Alachua County Commission hears update on Mill Creek projects in city of Alachua

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At their December 10 meeting, the Alachua County Commission heard an update on the Mill Creek developments in the city of Alachua.

Alachua County Environmental Protection Director Steve Hofstetter went through the board’s 14-point motion from their October 1 Special Meeting, beginning with a description of the Mill Creek Sink watershed: “the area of land that drains into Mill Creek; Mill Creek then flows southward into the Mill Creek Sink and cave system. That cave system’s located just to the northeast of 441 and I-75 in the city of Alachua.”

The first item had several sub-parts:

1a. 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.

Hofstetter said the County has been receiving notifications about workshops, public workshops, neighborhood workshops, and hearings from the City, “so that collaboration has really improved. We are getting direct letters, copies of these workshop notifications, both the Growth Management staff and [Environmental Protection Department] staff. So that’s been a significant improvement.”

Hofstetter said the City of Alachua is also providing updates on all applications for projects within the city, not just within the Mill Creek project area. County staff members are also attending City hearings or City Commission meetings in which a Mill Creek project might be discussed.

Hofstetter said the Alachua City Commission was scheduled to discuss a modification to the final development plat of Tara Baywood Phase 2 at their December 9 meeting, but that project was deferred to the January 13 meeting.

1b. Meet with City of Alachua staff to discuss concerns with existing applications.

Hofstetter said County staff members met with City of Alachua staff in October, with a follow-up in November. Also, the County recently received a copy of a letter sent by the Alachua City Attorney in response to a letter received from the applicant, expressing the same concerns the County has on those projects; the letter asked for additional information from the developer, Hofstetter said, “so there is a strong synergy taking place, and I think that’s really positive for us to see.”

1c. Meet with developer representatives when appropriate.

Hofstetter said County staff members have spoken with representatives of the developer and have also met with representatives from the Tomoka Hills project, which includes a golf course. 

1d. Provide updates to the County Commission.

Hofstetter said, “Well, that’s what we’re doing here today.”

2. Bring back recommendations to strengthen the Stormwater Code immediately.

Hofstetter said staff is starting that process now and will come back in the spring with some initial recommendations. He said, “It’s going to take a comprehensive approach to address these issues, so it’s not something I think we can do overnight.”

3. Bring back recommendations to eliminate the current self-certification process in the Stormwater Code.

Hofstetter said this will also come back in the spring.

4. Bring back recommendations to avoid being in this situation again, possibly including formal Interlocal Agreements to improve collaboration with both the state and municipalities.

Hofstetter said staff will look at a formal Interlocal Agreement process and other options to improve collaboration with municipalities, as well as the state and the applicants, and that will also come back in the spring.

5. 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.

A Chair letter was sent to the City on October 15, and the County has received responses from the applicant (as a letter to the City) and the City’s response to the applicant’s letter.

6. Ask the developer if they’re willing to sell the Tara Phoenicia property to the County.

Hofstetter said staff has not yet reached out to the property owner, “mainly because we’ve been working through these other issues,” but he said the property owner “is well aware of our interest in purchasing these properties, and since this is a ‘willing seller’ program, we’re hoping to hear from the property owner if they’re interested in selling.”

7. Bring back potential requirements for the Comprehensive Plan and Code to require low-impact “prevention and avoidance” measures in development. 

Hofstetter said staff will work on this in 2025 “as part of our EAR, evaluation appraisal process, possibly looking at some alternative language for what we identify as sensitive areas.”

8. Allow staff to obtain the necessary experts to determine if the Tara West stormwater plan will function as claimed.

Hofstetter says they have been developing a list of consultants and experts that can help, if necessary.

9. Ask staff to review the City of Alachua’s proposed Community Commercial Comp Plan amendments and the Tomoka Hills Comp Plan amendment to engage about excluding sensitive karst areas and specifically the Mill Creek area from the amendments.

Hofstetter said the “language is a little bit odd,” but County staff brought concerns about the commercial zoning language to City staff. He said both staffs agree that as long as both the City and County have Code and Comprehensive Plan language and regulations that identify the need to protect resources, “that Comp Plan language on its own is not of critical concern.” He said they would continue to talk to the City about whether Community Commercial is an appropriate zoning category for that sensitive property.

Items 10 and 11 seemed to be duplicates of items 8 and 9.

While discussing item 10, Hofstetter said the County is waiting to see the developer’s response to the City’s request for additional information about more accurate ground-penetrating radar “and other similar data… and then we’ll move forward, if necessary, with experts, if that leads us down that path.”

12. Send a Chair letter to the Water Management District, expressing the County’s concerns.

Hofstetter said a Chair letter was sent to the Suwannee River Water Management District on October 15 and staff is reviewing a request for additional information on the Environmental Resource Permit for Phoenicia; staff is also planning on sending a letter this week to the Water Management District in response to that request for additional information. 

13. 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.

Hofstetter said this will be a year-long process; he added that County staff members previously did this when they updated the county-wide wetland code.

14. Ask staff to move money from reserves to legal resources to fund a potential challenge to the development.

Funds were made available at the last meeting in November.

After the presentation, Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler congratulated staff on the work, “in terms of being able to open the dialogue again” and added that getting the City “to work with us again shows great maneuverability.”

Commissioner Ken Cornell said the letters between the applicant and the City made it “clear to me that the City of Alachua is looking at this in totality, and I very much appreciate their work with our staff.”

Commissioner Anna Prizzia said she appreciated the City “being willing to have a dialogue, a conversation, and continue to protect our natural resources. So thank you to them.”