Gainesville City Commission moves toward mobility fee, expresses discomfort with proposed GPD fence, discusses City’s score on LGBTQ+ index

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – During the evening session of the December 4 Gainesville City Commission meeting, Commissioners approved a budget amendment adding 20 positions, moved forward with a mobility plan and mobility fee, approved a construction agreement for the GPD property and evidence building but expressed discomfort with a proposed fence, and asked staff to make some changes to improve the City’s score on an index measuring “LGBTQ+ equality.”

Budget amendment

A budget amendment for FY2026 added 20 full-time positions; two are related to Wild Spaces and Public Places (WSPP), and 18 are for the City’s new technology department; the funding for the 18 IT positions was already in the FY2026 budget. The amendment increased the City’s positions from 1,465.75 to 1,485.75. 

Commissioner Ed Book said he supported adding the two WSPP positions because “our goal is less reliance on consulting services.” Commissioner Casey Willits said the Commission had already “budgeted a very large chunk of money” for the IT department, so the 18 positions will be funded from that. He acknowledged that it felt “a little weird to suddenly add all these positions, but this has been a process, and now it’s just time to put it on paper.”

Commissioner Bryan Eastman made a motion to approve the budget amendment, Commissioner James Ingle seconded the motion, and the motion passed 6-0, with Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker absent.

Billing solid waste and stormwater assessments on property tax bills

The Commission passed a pair of resolutions that would allow the City to bill solid waste and stormwater assessments on property tax bills if negotiations fall through with Gainesville Regional Utilities; these assessments are currently billed on GRU customers’ monthly utility bills. Both resolutions passed 6-0.

Multimodal transportation system

The next agenda item amended several elements of the City’s Comprehensive Plan to implement a mobility plan and mobility fee. Scott Wright with the Department of Transportation said that a discussion on the details of the mobility fee and “the boundaries or exemptions or how those fees might be implemented over time” would be covered in the Land Development Code amendment hearing, which will be presented in a few months.

Consultant Jonathan Paul: “This is not a fee. It’s not a tax on existing residents; it’s not a tax on existing businesses. It’s only for new development that comes in or redevelopment that creates additional impacts to the transportation system.”

The mobility plan is a combination of roadway projects, sidewalks, trails, and transit service throughout the city. Consultant Jonathan Paul of Nue Urban Concepts said the City of Gainesville was one of the first local governments to adopt a mobility plan, and this amendment will bring it in line with some new Florida statutes. Paul said the mobility fee will be paid by new development and redevelopment and will replace the current traffic mitigation payments. Paul emphasized, “This is not a fee. It’s not a tax on existing residents; it’s not a tax on existing businesses. It’s only for new development that comes in or redevelopment that creates additional impacts to the transportation system.”

Click here for a map showing the mobility projects identified in the 2045 Mobility Plan.

Paul explained that the amendment takes specific lists of capital projects out of the Comprehensive Plan and replaces them with policy language that incorporates the lists by reference; he said it reduces how often changes must be transmitted to the State. He also said that mobility fee money must be spent on projects that are listed in the City’s Capital Improvement Plan. 

Commissioners voted 6-0 to transmit the amendments to the State, with Duncan-Walker absent.

Complete Street improvements for University Avenue

The next item was to award a contract for engineering services for the reconstruction of University Avenue between Northwest 34th Street and Southeast 31st Street as a Complete Street; Kimley-Horn and Associates’ proposal for $3 million was ranked the highest of the proposals received for the project. The City has a federal grant for the first $1.5 million, and additional federal and state funds are expected to be available, so Chief Operating Officer Brian Singleton said there should “be very limited City investment needed for the project.” City Manager Andrew Persons added that the project is “related to the Safe Streets for All grant” that was previously awarded to the City. The award for engineering services was approved 6-0.

GPD property and evidence building

The next item was approval of a maximum price agreement with Ajax Building Company for the construction of the Gainesville Police Department (GPD) property and evidence building in the amount of $19 million. The building is expected to be completed in June 2027. 

The building will be on the footprint of the existing GPD evidence building, and Eastman pointed out that a multi-use trail goes by the property, so the design includes security fencing south of the building, enclosing the parking lot. Eastman said, “We’ve gotten some feedback from at least one of the neighbors… that [they] would feel uncomfortable with — you’re biking through, and then suddenly there’s high security fencing around you. Right now, it’s not fenced… Is there any issue with pulling that out of the current plan?”

Book made a motion to approve the guaranteed maximum price agreement, and Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut seconded the motion. Book and Chestnut said they were reluctant to give direction to remove the fence without having input from any GPD representatives.

