ALACHUA – The City of Alachua filed suit in circuit court against Alachua County Monday over a proposed charter amendment that, if approved, would dramatically change how growth is managed countywide. The measure is set to appear on the Nov. 3 general election ballot. The measure is roundly opposed by city commissions around Alachua county, but that has not stopped the Charter Review Commission from pushing it onto the ballot.

The Alachua County Charter Review Commission voted 10-2 to adopt CRC Resolution 2020-1, which includes a ballot summary purportedly informing the voters of the scope and effect of the amendment. If approved by voters, the charter amendment would essentially establish a so-called growth management area comprising a substantial majority of lands not currently within any city’s municipal boundaries.

The teeth of the amendment are in the details of the text, which essentially dictates that if a city annexes any of the growth management lands into its municipal boundaries, those lands will continue to be exclusively subject to the County’s Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Regulations. Under current law, once a city annexes a parcel of land into its corporate limits, that annexing city’s comprehensive plan and land development regulations govern zoning, growth and development of that annexed land.

The ballot summary states, “COUNTY CHARTER AMENDMENT ESTABLISHING COUNTY GROWTH

MANAGEMENT AREA. Shall the Alachua County Charter be amended, effective countywide, to establish a County Growth Management Area (“Area”), provide that the County’s comprehensive plan and land development regulations will exclusively govern land development in the Area, whether inside or outside municipal boundaries, authorize implementing ordinances, provide for removal of lands from the Area, and provide that the charter and implementing ordinances shall prevail over conflicting municipal ordinances?”

The City of Alachua’s chief complaint as laid out in the lawsuit is that the ballot measure violates Florida voting laws, specifically Florida Statute 101.161(1), which sets out rules for the language of a referendum such as the one proposed by the Charter Review Commission.

The lawsuit alleges that the ballot language is misleading because it gives the false impression that the main purpose of the amendment is to establish a growth management area, when in fact the primary purpose of the amendment is to stymie a municipality from using its own land use regulations. The City also states the ballot summary does not provide “fair notice” that the proposed amendment would modify current rules regarding annexed lands, most notably that a city would no longer be allowed to impose its own land use regulations and comprehensive plan.

The lawsuit goes on to allege that the ballot summary is “false and misleading” because it gives voters the false impression the amendment will result in the County’s planning regulations being applied to lands outside of a municipality, when, in fact, as it currently stands, the County’s planning regulations already govern development and zoning of lands which are not in the corporate limits of a municipality.

Going further, the City calls the ballot summary misleading because it does nothing with respect to the management of growth, but rather, it merely dictates who will have regulatory power, not what is to be done with that authority. And, the City says the ballot measure suggests that growth is not currently managed in areas in the so-called growth management areas or that it would not be managed if annexed into a municipality.

Indeed, the City states in the lawsuit that the amendment would undermine a city’s ability to impose more restrictive regulations to manage growth. The City also calls the Charter Review Commission’s use of the phrase, “Growth Management Area” improper political rhetoric in violation of Florida Statutes 101.161(1).

In its chief complaint, the City details numerous other grievances with the ballot measure, including the failure to inform voters that the amendment would establish actual boundaries for the so-called growth management area, failure to include a reference to the proposed boundary map, failure to inform voters that only by a super-majority vote of the Board of County Commissioners could lands be removed from the managed area. On a technical point, the City notes that the Spanish language translation of the ballot summary is 90 words, exceeding the 75-word limit established by state law.

In Count II and III of its complaint, the City states that the amendment fails to comply with Florida’s state constitution or state laws because the amendment could not “coexist” with existing state laws. In particular, the City points out that the charter amendment would impose the County’s land use regulations in conflict with Florida’s laws regarding municipal annexation and contraction, Florida Statutes 171.011 through 171.094. Additionally, Chapter 163 of Florida Statutes mandates that with respect to land use, a municipality “shall exercise authority” over lands within its boundaries, but the amendment, if approved, would preempt a city’s regulatory control over land use matters. Finally, the City alleges that proposed amendment conflicts with other parts of Chapter 163 which provide explicit procedures for the amendment of comprehensive plans.

The City asks the circuit court to provide temporary and permanent injunctive relief by invalidating the proposed charter amendment, striking it from the 2020 ballot, preventing the Supervisor of Elections from tabulating or certifying the results of the referendum and preventing the County from enforcing the amendment if approved by voters.

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NEWBERRY - Newberry’s newest City Commissioner Mark Clark and his family pose for pictures following the Aug. 25 Swearing in Ceremony. The ceremony was held during Newberry’s Special City Commission meeting. Clark replaces Commissioner Rocky McKinley who stepped in earlier this year to replace Commissioner Matt Hersom, who relocated out of the area. In addition to Clark, Group One and Group Three incumbents Rick Coleman and Monty Farnsworth kept their seats and were also sworn in at the same meeting.

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NEWBERRY ‒ There is a new restaurant in an old location in Newberry. In the historic downtown area, at 25405 W. Newberry Road, there stands a two-story brick building built in 1906. Originally the downstairs portion was a general store and upstairs was The Commercial Hotel.

At the time Newberry was a phosphate mining town and railroad junction that was established in the 1880s. As the town grew with over 16 mining operations in the area, more commercial brick buildings were built, including the hotel. Over the years it has had many incarnations and was home of the well-known Backyard BBQ restaurant for a number of years. Two years ago, the restaurant closed and the building sat vacant.

New owner Jamie Griffin has been in the restaurant business for 35 years, and he currently owns the Lighthouse in Fanning Springs and Bett's Big T in Chiefland.

