Alachua County Commission approves Green Procurement Policy, decides against joining SB 180 lawsuit, hears from public about Wildflowers Music Festival

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the September 23 meeting, the Alachua County Commission adopted a Green Procurement Policy, decided to use a grant application process to select a developer for the Legacy project, decided against joining the lawsuit challenging SB 180, and discussed whether to develop a Special Area Plan for Melrose.

$85.5 million bond to fund capital projects

After hearing a report on recommended changes to the Court Services Department, the board approved a Public Improvement Revenue Bond for $85.5 million to fund the Civil Courthouse Complex project and other capital improvement projects. 

Green Procurement Policy

As soon as the Green Procurement Policy item was announced by the Clerk, Commissioner Ken Cornell made a motion to approve it, but Commissioner Anna Prizzia said she wanted to hear staff’s presentation on the policy, so Cornell withdrew his motion.

Environmental Protection Director Steve Hofstetter said the purpose of the policy is to “affirm Alachua County’s commitment to sustainability, fiscal efficiency, and waste prevention by integrating environmental and social responsibility into procurement and operational practices. This policy supports the County’s Zero Waste goals and ensures that purchasing decisions minimize negative impacts on society and the environment to the greatest extent practicable.”

The policy applies to all County departments, employees, contractors, and vendors engaged in procurement, operations, and service delivery.

The policy, which is not to be “construed as requiring the purchase of products that do not perform adequately or are not available at a reasonable price,” requires the County to develop a list of “environmentally and socially preferable products” and use the list in procurement decisions. 

The County will also form a seven-member ad hoc Zero Waste Committee, led by a representative of the Resiliency Office. The committee will oversee training, review requests regarding specific procurement decisions, provide recommendations for best practices, generate an annual report, and communicate updates to impacted departments.

The policy prioritizes purchasing office supplies and furniture made from recycled materials, using Life Cycle Analysis to purchase more durable goods instead of the lowest-cost goods, leasing or renting equipment instead of purchasing, using vendors who will take back obsolete or used products when they are replaced, emphasizing reduced packing material or requiring vendors to assume responsibility for those materials, buying goods in bulk when practical, checking manufacturing standards to make sure they align with the County’s sustainability standards, buying remanufactured or refurbished products, purchasing goods with fewer toxic constituents, and reducing paper use.

Hofstetter said staff will also bring forward a policy that can be added to the County’s Comprehensive Plan. 

Prizzia reminded Hofstetter that the County previously adopted GFPP (the Center for Good Food Purchasing) and asked that the GFPP certification be added to the policy. She also wanted a note added under the Waste Reduction and Circular Economy section about purchasing from locally-owned businesses and locally-produced products, when available. Third, she asked staff to highlight how these policies are implemented at public-facing events.

Prizzia made a motion to approve the policy with her proposed changes, and Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler seconded the motion. The motion passed 4-0, with Commissioner Mary Alford absent.

Legacy Community workforce housing development

Following up on a vote from the June 24 meeting to start over on selecting a developer for the Legacy Community workforce housing development, Housing Director Ralston Reodica said staff recommended moving forward with a grant application. Reodica said the refined Scope of Work for the project is to build at least 30 single-family detached homes, mainly market-rate housing but including some workforce housing aimed at families making 50% to 220% AMI (Area Median Income).

Reodica said staff’s recommendation is to use a grant application process to offer the land plus potential funding for the workforce housing component and consider allowing options that include mixed housing types such as attached single-family homes or duplexes and triplexes. 

Prizzia made a motion to adopt staff’s recommendation and move forward with the grant application process, including allowing options with mixed housing types. Cornell seconded the motion.

Cornell said the community had expressed a strong preference for single-family homes, and when the grants come back, he will be looking for “really beautiful duplexes, townhomes, triplexes that kind of also look like single-family residences and are designed appropriately,” but he understood that the property is only 13 acres, “so we understand that we have to be kind of flexible.”

