Alachua County Commission expresses concern at City of Alachua’s Mill Creek developments, directs staff to scrutinize plans and strengthen regulations

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At an October 1 special meeting, the Alachua County Commission passed a multi-part motion aimed at persuading the City of Alachua to restrict development in the Mill Creek Sink area and indicated that they may challenge any developments that are approved.

Presentation about the proposed Tara developments

After a presentation from staff about why it’s important to protect springs and groundwater, Water Resources Program Manager Stacie Greco showed a map of the Mill Creek Watershed, which is “part of an ancient drainage system connected to Hornsby Spring and the Santa Fe River.” The watershed includes about 8,700 feet of mapped cave systems, and the Mill Creek Sink property, about nine acres, is owned by the National Speleological Society.

The City of Alachua has a $2 million water quality improvement project behind Sonny’s to reduce nitrogen loading to the Santa Fe River Basin and remove other pollutants. A second phase of the project was planned by Alachua County, but County staff were not able to negotiate an agreement to purchase the land.

Environmental Protection Department Director Steve Hofstetter said the current concerns are with a group of projects lumped together as “the Tara developments,” along with a proposed golf course (Tomoka Hills)

Hofstetter said development concerns include an increased chance of sinkholes, which “open up direct conduits to our aquifer” and high water use and nitrogen run-off from manicured landscapes.

Greco said the focus should be on low-impact development, creating conservation areas, and monitoring wells. She said that the City of Alachua utility, for example, could put in a restriction prohibiting permanent landscape irrigation.

Hofstetter said County staff recommended that the board direct staff to:

• Attend all future City of Alachua meetings and hearings related to projects in the Mill Creek watershed;
• Meet with City of Alachua staff to discuss concerns with existing applications;
• Meet with developer representatives when appropriate;
• Provide updates to the County Commission;
• Evaluate the effectiveness of their Stormwater Code to identify opportunities for improvement;
• Continue assessing properties in the watershed for acquisition;
• Improve collaboration with municipalities to involve staff earlier in project development, including possible formal agreements regarding developments.

Prizzia: Tara Forest West is “going to be a disaster”

Commissioner Anna Prizzia asked Hofstetter how much can be changed in the Tara Forest West project, since they’re already at the final plat stage, and when he said any changes were probably limited to modifications of the stormwater ponds, she said, “That’s crazy, over a cave system. That’s going to be a disaster for all the people involved, including the homeowners who are going to end up buying those homes. So my question is: how do we change that?” Hofstetter said, “I don’t know how much we can do in changing that design at this point.”

County Attorney Sylvia Torres said the City of Alachua’s review is “limited at that point because [they] have already approved the development as… consistent with their Code already.”

Prizzia responded, “They’ve got a development over the largest cave system in our county. Basically, they’re getting ready to build something that’s going to cause sinkholes if they build it as it stands. How did this get all the way through to [final] plat without us having some kind of input into the design? Like, I’m just so confused.”

Hofstetter said the Stormwater Code requires developers to submit an affidavit certifying that they’ve met the stormwater requirements, but that happens after the final plat, so that hasn’t happened yet. Prizzia said they should change their Code to require the affidavits at the preliminary plat stage.

County’s Stormwater Code is concerned with pollutants, not sinkholes

Commissioner Ken Cornell clarified with staff that if the County determines that the development doesn’t meet the Stormwater Code, they could seek an enforcement action. However, Hofstetter said the Code is concerned with reducing pollutants and nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, not sinkholes.

Cornell: “If not to protect this, then what are we protecting?”

Cornell said, “Well, if it’s our responsibility to make sure water quality is maintained and if something [happens, like a sinkhole], I intend to use whatever authority I have to make sure that whoever’s responsible pays for it… The people… here today… elected us to protect the water quality, and the Charter gave us that authority and responsibility… This, to me, is one of the most sensitive places in Alachua County, and if not to protect this, then what are we protecting?”

