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NEWBERRY ‒ By a narrow margin, the City of Newberry Commission approved a 220-acre development that at build out will include over 600 homes and 140,000 square feet of commercial space. First reading of the ordinance to rezone the 220 +/- acres from Agricultural (A) to Planned Development (PD) was the most discussed item at the Newberry City Commission’s Feb. 13 meeting. The property is currently owned by Gary Weseman – Tanglewood Properties of Gainesville LLC.

The application was brought on behalf of the owner by Gerry Dedenbach of Causseaux, Hewett and Walpole, Inc. (CHW), who addressed the Commission during the quasi-judicial hearing.

Dedenbach presented a four-phased plan for development, which is to occur over a 20-year period. The project is expected to include 636 detached and attached homes and 140,000 square feet of commercial properties. The property is located south of West Newberry Road/State Road 26 and west of Southwest 202^nd Street.

A small amount of commercial development will be included in Phase One of the development with a larger portion of commercial development to occur in Phases three and four. The developer will install a municipal water tower on the property.

“A homeowners association is planned to take care of maintenance of the entrance and open areas,” said Dedenbach. “A commercial area association will be created to maintain the commercial areas as well.”

The water management district will require all water to be addressed within the development, Dedenbach explained. Notifying potential homebuyers of the location of Tropic Traditions Nursery, located next to Phase One of the development, as well as the possibility of agricultural smells, use of pesticides and fertilizers and the location of the nearby mine would all be included in the residential homebuyer’s information and final paperwork, he said.

City Manager Mike New addressed concerns about how and when commercial development would take place by suggesting that commercial development should occur when 75 percent of the residential properties in each phase were under contract.

The rezoning application was approved by a vote of 3 – 2 with Commissioners Marty Farnsworth and Tony Mazon in dissent.

Second reading of an ordinance to change the Future Land Use Map classification from Agriculture to Planned Development on the property was also approved by a 3 – 2 vote with Commissioners Marty Farnsworth and Tony Mazon in dissent.

Public Facilities Zoning District

The Newberry City Commission will now have final approval authority on some projects. Newberry has established a Public Facilities “PF” zoning district to align existing and proposed public buildings and uses with the public future land use classification.

The PF classification consists of areas which are used for public buildings and grounds, other public facilities including sewer facilities, solid waste facilities, drainage facilities and potable water facilities, public health facilities, solar energy facilities (commonly referred to as solar farms) and educational uses.

“The proposed text amendment modifies the site and development plan process to require City Commission, in lieu of the Board of Adjustment, approval of proposed development within the Public Facilities zoning district,” said City of Newberry Principal Planner Jean-Paul Perez.

The Planning and Zoning Board will still serve as a recommending body. This allows the City Commission to have final approval authority on City projects which may have budgetary implications and history, and development by other governmental agencies and entities such as county, state, and federal. This district may only be applied to government owned or leased land which serves a public purpose.

Wastewater Treatment Plant Design

Newberry is one step closer to a new wastewater treatment plant facility. Assistant City Manager Dallas Lee presented the ranking results of seven firms that responded to the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for design engineering services for the facility. The highest-ranked firm was Adkins North America, Inc., Tampa. The Commission authorized the city manager to begin negotiations with Adkins to enter into an agreement for engineering design services. Should the negotiation not be successful, the city manager is authorized to begin negotiating with the second ranked firm.

Wild Spaces Funding

The Newberry City Commission has weighed in on how the Wild Spaces Public Places (WSPP) one percent surtax should be divided between Alachua County’s nine municipalities. The Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) approved the WSPP surtax initiative in 2022, which authorized a $3 million grant for all cities to share. The authorization did not identify actual funding levels for each city, although the City of Gainesville is slated to receive an additional $3 million above any additional distribution of the shared $3 million.

County commissioners indicated they would consider a unanimous agreement by the nine cities as to how to divide the funds. The cities met several times to discuss and developed five different methods for distributing the funds. Although the cities have not reached unanimous agreement, allocation option four – division of funds equally at $333,333 to each city, was the consensus.

There was also support for allocation option five as it would be a more equitable division of funds with the eight smaller cities receiving $375,000 each if the City of Gainesville were to opt out of receiving an additional portion of the shared $3 million.

The Newberry City Commission voted unanimously for allocation option five, but asked that the resolution be written to accept allocation four as a second preference.

The next City Commission meeting is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 27, at 6:30 p.m.

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ALACHUA, Fla. - Less than five months after breaking ground on a 42 parking space lot in downtown Alachua, the project is beginning to take shape.  The parking lot is a project of the City of Alachua's Community Redevelopmenet Agency (CRA) and includes an underground stormwater  retention basin as well as underground utilities serving nearby businesses. 

he parking lot is possible because numerous property owners in the project's vicinity donated land in addition to the purchase of a shuttered daycare facility.  Funding for the project came from a $150,000 grant by the United States Department of Agriculture - Rural Development as well as funds from the City of Alachua's general fund and the CRA tax increment financing funds.

