Alachua County Commission hears from High Springs residents unhappy with City’s ordinance on Sunday alcohol sales

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At their March 11 meeting, the Alachua County Commission passed a land use ordinance for small-scale alcoholic beverage production facilities and heard from business owners in High Springs who hoped the ordinance could help them “bypass” High Springs’ ordinance limiting alcohol sales on Sundays.

Ordinance specifies where breweries can be located in the unincorporated county

The proposed land use ordinance allows for tasting rooms or tap rooms in light industrial zoning districts and as an accessory use in agricultural zones where there is an existing agritourism operation; the ordinance also allows restaurants and bars to produce alcoholic beverages for on-site consumption. The ordinance only applies to parcels in the unincorporated county.

During public comment on the ordinance, Julie Smith, owner of the High Springs What’s Happening Facebook group, said the High Springs Brewery is not allowed to be open on Sundays because it does not meet High Springs’ threshold of 51% revenue from food; she said that affects other nearby businesses because “it becomes a one-day weekend.”

Smith said the High Springs City Commissioners “are referring to their personal and emotional religious beliefs, not for what’s in the best interest of High Springs as a whole… You can go paddle boarding on Sunday morning, but you can’t stay and have a beer. You can’t go to Prohibition [Pizza], walk across the street and enjoy a beer, but you can go to the Great Outdoors, have seven shots of tequila, and not order food… because they offer food.”

Smith said that because the County ordinance doesn’t mention food, “That will be a loophole for them” to justify keeping their ordinance. She asked them to add a clause stating that selling food on site is not required and to send a letter to all the municipalities “to basically mirror what you guys are doing, to bring us into the… next era of breweries.” She added a request to “give them legal and staff assistance because we all know the municipalities are not financially stable” and to bring up the topic at joint City/County meetings. She said the County is “spending over $100,000 to promote the High Springs Brewery [as part of the Sippin’ Seven]… and they’re not even allowed to be open.”

Our article about the last time this was discussed by the High Springs City Commission can be found here. 

Kimra Wickline, who said she represented the Great Outdoors and Pink Flamingo restaurants, said the restrictions on alcohol sales affect the restaurants’ revenue because people leave town after going to the springs “because they cannot order a beer or mimosa, something to go with the food that they are ordering… Had we had the opportunity to sell alcohol in those hours, we could increase the job opportunities, not only at my businesses but at other local businesses, because they could extend their hours.”

Later in the meeting, Wickline explained that 51% of Pink Flamingo’s sales come from food and 49% come from alcohol, and under the High Springs ordinance, they open at 10 a.m. on Sunday but are not allowed to sell alcohol until 1 p.m., and they have to stop serving alcohol at 9 p.m. During public comment, she said, “Right now, we are seeing our biggest influx in sales from 1:00 to 2:00 on Sundays; it could be extended from 10, and then other businesses in town could open earlier. They would need to staff extra people, and that’s where we would see the increase in revenue for our local businesses. By having the brewery open, they could then staff extra people, and that could create job opportunities within our local community.”

Kelly Potter, the owner of Prohibition Pizza, asked whether the proposed ordinance would “address facilities that are limited by” High Springs’ rule requiring that 51% of revenue come from the sale of food and non-alcoholic beverages. She also wondered whether the ordinance would allow breweries to “self-distribute.” She said she can buy wine from a vineyard to sell in her restaurant, but “I cannot sell High Springs Brewery beer in my restaurant; it’s illegal to do so at this time.”

Commissioner Ken Cornell asked why the brewery can’t be open on Sunday, and Potter said, “It has been blocked due to religious reasons. It has been on the agenda for five years. Multiple times, it’s been kicked down the street. Finally, we had a new Commissioner get in. He asked for it to be put on the ballot, let the people speak, but nobody seconded it.” She clarified that she was referring to now-Mayor Tristan Grunder. 

Smith came back to the microphone and said, “During that meeting,… one of the Commissioners said, ‘I’m going to take off my Commissioner’s hat and put my preacher’s hat on.’ And he literally took off his Commission hat, put the preacher’s hat on, and so he overwhelmed it with the church… So this is based on, you know, the Prohibition era… They literally have blocked us every time… They don’t want to piss off their constituents, but they don’t understand that these businesses, they hire locals; they are their constituents.”