Cornell asked Hofstetter if the County could make the developer stop because they’re not implementing low-impact development, and Greco said that’s “the ideal world” and as long as the developer meets performance standards on reducing nutrients, the development meets the County’s Code. Cornell said, “We need to adjust our code,” and Prizzia said something similar at the same time. Cornell continued, “We need to have the ability to say, ‘Stop. You can’t go any farther.’… So I’m ready for that to come back to us as soon as possible.” He added that he wasn’t in favor of continuing to allow self-certification, and he favored hiring staff as necessary to certify that developments meet the County’s Code.

Cornell said he wished representatives from the City of Alachua were at the meeting because “I would like them to be sitting on the same side of the table with us, not on opposing sides… I want those that are elected… to protect the water.”

Can the County require a municipality to prohibit permanent irrigation?

Cornell asked if the County can require municipalities to do things like prohibit permanent irrigation, and Greco said, “I mean, these are pretty extreme steps… These are my suggestions… Unfortunately, we don’t have this authority there.”

Chair Mary Alford asked whether the County could challenge a City’s Comprehensive Plan if they thought it wasn’t in the best interests of the County, and Torres said that would typically happen during adoption of a Comprehensive Plan amendment. Torres said it was most likely too late to challenge the City of Alachua’s Comprehensive Plan unless the City doesn’t apply the provisions in its own Comprehensive Plan.

Chestnut: “All we’re asking is for them to be a partner with us and to make things better for the county.”

Commissioner Chuck Chestnut asked, “How did this get by us? We knew about the Walmart [that was previously proposed]. Why didn’t we know about Tara?… Did we just drop the ball on it, just to say that we’ll just leave it up to the City of Alachua and hoping that the City of Alachua would do the right thing?… What else do we need to do to make sure that this does not happen again?… What frustrates me the most out of all of this, is that, you know, everybody don’t think or feel the same way we do, but we would at least think that the protection of our water quality would mean a whole lot to us, and our environment, but that’s not the case to all… It doesn’t appear, to most developers, that that’s not important. It’s about the dollar, it’s about the development, about making money and moving on to their next project… If it’s our goal as a County to protect those qualities, then I want something that’s stern in terms of policies or directions that make sure that those policies aren’t affected in the future… It’s just frustrating to me to go through another relationship with the City of Alachua, and they have done something, and we’re chastising them for it, and all of that stuff, and then it creates those relationships, even with the small municipalities, that we’re the big guy and we’re trying to control everything, but all we’re asking is for them to be a partner with us and to make things better for the county.”

Prizzia said there would be “no correcting this once it goes awry… Because once it’s done, we’re all responsible because it’s all of our drinking water, and we’re all going to be paying the price of it.”

Prizzia: “It always comes back to Tara projects being the projects that we use as examples of what not to do in this community.”

Prizzia continued, “Honestly, the biggest part of this being problematic is the approach the developer’s taking. And this developer always takes this approach. And I try really hard not to attack any individual, but the approach that this developer takes to development, in my opinion, is… totally without any kind of consideration to the environment, to the people that are next door to it, to the people who are going to live in the homes, that are going to buy these things. It’s just not thinking about the overall big picture. It’s about maximizing profit. It’s irresponsible… and it’s so frustrating because again and again and again, it always comes back to Tara projects being the projects that we use as examples of what not to do in this community. And I just wish that this developer would hear us and work with us to come up with better solutions, and instead of having their legacy be destroying our communities and creating problems for us, being someone who could have their legacy be protecting the most important parts of our natural resources and the communities that matter the most because they live here in this community. It just blows my mind. Sorry, I just had to say that.”

Prizzia: “I feel like the City of Alachua and the developers of Tara and their engineers have us over a barrel right now”

Referring to the property for the proposed Tara Phoenicia development, Prizzia said, “Ask them if they want to sell it. I want to buy it. I’m so frustrated – this is bizarre to me. I feel like Alachua County has voted again and again to ask us to protect our natural resources and environment, and I feel like the City of Alachua and the developers of Tara and their engineers have us over a barrel right now, and it’s really disgusting and unfortunate that this is the position that we’re in, and I’m frustrated that somehow we didn’t know better. Because I know we have amazing staff and we have an amazing team who wrote an amazing Code for us and wrote an amazing Comp Plan for us, and put us in a position – and I just am blown away that we’re even in this situation right now, and I’m sorry that I’m ranting, but I’m just very frustrated.”

Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler agreed that the County should try to buy the land: “There’s a lot of property, a large acreage here, it’s not like he’s going to be losing a lot if we can negotiate to get that land, that property. It would certainly be an effort, you know, on his part, to work with us and to show the community that he does care about where he is developing, and that he understands the importance of this to the rest of us… It’s a lot of land that he’s taken right there. It’s a lot of land in all of Alachua County that he’s developed, and I think that in good faith or as a gesture of goodwill, it would be really nice to have him honor our concerns with this.”

Prizzia: “In an ideal world, our Cities in Alachua County would care as much about the quality of our water as we do”

Prizzia said, “In an ideal world, our Cities in Alachua County would care as much about the quality of our water as we do; they have to serve those same citizens. They have to provide for the health and well-being of their residents too…. They should care as much as we do, and I believe that they do. I think that perhaps this… just wasn’t on the radar when these were starting to happen, and now that it is, and now that they realize that they have these assets, I would hope that they too would be asking their staff, ‘How do we fix our Comprehensive Plan and our Code so that we are protecting our water resources for the community?’ I really, really hope that they’re asking the same questions that we’re asking right now and that they’re frustrated that this is happening in their backyard. Because if they aren’t, then we have a bigger problem and we have a bigger conversation to have when we have our next joint meeting, because we need our municipalities to care as much about this as we do.”

Cornell made a seven-part motion to direct staff to:

• Attend all future City of Alachua meetings and hearings related to projects in the Mill Creek watershed, meet with City of Alachua staff to discuss concerns with existing applications, meet with developer representatives when appropriate, and provide updates to the County Commission;
• Bring back recommendations to strengthen the Stormwater Code immediately;
• Bring back recommendations to eliminate the current self-certification process in the Stormwater Code;
• Bring back recommendations to avoid being in this situation again, possibly including formal Interlocal Agreements to improve collaboration with both the state and municipalities;
• Authorize a Chair letter to the City of Alachua to discuss holding off on any approvals for Tara April and Tara Phoenicia or anything in the Mill Creek watershed;
• Ask the developer if they’re willing to sell the Tara Phoenicia property to the County;
• Bring back potential requirements for the Comprehensive Plan and Code to require low-impact “prevention and avoidance” measures in development.

County Manager Michele Lieberman asked that the language in the last one be changed to “review and bring back options” instead of “require.”

Public comment

During public comment, Kali Blount said, “Let me tell you about karst. They’re building a sinkhole city!” and recommended that the Water Management District should place some monitoring wells. Jay Rosenbeck, chair of the Alachua County Environmental Protection Advisory Committee, said the committee supports low-impact development to “eliminate or minimize threats to critical Alachua County natural resources.” He said the committee voted unanimously to express “the strongest possible support” for efforts to minimize damage if the City of Alachua approves the Tara Forest West development. He continued, “EPAC considers the potential consequences of degradation of these resources by this development unacceptable, therefore we endorse the use of all possible data-based legal and political tools and arguments to protect these invaluable resources.”

Sarah Younger, Chair of the Sierra Club Conservation Committee, urged the County Commission to research what can be done and “take action as far as you can. I know the City of Alachua will not necessarily be as cooperative as you might think, right away, but I think in time, they’ll come to see the reasonableness of this because it is a reasonable sentiment.”

Dennis Price, a geologist, said, “I would stay off that slope. To me, that’s a very sensitive part of this whole thing.” He also suggested questioning the Water Management District about the water use permit.

Joanne Tremblay, president of Our Santa Fe River, said the development would impact “the way the water flows, and there can only be disaster because whatever we design is always less perfect than what Mother Nature has in store.”

A woman who lives north of the proposed projects said she was concerned about the springs and the wildlife and added, “The amount of density that is being proposed is more than I think that our neighborhood and our subdivision can handle.”

