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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ The High Springs Lions Club supports many charitable causes under the organization’s motto “We Serve” by helping provide for the needs of others. With service in mind, club members are turning their support to those impacted by a recent hurricane. Hurricane Ida hit the Louisiana cost on Aug. 29, 2021with heavy rain and winds of over 150 mph. It was a deadly and destructive Category 4 storm that became the second-most damaging and intense hurricane to make landfall in Louisiana on record, behind hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Throughout its path of destruction in Louisiana, more than a million people had no electricity and widespread heavy infrastructural damage occurred throughout the southeastern portion of the state, as well as extremely heavy flooding in coastal areas. Ida is the sixth costliest storm on record, having caused at least $50.1 billion in damages.

Club members are currently collecting supplies for the hurricane victims with an event called the Emergency Hurricane Relief Drive. They have a trailer to fill with donated supplies, and once full, it will be driven to New Orleans to be distributed to those in need. Household items such as soap, toothpaste and brushes, and toilet paper are welcomed. Sanitary wipes and diapers for babies, pet food and bottled water are needed as well. All types of clothing are also welcomed.

They are asking the community to show their support to the victims of Ida. “You can go to the Dollar store and get a few things, or maybe you have some extra food or clothing that you feel compelled to donate,” said Lions Club member Barbara Kowats. “Just remember when others helped you recover from a storm, maybe it is time to pay it forward. The feeling of giving is joy and your gift could multiply or change someone's life in a way that makes the world a better place is just an added bonus to doing and feeling good.”

Article donations or cash /checks can be dropped off at the High Springs Lions Club at 26900 West U.S. Highway 27 in High Springs Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 4 p.m. To 7 p.m. More information and a large list of donation items can be found at the High Springs Lions Club Facebook page or by calling 386-454-4521.

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alachuatoday.com

ALACHUA ‒ The City of Alachua may soon be adding Cottage Neighborhood to its Land Development Regulations (LDRs). At the Sept. 27 Alachua City Commission meeting, Ryan Thompson of Causseaux, Hewett, & Walpole, Inc., proposed amendments to the City’s LDRs that would establish a new housing type, known as a Cottage Neighborhood, in the Corporate Park (CP) zoning district.

The Cottage neighborhood is a concept that incorporates housing and work locations in the same community as well as restaurants, retail and recreation in a planned community. Cottage homes located within cottage neighborhoods offer a potentially lower cost single-family detached housing than in traditional subdivisions and residents have the ability to reduce travel to work or use of vehicles, since all facilities would be within walking or biking distance.

Several factors distinguish cottage homes from other housing communities and include smaller lot size or no lots at all; the application of setbacks; building orientation and configuration; vehicle and pedestrian access with shops, work space and housing. Most cottage homes would be clustered around common greens area. This distinguishes the cottage homes concept by providing open space that is located adjacent to and in front of residential dwellings, rather than a more traditional development pattern where dwellings are located along a road. In addition, utility infrastructure and stormwater management facilities required to serve the development is less than required for traditional development.

The proposed amendments would permit cottage neighborhoods exclusively within the Corporate Park (CP) zoning district. Residential uses are only permitted within the CP zoning district if the lands zoned CP are comprised of at least 50 acres of contiguous land.

According the Thompson, the goal of the Cottage homes concept is to “accommodate a range of research and development, technology and life sciences/biotechnology industries, office, supporting retail, and complementary residential uses.” Two project areas that are currently being considered for the Cottage Neighborhood concept are San Felasco Tech City and University of Florida Foundation property located east of County Road 241.

In other City business, the Commission held the final hearing on the Fiscal Year 2021-22 budget and approved three resolutions on the General City Purpose Ad Valorem Taxes for the 2021 Tax Year. The General Fund rolled-back rate is 5.1155 mills with the final millage rate set at 5.3900 mills. The Commission also approved the final Fiscal Year 2021-22 budget of $42,610,703.

The Commission has appointed two residents to vacant positions on the Senior Resources Advisory Board (SRAB). John E. Brown will serve a three-year term and Vida May Waters will serve a two-year term. The five-member board meets quarterly and serves in an advisory role to the City Commission by providing information on issues of importance to senior citizens in the community.