Prizzia agreed and said there could be “some small areas of commercial development that could be supporting locally-owned businesses, with maybe some apartments upstairs for live-and-work-type situations, or some duplexes or small cottage-type houses that are closer to the center of the neighborhood and then expanding out into larger single-family.” She said that along with the small size of the property, another problem is that single-family developers “are not the kind of people who do multi-family housing,… unless you have a really big developer, and really big developers aren’t going to be interested in a small project like this.” She said she would support partnership projects, with multiple developers working together. 

During public comment, Carrie Parker Warren said she had “faith in the process,” but she and her neighbors are concerned “about the triplexes and the attached single-member homes… because this is the first time we’ve heard that, and I’m not sure that the community… asked for [that].” She asked County representatives to come to one of their neighborhood meetings and explain where that idea came from and how they’re going to do that.

Cornell said the recommendation “is just giving options.” Prizzia said the developer would be required to do community engagement, “and the community would have to understand and agree that they made sense in the context of the community and that they still fit the community’s character.”

Reodica said, “The focus is still on single-family detached homes, and in the city of Gainesville, single-family is still considered, you know, duplex. So we’re not proposing multi-family at all. This is strictly single-family detached homes.”

The motion passed 4-0, with Alford absent.

Lawsuit challenging SB 180

Cornell had previously removed from the consent agenda an agreement to join a lawsuit challenging SB 180, and when the item came up in the agenda, he said there was discussion about the issue at the previous week’s Florida Association of Counties (FAC) meeting, and County Attorneys from multiple counties have been talking with the bill’s sponsor about two paragraphs “that are causing all the heartburn across the state.” The Attorneys said the bill’s sponsor stated that “the intent of those two paragraphs was to allow for folks to rebuild in the event of property damage, and the intent was never to stop any local control over additional development.” Cornell said his FAC committee supported asking the legislature to pass a “glitch bill,” fixing the language, “and the bill sponsor seems really receptive to fixing those two paragraphs.”

Cornell said two counties have joined the lawsuit against SB 180: “Sometimes it’s really good to be the first in there, but it probably makes sense for us to just pause and see where we are in a month or two. We can always join the lawsuit.” He made a motion to defer joining the lawsuit and consider it again after the bill sponsor’s intention for the upcoming session is clear.

Prizzia asked whether joining the lawsuit prevented them from asking for a glitch bill, and Cornell said it didn’t, but “I want to give them a chance to fix it.” Prizzia said, “Maybe a little pressure helps them fix it.” Cornell said he would vote against any motion to join the lawsuit, and Prizzia said she was “happy to defer it.”

Prizzia seconded the motion, and it passed 4-0, with Alford absent.

Temporary user permits

During a discussion about temporary user permits, Principal Planner for Development Services Chris Dawson discussed the tiers for special use permits:

Events that require special use permits may also require special events permits from Fire Rescue, with levels depending on the maximum number of attendees.

A number of people had spoken earlier at General Public Comment about the proposed Wildflowers Music Festival near Melrose, with some supporting it and some opposing it. Two more people spoke about the festival during the item about temporary user permits, and both of them opposed it.

The presentation was informational, so no motion was made, and no vote was taken.

Special Area Plan for Melrose

The board moved on to a discussion of a Special Area Plan for Melrose, and Director of Growth Management Jeff Hays said the Special Area Plan process would take about two years and arose from the need for intergovernmental coordination among the four counties that have land in the Melrose area, economic development needs, transportation challenges, public safety, healthcare needs, lack of post-secondary educational opportunities, and the music park. Existing Special Area Plans include Cross Creek and Idylwild.

Hays said the County would need to hire a consultant for about $200,000 because staff is already at capacity with other projects. 

Prizzia said she thought the Special Area Plan was unnecessary, given other efforts by County staff in the eastern part of the county, including the Forward Focus effort; she said the music park would need to go through a special exception or temporary use process, “so they’re going to have to get approval for that, anyway.”