High Springs Mayor Katherine Weitz thanked the board for gathering information on the projects. She mentioned a planned “nine-hole executive golf course” planned “across the way… I’m having a hard time with that one. My understanding is the state of Florida requires any new golf course development to irrigate with reused water. Do we think it is an environmentally responsible approach to be introducing reused water directly adjacent to wetlands that are there actively right now?” She said a number of sinkholes have opened in High Springs although “ground penetrating radar didn’t predict that would happen… We have no opportunity to get this right a second time. We have to get on top of it before it impacts our drinking water.”

Another resident of a neighboring subdivision said the plans were “pretty far down the road” before neighbors received notice of proposed density changes. He added that once a sinkhole develops on a property, “you’ve just totally eliminated any asset that homeowner has; he can’t sell his property – nobody’s going to insure it.”

David Moritz quoted a speaker he’d heard at a conference: “There are some places in Florida we just shouldn’t be developing” and added, “and I think around Mill Creek Sink is one of them.”

George Papadi, who is also on EPAC, said he is concerned about particulates like tire wear particles and the chemicals that leach from them; he added that he didn’t believe standard filtration techniques would be adequate to prevent them and added, “The sheer quantity of tire particles is such that the Pew Research Foundation came out with a research project report recently that asserts that about 78% of plastics in the ocean are a result of tire wear particles.”

Fred Stratton, chair of the National Speleological Society’s Cave Diving Section, said Florida is an epicenter of cave diver training. He asked the board to consider the “economic impact of coming to see dirty, nasty, polluted water – or the opposite, what you’re all striving for… clean, beautiful, clear water that’s worth playing in and drinking from.”

The Conservation Chair of the National Speleological Society Cave Diving Section said the society creates cave maps to inform better management decisions and he hoped the County would take the maps seriously.

Jacob Fletcher, president of the Florida Speleological Society, said the “teeth” would be in legislative policy and particularly treating karst areas differently. He said the City of Alachua is planning on building up the area around the I-75 exit, “which is right in the middle of where you guys have deemed as karst sensitive.”

A woman said “the Tara developer guy” is “everywhere… How can you hold him to impeccability, to integrity, because if this Tara guy just takes over Alachua County, there’s not going to be anything left but just rename it Tara, you know?”

A High Springs resident said, “We’re going to have to become adversarial because the City of Alachua is not necessarily looking to collaborate.” He encouraged the County to “take whatever measures are necessary to challenge the developments within the Mill Creek watershed.”

More pieces added to the motion

When the discussion came back to the board, Prizzia asked to add the following to the motion:

• Allow staff to seek any professional guidance they need;
• Look at any proposed City of Alachua Comprehensive Plan amendments to make sure the City is providing data and analysis to support the changes.

Cornell suggested asking the City to not allow the proposed Community Commercial land use in the Mill Creek basin: “We don’t have any objection against the density, but we are asking that you amend your Comp Plan amendment to say ‘except in the Mill Creek,’ right?”

Prizzia asked about the proposed golf course, and Hofstetter said he believes a golf course is allowed “by right” in the City of Alachua, so the developer doesn’t need City Commission approval to build one.

Cornell added five more parts to his motion and numbered them 10 through 14; it was unclear what parts 8 and 9 were, and the entire motion was not repeated before the vote:

• Direct staff to obtain the necessary experts to determine if the stormwater plan will work;
• Ask staff to review the Community Commercial Comp Plan amendments and the Tomoka Hills Comp Plan amendment (mentioned by a member of the public) to engage about excluding sensitive karst areas and specifically the Mill Creek area from the amendments;
• Send a Chair letter to the Water Management District, expressing their concerns;
• Ask staff to review the Comp Plans for the municipalities around the county, identify where there might be some conflicts with sensitive environmental areas, and try to be proactive in a discussion with those cities about those areas;
• Ask staff to move money from reserves to legal resources to fund a potential challenge to the development.

Lieberman said they would also need additional funds to hire consultants as specified in the motion, and Cornell said he expected budget amendments would be needed in the future to implement the motion.

The motion passed unanimously.

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