The City of Alachua has proclaimed October as American Pharmacists Month. In honor of pharmacists’ service to the community, Mayor Gib Coerper read a proclamation and then presented it to Alachua pharmacist William Garst, Pharm.D. The proclamation was in recognition of pharmacists as important members of a health care team with knowledge of medications, the effects they produce in a body, and how they interact or interfere with each other. In addition to safely providing medicine, pharmacists offer many other services as part of their commitment to helping patients live healthier lives. Pharmacists have also played an important role in the fight against COVID-19 by offering testing and vaccines at many locations. Currently there are over 300,000 licensed pharmacists throughout the country.

In a related health matter, the Newberry Opioid Task Force, appointed by the Newberry City Commission, provided information and requested support for their efforts in reducing the number of students who become drug users. Opioid addiction is a long-lasting chronic disease that can cause major health, social, and economic problems. Misuse of prescription opioids and heroin affects more than two million Americans and an estimated 15 million people worldwide each year. The prevalence of opioid misuse and addiction is rapidly increasing. Members of the task force are speaking at commission meetings throughout the county to garner support and funding.

The organization also plan to partner with radKIDS to implement a strategy and a plan to prevent addiction before it occurs. Since 2001, radKIDS has become the national leader in children’s safety education. The task force is requesting $10,000 in funding from the City of Alachua.

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alachuatoday.com

HIGH SPRINGS ‒ The City of High Springs is planning upcoming activities for the 2021-22 fiscal year. City Manager Ashley Stathatos expects to add one position in the Streets Department, and she also added additional funds to help the City apply for more grants for streets and drainage issues. Police vehicles will be replaced under a lease agreement at a cost of $45,000 per year.

Parks Department

Stathatos also anticipates adding a project manager to the Parks Department using Wild Spaces Public Places funds for Wild Spaces Public Places projects. Also budgeted for is the Canoe Outpost purchase, the City’s share of the Rails to Trails project, work on the Catherine Taylor Community Center, along with a Parks and Trail System Master Plan at a total of $1,077,500, which also includes utilizing Wild Spaces Public Places funds.

Improvements to Memorial Park are also on the horizon and will include a new ball field and additional improvements to the existing ball fields. “Funding for these projects will include utilizing Wild Spaces Public Places as matching funds with a Land Water Conservation Grant,” said Parks & Recreation Director Damon Messina.

Fire Department

Purchases for the High Springs Fire Department will include a heavy-duty technical rescue unit, referred to as the Squad, at $740,000 and an engine at $650,000. Revenue generated from the increased fire assessment will cover the purchase of the new Squad and Engine at roughly $157,000 per year. “We are still in the planning phase of the brush truck, exploring a couple of different options. Therefore, an exact dollar figure is not known at this time,” said Assistant City Manager Bruce Gillingham.

Utilities

Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) Funds will be used to help develop a parking and stormwater plan as well as a photometric study for lighting in the downtown area.

The City also plans to pay for the third water well at a cost of $667,700, with payments estimated to be $90,000 a year, and an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) program at $2 million, which will be financed. Stathatos expects the AMI program will decrease water loss and will end up paying for itself, while also providing greater meter reading accuracy and enhancing customer service to the citizens. Water funds will help pay for these two items.

Sewer funds will help pay for the wastewater treatment plant expansion project, which will cost $7 million, with the anticipation of receiving grant funding. A new public works storage building is anticipated at a cost of $200,000, which will be funded over a two- to three-year period. The Water Sewer Master Plan is being funded with a portion coming from both the water and sewer funds.

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NEWBERRY ‒ Although Dudley Farm Historic State Park is usually identified as being in Newberry by most area residents, it wasn’t. Now it is. On Sept. 27, the Newberry City Commission formally annexed the park into the city of Newberry.

The property, which is located at 18730 W. Newberry Road, has a Newberry mailing address. However, only a small portion of the park lands actually were officially in the city’s limits. Included in the 13 tax parcels officially annexed into the City were five parcels owned by the State of Florida consisting of approximately 256.253 acres. These parcels, which are located approximately one-half mile east of Northwest 202^nd Street on the north side of West Newberry Road, include Dudley Farms.

With the realization that the annexation of this historic site had finally been accomplished, Commissioners and audience members clapped in approval. Mayor Jordan Marlowe said the City had been working toward this outcome for some time and was delighted the City had achieved that goal.