Cornell said it made sense to him to develop a Special Area Plan because of the four counties involved in governing the area. He said he thought the process would help the music park “get the community’s buy-in, and so I feel like this actually helps with all of the processes from all of the stakeholders that are in Melrose.”

Cornell said he considered it like a Comprehensive Plan for Melrose, which doesn’t have one, unlike cities like Hawthorne and Waldo. 

Chair Charles Chestnut IV said he could see the value of a Special Area Plan to protect farmland but warned that if the music park gets a permit during the process, “they’ll be grandfathered in.”

Prizzia said that, for her, it’s not about Wildflowers Music Park but instead “a bigger conversation about our Comprehensive Plan.” She said she didn’t think Melrose needs a Comprehensive Plan because they’re under the County’s Plan, “the best Comprehensive Plan in the state.” She favored continuing the Forward Focus process to “see what comes out of it.” She said the music park will need to go through a permit process that will come before the County Commission, “so people will get the opportunity… to weigh in.”

Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler asked how big the area would be, and Cornell said it would include “the rural cluster and the farmland, up to and including the Wildflowers Park.”

Chestnut pointed out that the $200,000 for the consultant is not in the budget, and Cornell said it would need to come from reserves. Prizzia didn’t support “digging into reserves” because she didn’t think it was necessary at that moment.

Public comment

Although the board did not take a vote on the agenda item, Chestnut let the public speak about the Melrose area.

Guy Forchion, the president of Wildflowers Music Park, said they “look for that opportunity to work with everyone here on how we make this a great public space for surrounding communities and all of Alachua.”

A woman supported the Special Area Plan, and Mark Goldstein said it doesn’t need to cost $200,000 because staff can bring back regulations that make it more difficult to have large events on agricultural land. Julie Smith said there needs to be “a balance between events and ecotourism… There is opportunity if there’s compromise.” She pointed out that live performances bring people to an area and help small businesses.

Robert “Hutch” Hutchinson said he got involved with the music park “because it was at the perfect intersection of protecting land, building community, and music.” He said the County’s processes are “very thorough, to the point where I don’t know how anybody gets through them.” He said the organization will be applying for a temporary use permit, starting next month, and “when the first festival is done, we’ll see how it goes. Then we’ll be doing special event permits through the Fire Department.”

Summer Crider was in favor of Wildflowers Music Park: “We need more places like Wildflowers Music Park, spaces where neighbors can gather, enjoy nature, and celebrate community in meaningful ways.” 

Andy Kane, a UF professor and member of the Wildflowers Music Park board, also spoke in favor of the music park, “where we are creating space that celebrates the arts and entertainment from an environmental and public health standpoint.”

A man who lives “directly across the street” from the music park property said he was “deeply enthused by this, very hopeful that it will provide a substantial building block for increasing social capital and creating economic development in our community.” Another man also said he supported the music park. A man who said he regularly attends contra dance festivals also supported the music park.

Eric Amundson said the Alachua Audubon Society supports the music park. Linda Camp said she supported the music park because businesses are closing in Melrose, and “we are at a crossroads for Melrose to be sustainable; we need to bring people and more music and art.”

Steve Rogat said he supports the music park because of his experience with a music festival developed by the same people in North Carolina. Another man also said the music park would be “a real benefit to the Melrose area.” Marcia Rogat said the music park offers the possibilities of “connection with nature, connection with resources and talents in our community that we haven’t even met yet… Wildflowers offers an opportunity for cooperation, for actually coming together… We can do this, and I feel like Wildflowers is a beautiful step to lead us in that direction.”

Catherine Booth, the Communications and Community Engagement Lead for Wildflowers Music Park, said she has met with over 200 Melrose residents in the past six months, and she thinks about 80% are in favor of the music park. She said, “I couldn’t be more excited to help bring this vision to Alachua County, where we can combine all four counties and the heart of Melrose and really turn what is already an arts and music community to even more so.”