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ The High Springs City Commission has voted to terminate its agreement with its waste hauler. The action was taken at the Feb. 9 Commission meeting. The ongoing lack of responsiveness from GFL Environmental Problems has plagued High Springs’ residents and City staff for some time. Assistant City Manager Bruce Gillingham said there have been multiple instances of repeated problems with GFL.

During a 20-month period, 343 complaints have been lodged by citizens and five were still not rectified within 30 days. “There are instances of whole subdivisions missed [for waste pickups],” he said. “One issue was so bad that the Health Department had to get involved. A second company has been contacted and they are ready to come into the City as soon as they get the word to do so,” said Gillingham.

The Commission unanimously passed Resolution 2023-B, putting GFL on notice that the City intends to terminate the solid waste franchise agreement with GFL Environmental effective upon adoption on Feb. 9, 2023.

County Surtax Split

A discussion on the County’s new Wild Spaces Public Places (WSPP) and Infrastructure Sales Surtax was led by City Manager Ashley Stathatos. The tax will likely generate $12 million in revenue over the taxable period. Of that amount, $3 million will go directly to Gainesville for WSPP projects. Another $3 million will go directly to Gainesville for Infrastructure projects.

The nine Alachua County municipalities will get $3 million toward a grant program for WSPP projects and $3 million toward a grant program for infrastructure projects.

The nine municipalities include Gainesville, Alachua, Newberry, High Springs, Hawthorne, Archer, Waldo, Micanopy and LaCrosse.

The County tasked the nine municipalities with coming to a mutually agreeable split for each of the $3 million grant programs. As $6 million is going directly to Gainesville, the Alachua County League of Cities approved a $375,000 split for each of the cities, excluding Gainesville. At a second meeting, a Gainesville commissioner was present and said he would go back to his Commission to discuss a more equitable split than one based on population. Discussion will continue after receiving feedback from all of the cities’ elected officials.

Commissioners directed City staff to prepare two resolutions for consideration at the next meeting. One would split the $6 million between the smaller eight cities to the exclusion of Gainesville. The second would include an equal split between all nine of the cities.

Meanwhile, Commissioners plan to contact county commissioners to discuss this issue further prior to deciding which resolution they will approve at their next meeting.

Road Projects

The Commission has awarded the bid for Phase 2 road repair and replacement to Live Oak Management Group, LLC at a cost of $111,000. The roads that will be repaired or replaced include Railroad Avenue and Northwest 184^th Street, Box Car Court, Northwest 184^th Road, Northwest 198^th Avenue and 230^th Street and Northwest 238^th Street, Sports Complex area. Five bids were received with Live Oak as the lowest bidder.

Santa Fe Watershed

Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) Office of Agriculture and Environmental Projects Mary Diaz was on hand to announce that a Santa Fe Watershed Study Area map has been created to help determine flood risks in this part of Florida.

She said that there would be three opportunities to meet directly with Water Management District personnel to discuss specific parcels and explain what the flood risk is determined to be for those parcels. The meetings will be held in Starke on Feb. 21, Alachua on Feb. 22 and Lake City on Feb. 23. The Alachua meeting will take place from 5 – 9 p.m. in the James A. Lewis Chambers, Alachua City Hall.

For people unable to make the meetings a virtual tour has been created and can be located through any search engine by typing in the words, SRWMD Virtual Tour. The public has 30 days for input. All meetings are open to the public.

In other City business, the elevator project at City Hall has been completed and Commissioners report that it is a vast improvement over the original elevator.

An issue of concern for some time has been the need for an additional City water well. The third well has now been installed and the City is waiting for power to be installed by Duke Energy.

In other business, Juniors Disc Golf Tournament director Chris Clark spoke about the potential economic impact to the community if the City would allocate more disc golf sites in High Springs. He said there will be well over 100 participants at the upcoming weekend’s tournament. People interested in learning more about disc golf can contact the High Springs Parks and Recreation Department.

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ For most 21-year-olds their focus is on having a job, money, dating or partying with friends. They rarely think about illness or mortality. For the most part, Nathan Blair was a typical teenager who went to High Springs Community School and graduated from Santa Fe High School where he played on the baseball team.

At the age of 19, and not far removed from his high school days, Blair was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma, a rare form of Bone Cancer. His whole life changed. And for his parents, Anna and Drayden Blair, it was devastating news.

Doctors operated to remove a tumor, and then Blair endured multiple bouts of chemotherapy and long periods sickness, magnified by the chemotherapy treatments. Nathan and his family had support from their friends and family, and events were organized to help with the medical expenses of his treatment.