Cornell: “I don’t think [High Springs’ ordinance] relates to what we’re doing, as far as this hearing, but it’s definitely to be discussed at the joint meeting.”

Cornell said he heard their concerns, but “unfortunately, we’re not the City Commission, but we can certainly put whatever pressure this Commission wants us to put on. I mean, I’m for economic development and ecotourism, and I want to be spending money in a place that wants the money… I don’t think it relates to what we’re doing, as far as this hearing, but it’s definitely to be discussed at the joint meeting.”

Cornell: “In the municipality, it’s the municipality’s rules.”

Potter said the ordinance “can create an opportunity so that [the High Springs ordinance] can be bypassed,” but Cornell said, “Well, in the unincorporated area, but in the municipality, it’s the municipality’s rules.” Potter said, “It can help us,” and Smith said, “We’re here for precedent, for help.”

In response to a question from Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler, Wickline said the brewery is not allowed to be open at all because they do not serve food. She added, “Right now, our concern is that the brewery is mentioned in multiple ads throughout Alachua County.” Smith added, “The clarity on this [ordinance] is allowing the breweries not to have to sell food to be open.”

Visit Gainesville, Alachua County has a website with “Sippin’ Seven” in the URL, but it is now titled “Ale Trail” and promotes eight local breweries.

Motion

Commissioner Anna Prizzia made a motion to approve the ordinance and then said the ordinance does not do anything requested by the High Springs businesses, but at a previous joint meeting between the County Commission and the High Springs City Commission, “something was brought up around the breweries, and I basically just said that I understood people’s religious beliefs, and they have the right to stand up for their religious beliefs, but I felt like we needed to support local businesses to be able to open and operate,… but this is not our issue right now. This is the City of High Springs’ issue.” She said they would put it on the agenda for the joint City/County meeting. 

Cornell: “Look, we’re spending tourist development money to promote business in High Springs. We want to continue to do that.”

Cornell said, “I think the hook here is – do we want to talk to them about, look, we’re spending tourist development money to promote business in High Springs. We want to continue to do that. Many of us drink alcohol… If they have a philosophical disagreement or they don’t want to promote those businesses, then we have to decide: should we advertise those businesses and help promote them? I think we should, but I think we should ask them to reconsider their stance.” 

Responding to the request from Potter to make it legal for breweries to distribute their own products, Prizzia said that’s a state law, so the County can’t change it. 

Principal Planner for Development Services Chris Dawson said again that the ordinance only affects the unincorporated area of the county: “This is part of our land development regulations… This just allows businesses that produce alcohol under the quantities that are identified in the code to locate within those jurisdictions and have those kinds of accessory uses.”

Chestnut: “We’re only dealing with the unincorporated area… That’s why it’s not an issue.”

Chair Chuck Chestnut added, “Each municipality in Alachua County has what they call Home Rule authority [that] gives them the right to make their own ordinances, and we can’t supersede those ordinances… We don’t want to, either… We’re only dealing with the unincorporated area… That’s why it’s not an issue.”

Wheeler: “These folks are the new leadership in High Springs that are trying to build the economy of that community, and I wanted to encourage them to engage”

Prizzia said the joint meeting between the County Commission and the High Springs City Commission will be at 6:30 p.m. on June 5, and Wheeler invited the business owners to the Tourist Development Committee meeting at 1:30 on March 12. Wheeler thanked the Commissioners for their “patience with this; these folks are the new leadership in High Springs that are trying to build the economy of that community, and I wanted to encourage them to engage so that we know who you are and you know who we are and we can understand what it is that you’re trying to do.”

Vote

Prizzia’s motion to approve the ordinance passed unanimously.

Hawthorne gymnasium grant approved

In other business, the board approved a Wild Spaces Public Places surtax grant of $333,333 to the City of Hawthorne to design and build a gymnasium. The gymnasium, which is projected to cost $3.75 million and be completed in the summer of 2026, will be located on State Road 20 in the Hawthorne Recreation Park.