along with others, fled the scene on foot and eluded a search by law enforcement.

This was the second shooting incident in the vicinity within a month. While authorities are not sure if the two incidents are related, they do believe that Strawder was involved in both cases.

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