2,750-home Everlee Farmstead Community clears first hurdle

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the August 25 Alachua County Commission meeting, the board approved the first step for the 2,750-home Everlee Farmstead Community development and asked the regional Water Districts to increase water use restrictions.

Click here for our article on the discussion at the same meeting about a conflict between County priorities for outreach to the homeless and Trump administration policies.

Request for an increase in water use restrictions

In response to a motion made by Commissioner Anna Prizzia at the August 11 meeting to direct staff to look at setting capacity limits for Poe Springs Park and bring back recommendations, a Chair Letter to the regional Water Management Districts was placed on the consent agenda of the August 25 meeting. 

During Commission Comment at the August 11 meeting, Prizzia referred to the closure of Poe Springs Park and the need to “be thinking about what that spring might need for recovery, once it bounces back, and ongoing, what it needs to protect that natural resource.”

The staff summary for the Chair Letter noted, “Flow is greatly reduced at Poe Springs County Park, and the swim area has been closed to the public since July 16, 2026, due to safety concerns. To restore conditions and flow to Poe Springs, the Santa Fe River, and the aquifer, groundwater pumping must be decreased.”

The letter asks the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Suwannee and St. Johns Water Districts to update the current water shortage orders “to include a mandatory 20% reduction of all consumptive use permits. While this would potentially have an economic impact on permitholders, it would be equitable across all sectors. Currently there are disproportionate impacts to certain sectors (landscaping installers, nurseries, and pressure washing industries) associated with the water shortage orders and low water conditions (ecotourism and recreation).”

The letter continued, “Water shortage orders should also extend irrigation restrictions to micro-irrigation, prohibit establishment irrigation for annuals and other non-essential landscape installations, and should put a temporary moratorium on new landscape irrigation wells when potable or reclaimed water is available. Finally, Water Shortage Orders should also require public supply permit holders to evaluate Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) data, if available, and send notices or impose fines on users who violate water shortage restrictions.”

The letter was approved unanimously as part of the consent agenda.

Everlee Farmstead development

During the evening session, Commissioners approved the transmittal of a Comprehensive Plan Amendment to create the Everlee Farmstead Community on 996 acres, east of Parker Road. The Everlee development would allow up to 2,500 market-rate residential units, 250 affordable residential units, and up to 200,000 square feet of non-residential development. It will have a working farm on a minimum of 20 acres and at least 400 acres of farmstead area (with a density level of one dwelling unit per three acres).

Alachua County previously conducted the Hickory Sink Special Area Study (SAS) in 2023, including a golf development, conservation areas and areas for future development, and the protection of environmental resources on the property. 

The properties included in the SAS are now owned by three separate entities: 

• 580 acres east of Parker Road is owned by the UF Foundation, and the County Commission approved a land use change for a UF golf course on that property in May;
• Land west of Parker Road, owned by IFAS;
• Land south of the golf course property, owned by the Lee Family.

The property designated for the Everlee development is south of Oakmont and west of Haile Plantation.

The conditions for approval include:

• Clustering development near the Urban Cluster, including extending water and sewer services to the development;
• Providing transportation connections, connectivity to surrounding developments, and design that supports non-automotive modes of transportation in the core areas of the development;
• Providing affordable housing;
• Use of low-water-use landscaping and stricter requirements on irrigation than other properties in the county;
• Acquisition of 5,000 acres of conservation land or a payment of a fee that would allow the County to acquire those development rights; and
• Only 50% of the units can be built before SR24 is four-laned to Parker Road.

GRU, Alachua County Fire Rescue, and Alachua County Public Schools all indicated that they have the capacity to accommodate the new residences. The Alachua County Planning Commission supported the development but had a concern about traffic.

Staff recommended transmitting the application to Florida Commerce with the conditions proposed by staff. 

Development has stricter irrigation and fertilizer regulations than the current code

Commissioner Mary Alford said she would “love to see no permanent irrigation to any residential lots, and use soil amendments instead,” and Water Resources Program Manager Stacie Greco said fertilizers will be prohibited on any non-agricultural properties, so soil amendments will be done before landscaping is installed.

Chair Ken Cornell asked whether the enhanced irrigation and fertilizer regulations have ever been required by the County: “Because this, to me, is like we are setting a whole new bar… This is a great new standard that we are setting here.” Greco said the regulations are “new and above and beyond our current code.”

Motion

Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler made a motion to transmit the application with the staff-recommended policies to the state for review and comment, and both Alford and Commissioner Charles Chestnut seconded the motion.

Prizzia asked Wheeler to add another part to her motion, requiring that the applicant and staff work on language that will require “protection of the long-term management of the farm” to be incorporated in the Planned Development stage; Wheeler and the seconders agreed.

The motion passed unanimously.