Alachua County Commission adopts inclusionary housing amendments, approves Eastwood Preserve development

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the December 9 meeting, the Alachua County Commission adopted inclusionary housing amendments, asked staff to explore funding sources for the High Springs to Newberry rail trail, repealed previously-adopted standards for farmworker housing, adopted regulations for poultry on single-family parcels, approved the preliminary development plan for Eastwood Preserve, and heard an update on a potential closure date for the Florence landfill.

ULDC amendments for inclusionary housing

The board adopted amendments to the Unified Land Development Code (ULDC) that allow developers to substitute affordable residential units for approved non-residential square footage. Units that are priced for households making 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI) can be swapped at one unit per 500 square feet, and units priced for 80% AMI can be swapped at one unit per 1,000 square feet. The amendments also allow a density bonus of four units per acre as long as 10% of the units are affordable at 80% AMI.

The affordability requirements last for 30 years, but Commissioner Anna Prizzia wanted the ability to make them permanent, so she made a motion to approve the ordinance amending the ULDC and ask staff to bring back recommendations on whether the County can make the affordability requirement permanent. Commissioner Mary Alford seconded the motion, and the motion passed unanimously.

High Springs to Newberry rail trail

During Commission Comment in the afternoon session, Prizzia made a motion to ask staff to explore potential funding sources for a local match for the High Springs to Newberry rail trail acquisition, including looking at whether Tourism Development Tax funds can be used, and bring that back to a future policy meeting. 

Prizzia said, “The idea is, the State would own it. They would ask us to manage it, and they would take on the liability, but they would do the mitigation and clean-up,… and they would be looking for [a local] match on the purchase price.”

Chair Ken Cornell said he was “fully behind” it, as long as it was considered in the context of funds that have already been allocated to parks and recreation projects. He said that if the Tourism Development Tax is to be used, he would want to know how far the debt has been paid down on the Sports and Events Center. 

Prizzia’s motion passed unanimously.

Farmworker housing, certified recovery residences, and poultry on single-family parcels

During the evening session, the board passed additional ULDC amendments to bring the code into alignment with changes to Florida Statutes: the new Statutes require the County to repeal its farmworker housing standards (click here for our article on that ordinance) and adopt a review and approval process for certified recovery residences.

Prizzia said she was “really sad that we have to do this for the farmworker housing, and I really appreciate all the work that our staff did to build something that was meaningful, prior to this preemption.”

Cornell said they can “keep it in the file, ready to pull it out… if that ever changes, right?”

The motion to adopt the amendments passed unanimously.

The board also unanimously adopted ULDC amendments to regulate poultry on single-family parcels of less than five acres (click here for our article on those regulations).

Eastwood Preserve

The final agenda item was the proposed preliminary development plan for Eastwood Preserve, a 149-unit single-family subdivision at the northwest intersection of SE Hawthorne Road and Lakeshore Drive on about 81 acres. 

The preliminary development plan includes a 200-foot greenway along the east side of the property, almost 40% of the site will be designated as conservation lands, and almost 50% of the existing tree canopy will be preserved. The developer pledged that the homeowners’ association rules will implement strict fertilizer and irrigation standards, Florida-friendly landscaping, and “dark sky” standards for lighting. 

Prizzia thanked the developer for the “effort made here to protect the trees and to even take a step further in terms of design, to protect those extra wetlands, and things like that. So I just really appreciate all the hard work.”

Alford agreed that it was “a real accomplishment” to incorporate “dark sky” standards into an entire neighborhood, “and I think this is really a flagship example for our county as to what development can be.”

Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler said the development is a “model… that could be shared… throughout the state, because this is exciting.”

Cornell said, “We had a lot of asks, and you guys delivered on the trees, on the ‘dark sky,’ on the Florida-friendly, on the [conservation area].” He said any developer hoping to build in Alachua County should watch the meeting “because, from my perspective, this is how it’s supposed to work… This is the first development east of Main Street in… four decades? Five decades? — and they’re coming out of the gate, setting a new standard for Alachua County.”

The preliminary development plan was approved unanimously. 

Florence landfill

After a citizen asked about the status of the Florence landfill during general public comment, County Attorney Sylvia Torres said the County has calculated the expiration date of the landfill’s Special Use Permit as August 11, 2027: “They will have to close on that date if they don’t get an extension from [the County Commission].” She said the State’s permit will expire on February 9, 2026, but Florence has already applied for an extension. She also said that the owners do not agree with the 2027 date for closure: “We’ve gotten many different dates from them, but certainly nothing as soon as our August 2027 date.”

Prizzia made a motion to ask the County’s Environmental Protection Department to reach out to the State and share any relevant data about the air monitoring at the site, and Alford seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.