Griffin spent two years renovating the building back to its original appearance. Now, from the brickwork to flooring, the restaurant reflects the way the building looked more than a century ago. Griffin is honoring the building’s rich history by naming the new eatery The 1906 Farmhouse Restaurant.

After the restoration, the restaurant opened its doors to the public on Sept. 17, 2020. The 1906 Farmhouse Restaurant will be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day of the week for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The breakfast menu offers traditional breakfast platters, pancakes and waffles and omelets. The lunch menu features sandwiches, salads and burgers while the dinner menu offers chicken, steak and fried seafood platters along with sandwiches, salads and burgers.

Griffin says they will have blue plate specials that will rotate daily. On Fridays and Saturdays from 5 to 10 p.m., they will feature an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet that features crab legs for $26 per person. The restaurant also has a smaller kids menu as well as beer and wine for the adults.

Griffin lives in Fanning Springs where he has The Lighthouse restaurant, but now spends most of his time with the new restaurant.

“I am lucky with good managers at my other locations, which allows me to get this new restaurant off the ground. I felt that it would fit Newberry's character with its traditional country style fare. It’s a little country, a little steak, a little seafood,” said Griffin. “People in Newberry don’t have to go all the way out to Gainesville for food, but at the same time, people in Gainesville can take a trip out if they want to get away to the country.”

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ North Central Florida is known for its pristine natural beauty and recreation based around the springs and rivers in the area. The rivers are popular spots for swimming, diving and boating by kayak or canoe and for group get togethers. Unfortunately, not everyone helps maintain the natural beauty they enjoy, discarding their trash in the river and on the surrounding banks.

The trash is not only unsightly and disruptive of the natural beauty, it adds to the pollution and degradation of the environment and river system. This is especially problematic for parks offering group recreation leading to group partying and an increase in trash at sites like the popular Ginnie Springs and other parks along the river.

Several organizations and individuals have taken it upon themselves to organize cleanup events with volunteers using kayaks to reach the banks and surface of the water and scuba divers to clean the river bottom. Often the cleanups are a combination of several groups to make use of more volunteers.

On the weekend after Labor Day, Our Santa Fe River organization (OSFR) teamed up with Rum 138, Current Problems, Trail Trash Outdoors, Anderson’s Outdoor Adventures and scuba divers James Merritt and Joe Miller along with other volunteers to do a large river clean up.

Current Problems, a Gainesville based non-profit organization, works to clean the waterways of North Central Florida not only by holding frequent cleanups but by also providing outreach and educating the public on water quality issues. So far, Current Problems has removed 888,000 pounds of trash from area rivers.

Rum 138, which is where OSFR is based, provided four free kayaks and transportation for those with their own canoes. Rum 138 also offered additional kayaks at a reduced rate of $15 per volunteer, young or old. That also included paddle, vessel, life jacket in tandem kayaks, canoes or single kayaks. Also included was shuttling services to and from the river. Anderson’s Outdoor Adventures also provided kayaks for the volunteers.

Brothers Travis and Maverick Smith founded Trail Trash Outdoors. They duo organized the event and filmed the efforts for their YouTube Channel and Facebook page. The brothers have been going on the river weekly since December in an effort to make a difference in the environment.

“High Springs is our home,” Maverick said. “We grew up here and want to help preserve this natural beauty for our kids and future generations to enjoy.”

The brothers started Trail Trash Outdoors after a hike in North Carolina mountains where they witnessed the large amount of trash people left beside the trail. As they hiked, they gathered the trash into piles and then removed it on their way out. “The whole way home we discussed it and when we got home and went on the river, we realized the same problem existed here so we decided to do something about it,” said Travis.

Each week they go down the river and film their efforts for their YouTube channel, which is a blend of tag-along camping footage, adventure hikes, trash cleanups and even a survivor challenge where the brothers race to see who can build the best fire the fastest. “We want to make the world a better place by removing trash from our environment,” said Travis. On their weekly cleanups, other kayakers and swimmers in the springs watch the pair travel through using their garbage grabbers. The brothers like to remind tourists that the bottled water they drink comes from the very springs they are hauling this trash out of.

They are not the only ones filming their efforts. Divers James Merritt and brother-in-law Joe Miller also have a YouTube channel and Facebook page, “Into the Water with James.”

“I noticed the amount of trash in the water and decided to do something about it and make the public aware of the problem by filming our dives,” Merritt said.

Not everything the divers find is trash. “We find a lot of cell phones, sunglasses, watches and shoes—items people drop when leaning over their boat to take photos or capsize,” said Merritt. “Any items we can't return we see as a little bit of profit for our efforts. I have more sunglasses than I know what to do with. Occasionally we have even found car keys, which means somebody, especially a tourist, is having a really bad day.” Merritt said.

Volunteers met at 8 each morning at Rum 138 for the cleanup day. On Saturday, 28 volunteers gathered at Rum Island Park between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. to float downstream to Hollingsworth Bluff Boat Ramp. On Sunday, participants gathered at the U.S. Highway 27 Bridge and paddled downstream to Rum Island Park, collecting trash as they went. At Hollingsworth Bluff Boat Ramp, a dumpster was provided by Current Problems with assistance from Columbia County.

On Saturday the group collected 274 pounds of trash and 138 pounds on Sunday. “However, with the river being so high, it means there’s a whole world of trash we still weren’t able to reach but have goals to attack in the near future,” said Smith. “We found a good bit of trash but not as much as we would like.”

The groups are planning to do another major clean up in late October or early November. Anyone interested in joining or getting more information can contact one of the groups through their Facebook pages or contact Rum 138 at 386-454-4247.

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