Commissioner Casey Willits on the proposed security fence south of GPD: “I know that there’s safety on one part, but there’s also how people feel and whether they feel safe or not. And there are things we do that make people [safer] on one side of a wall, and it absolutely makes the people on the other side feel less safe.”

Willits said he would like to revisit the security fence in the future because “I know that there’s safety on one part, but there’s also how people feel and whether they feel safe or not. And there are things we do that make people [safer] on one side of a wall, and it absolutely makes the people on the other side feel less safe.” He said people might stop using the trail “because it has become, you know, a bit too much of a canyon.”

Mayor Harvey Ward asked Public Works and GPD staff to “walk the halls” and talk to Commissioners about their questions “because it may be that some of these things don’t need to be on the dais.”

Singleton said an email had been received from a citizen, asking where the Art in Public Places would be placed on the fence, and he said staff wanted direction on that so they could issue a Request for Proposals. Ward said, “We’re absolutely not prepared for that this evening,” but Eastman said, “I disagree, Mr. Mayor. I think we are prepared for this tonight!”

Singleton said the art could be on the fence, in the lobby, along the trail, or “anywhere else, publicly on the GPD site.” He said the current plan is to “affix art to the fence.”

Commissioner Bryan Eastman on the proposed security fence south of GPD: “I don’t know if putting up a security fence within this location is really necessary… I think it cuts off connections between GPD and the surrounding neighborhood. I think it makes that portion of the trail feel less safe.”

Eastman said he has been concerned about the fence for “a couple of months… I don’t know if putting up a security fence within this location is really necessary… I think it cuts off connections between GPD and the surrounding neighborhood. I think it makes that portion of the trail feel less safe.”

Willits said, “Some people have expressed to me… that the art was merely an excuse to have a security fence.”

Book’s motion passed 6-0.

GPD Chief Nelson Moya: “Although we enjoy interacting with the public, once in a while we do have some encounters in the parking lot that put us in a very reactive position — one as recently as yesterday. In fact, it was me… Before I even got to my car, I was met with an individual that was having a mental health episode, and of course, we reacted promptly, and we rendered services.”

GPD Chief Nelson Moya arrived and said GPD’s “contention is that we support the fencing of our south lot… Although we enjoy interacting with the public, once in a while we do have some encounters in the parking lot that put us in a very reactive position — one as recently as yesterday. In fact, it was me… Before I even got to my car, I was met with an individual that was having a mental health episode, and of course, we reacted promptly, and we rendered services… We’re talking about the overall safety of our staff.” He said a barrier would give GPD employees “an opportunity to prepare, even if just for a few seconds, if we encounter someone in distress or someone with bad intentions.”

Eastman: “That is what it means to be a police officer, right? You’re interacting with the community.”

Eastman said it seemed to him that “the police department would be able to handle things that are happening around there… That is what it means to be a police officer, right? You’re interacting with the community.”

Moya said it’s also important to design with CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) in mind.

City Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut: “I think the police officers deserve safety.”

Persons said he was confident that staff could work with all the concerns and added that they “don’t need to figure it out right now,” but Eastman reiterated that he wanted to take a vote to not have a fence there, and if they didn’t want to do it that night, they could do it in January. Ward said he was not prepared to vote on that at that meeting. Chestnut said she would vote to keep it: “I think the police officers deserve safety.”

Ingle said the issue was “completely off my radar until this evening,” but he wanted to revisit it at a future meeting.

Ward said there was no motion on the floor and moved on to Commission Comment.

Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index

Willits brought up the recent release of the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) Municipal Equality Index 2025, which rates cities “based on non-discrimination laws, the municipality as an employer, municipal services, law enforcement, and leadership on LGBTQ+ equality.” The City of Gainesville scored 84 out of 100 points, with a base score of 78 and flex points for providing domestic partner benefits for City employees, having openly LGBTQ+ elected or appointed leaders, and testing the limits of restrictive state laws. The City lost points for not having LGBTQ+ liaisons in the City Manager’s office and the police department.

Ward agreed that it would be “a simple thing to do” to appoint those liaisons: “We have very intentionally done that in years past, and with some changes in staff, we just didn’t re-designate. To be honest, I feel like that’s an antiquated sort of thing, to say, ‘This is the person you should go talk to’ — I feel like, in Gainesville, that’s not necessarily necessary, but if the HRC feels more comfortable that way, it is a very simple thing to do.”

Ward emphasized, “We’re not talking about going and hiring somebody new. We’re talking about adding a level of responsibility in the title to someone who’s currently on staff.”

Persons and Office of Equity & Inclusion Director Zeriah Folston said they would work together and “figure it out.”