For two years, Nathan seemed to be in remission and the family held on to threads of optimism. But that changed when several months ago a routine scan showed a mass near his clavicle revealing that the cancer had returned. After another operation, they are unsure of the prognosis.

“This is a much scarier time than last time, leaving us wondering if and when will it be back, are meds working, will I/he live a long healthy life are questions/thoughts that are constantly in our minds,” said Anna Blair. “He had his surgery in November, but the last scan he got shows another lesion close to the shoulder…After two years we never thought we would be going through this again, but here we are.”

Nathan had another surgery last week to be followed by months of radiation treatment. Yet, while the specter of cancer is always present in the family's thoughts, they stay positive of the outcome. By all accounts, Nathan is a young man with strong determination and a fighter. Based on his personality, the family started “Fight With Nate” complete with a Facebook page and events to raise funds for him and raise awareness of cancer, especially among young people.

Nathan has also begun making weekly videos talking not only about his own journey, but also to raise awareness of the disease. “If I can help raise awareness of Osteosarcoma to help others, it's well worth it,” said Nathan. The Facebook page has over 6,000 followers and strong community support.

On Saturday, Jan. 21, the group held a fundraising event at the High Springs Brewing Company attended by over 100 people showing their support for Nate’s fight. Food Daddy supplied BBQ pork dinners with all profits going to the Fight With Nate program. Musician Bryce Carlisle, backed up by several other musicians, and the band County Road 400 provided three hours of music as donations. There were also raffles with donated prizes, a 50-50 raffle and sales of Fight with Nate T-Shirts. The High Springs Brewing Company donated their venue for the event and 10 percent of their sales.

This is the second event the business has hosted for Nate. Brewery co-owner Kristie Ayers taught at Santa Fe High School and Nate was one of her students. “Nate is a great kid, and we are happy to support his cause,” said Ayers.

For the Blair family, the amount of support from the community has been overwhelming. “At this event we raised more than $5,000 to help with medical bills,” said Anna Blair. “The love, prayers and support we have gotten is amazing. It shows what compassion and caring there is in people.”

To learn more about the Fight With Nate project or to support the cause, information can be found at https://www.facebook.com/FightwithNate.

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ALACHUA ‒ The City of Alachua has prevailed to the tune of $1,851,740 in a settlement agreement with Harvest DCP of Florida, LLC, a medical marijuana company. The company purchased Building C at 1289 N.W. U.S. Highway 441 in the city of Alachua and eventually sold the property but remained the tenant in the building. Harvest DCP planned substantial renovations to Building C, which were projected to exceed 75 percent of the value of the building. Because of the scope of the renovations, the City of Alachua’s Land Development Regulations (LDR’s) required Harvest to submit a site plan to bring the property into compliance with the LDR’s.

Rather than waiting until completion of the work required to develop the site plan, which had not yet been submitted, and before it could pull the building permit and move forward with the renovations, on April 12, 2021, Harvest entered into a Developer’s Agreement with the City of Alachua. The agreement would allow the renovations to move forward and at the same time insure that a site plan would be submitted, approved, and the site plan improvements completed.

The Developer’s Agreement allowed Harvest to pull a building permit and commence work on the renovations but required submission of a site plan within 30 days and the work required by it be completed within six months of its approval.

By the middle of August 2021, when no site plan had been submitted, it became apparent that Harvest would not meet its time deadline for the completion of the improvements by the middle of October 2021.

On Aug. 28, 2021, the City and Harvest entered into an Amended and Restated Developer’s Agreement. In order to ensure that the improvements required by the site plan would be completed by Harvest, a condition of the Amended Agreement required Harvest to provide the City with a Common Law Performance Bond in the amount of $1,851,740.

According to the City, despite repeated attempts for updates, Harvest ignored all inquiries and the work was not done. After the deadlines in the Amended Agreement had passed, the City Commission authorized the city manager and city attorney to retain the services of a Board-Certified Construction law attorney, Don Niesen, to handle the default under the Amended Agreement.

On June 15, 2022, Niesen put the surety, United States Fire Insurance Company, (“USFIC”) and Harvest on written notice of the default. On Dec. 2, 2022, after going back and forth trying to resolve the default for nearly six months, Niesen provided a final detailed letter to USFIC, Harvest and to Trulieve, Inc., which merged with Harvest, demanding payment of the full penalty sum under bond in the amount of $1,851,740 on or before Dec. 22, 2022, or the complaint would be filed in Eighth Judicial Circuit.

USFIC (the bonding company), Harvest, and Trulieve agreed to pay the City of Alachua the full amount of the performance bond. Payment is required within 15 days of the settlement.

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