All totaled, the City finalized the annexation of more than 600 acres of property to “strengthen contiguity and improve overall compactness of the municipal boundary in the various areas,” said Newberry Planner Wendy Kinser-Maxwell.

In other City business, the Commission narrowly approved the establishment of a water public service tax in a 3-2 vote, which will cost residents $1.48 per month. The funds are designed to produce revenue to be used for construction of roads in the downtown Newberry area. Commissioners Tim Marden and Monty Farnsworth voted “no” on this item.

Also approved was Ordinance 2021-45, authorizing the creation of a trust fund where revenues for the Newberry Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) district will be deposited.

This step moves the City closer to administering a CRA for Newberry, something that has taken the City and Alachua County several years to accomplish.

Also receiving approval was the final plat of Country Way Phase 4, which is expected to include 64 lots, re-plat approval of two lots owned by Pat Post to change their orientation from facing north onto Southwest 3^rd Avenue to facing east onto Southwest 251^st Street and a request by Celebrations Catering to allow the sale and consumption of beer, wine and hard seltzer during a one-day outdoor event at the Easton-Newberry Sports Complex.

Commissioners appointed Donald Long to serve the remainder of Bill Conrad’s term on the Planning and Zoning Board. His term will expire on April 30, 2022.

Several other financial items, which were heard initially at the Sept. 13 Commission meeting, were finalized. Commissioners adopted a final millage rate of 5.9999 mills, “which has remained at that millage rate for five years in a row,” said Assistant City Manager Dallas Lee. A final budget amount of $32,815,483 was established for fiscal year 2021-22.

Additional public hearings were conducted to set rates for electric, water, wastewater and solid waste during this meeting. During his presentation Lee presented a graphic of area water rates and commented, “Newberry has the lowest residential rates in the area.”

However, when it came to wastewater rates, resident Mary Gaffney asked the Commission to revisit the way wastewater was charged in Newberry. “People wash their cars and water their lawns with some of the water used and not all of it goes into the wastewater system,” she said. “I don’t think we should pay 100 percent of the water used for wastewater since it isn’t all going into the wastewater system.”

Commissioner Monty Farnsworth suggested the Commission look at this issue prior to setting next year’s rates. Mayor Marlowe said that wastewater requirements from the government are increasing by 500 percent and the City has to pay for those additional costs.

Marlowe suggested she address this issue during budget workshops for the next fiscal year’s budget. He also suggested she could reduce those costs at her home by having the City install an irrigation meter on her property to offset the amount of water going into the wastewater system. Following discussion Commissioners approved the wastewater rates.

City Manager Mike New said a workshop is scheduled for Oct. 11 at 6:30 p.m. to finalize the Strategic Plan so it could be put to paper. On Oct. 25 at 6 p.m. an educational workshop is scheduled to discuss impact fees.

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alachuatoday.com

NEWBERRY ‒ Barry Heckard, 39, owner of Newberry’s Heckard Doors, 50 S.W. 266^th Street, was shot and killed by Alachua County Sheriff Office (ACSO) deputies on Thursday, Sept. 23, as he attempted to elude officers trying to pull him over for a traffic stop.

Deputies say they initially saw a white van at around 8:30 p.m. that was swerving on north State Road 45. Officers attempted to pull the driver over for a suspected DUI, but Heckard sped away. In an effort to stop the fleeing van, officers performed a “pit maneuver” known as a Precision Immobilization Technique in which the right front quarter panel of the police vehicle is on the vehicle’s rear quarter panel.

During the maneuver officers say that’s when Heckard shot at deputies. At least one deputy returned fire at the driver which resulted in Heckard’s death, say ACSO officials.

No deputies were injured in the encounter, which ended at the intersection of State Road 45 and Newberry Road. The intersection was barricaded throughout the night, but was opened at 6:30 a.m. Friday.

Heckard has had a history of being jailed on various charges beginning in 2018. ACSO spokesperson Art Forgey said, “Heckard had been charged with aggravated assault, possession of marijuana and possession of drug equipment in 2018. In 2019 he had a warrant out for grand theft and in 2020 he was charged with contractor fraud. In June,” he said, “Heckard was in violation of probation for grand theft.”

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement in Jacksonville will help with the investigation. Until the investigation has been completed, all deputies involved will be put on paid administrative leave, which is routine practice. Investigators will determine if the use of force was justified in this shooting.

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