Gainesville City Commission votes to explore options for funding and partners to redevelop Citizens Field area

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At their March 13 General Policy Committee (GPC) meeting, the Gainesville City Commission voted to explore all options for partners and funding to redevelop the Citizens Field property.

Introducing the agenda item, City Manager Cynthia Curry said the City has had a partnership with the School Board of Alachua County since 1984 to use Citizens Field, but “we know the wear and tear over the years have taken its toll.” She said that she and several other City representatives had attended the School Board meeting the previous evening to “kick that discussion off.” Superintendent Kamela Patton, Chair Sarah Rockwell, Member Leanetta McNealy, and Member Tina Certain also attended the March 13 GPC meeting.

Mayor Harvey Ward said the issue of what to do about the stadium affects “not just Gainesville, but… reaches out into unincorporated Alachua County… And it’s also very much a neighborhood issue for the folks who live adjacent to the Citizens Field/MLK campus… And I want to reassure everyone… that we are not in a position to make all the big decisions, nor do we intend to make all the big decisions.” He said the decisions would likely be made this summer and that “we absolutely don’t” have firm plans.

School Board capital funds can only be used on property owned by the school district

School Board Chair Rockwell said the School Board has capital funds, but they can only be used on property owned by the district, “so determining how to make that work with the redevelopment of the Citizens Field and MLK complex is what will have to be negotiated.”

Rockwell said, “We, as a district, view sports as our number one dropout prevention program for a lot of our high school students. Sports is the motivator that gets them to the graduation finish line with that 2.0.” She said Citizens Field is “an important anchor for our three largest high schools and an important legacy for our community.”

Site plan options

Laurie Hall from NV5 said the stadium “is not working for the athletes, bands, fans, staff – it’s just not working.” She also said the pool is at the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced. She said the community “really cares” about the location but wants the facilities to be renovated: “There isn’t pride in the actual structure, but the idea of it being there was something that we’ve heard many times is really important to the community.”

Hall said the Gainesville Fire Rescue (GFR) facility on the site also needs to be part of the decision process; her firm’s current site plans retain both the fire station and the training facilities. 

Click here for NV5’s presentation on the Citizens Field Revitalization Project

Chestnut: “Citizens Field is not for sale, not for trade, and not for swap”

Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut said she ran for re-election “to see this through. So I want to be clear on where I am: Citizens Field is not for sale, not for trade, and not for swap.” She said she understands why the School Board can’t “participate with us financially,” but she hoped they would rent it for football games and other events.

Commissioner Casey Willits said he doesn’t think the City has the money for a new stadium and that selling that land to the School Board could provide more funds for the rest of the project and enable the School Board to contribute money to the overall project. Willits, who often brings up the lack of parks in his southwest Gainesville district, also said that if more money is spent on Citizens Field, less will be available for a southwest park. 

Project is estimated to cost up to $150 million

Commissioner Bryan Eastman asked how much the various options will cost, and Curry said Site Plan A would be up to $150 million; she said the stadium itself, with “all the bells and whistles” could run $35 million, although a renovation could cost as little as $10 million. 

Eastman said he was “not necessarily opposed” to transferring the property to the School Board, noting that the property is “important for east Gainesville,” but the “City has, frankly, not much use for a stadium except to be holding it and to ensure that our high school students and middle school students and whoever uses it has the ability to use it. So it seems like the right kind of partnership.” He said he would be comfortable with a motion that authorized the City Manager to negotiate with the Superintendent about the future of the property. 

Duncan-Walker: “If we had some vision about jumping into the youth sports industry, we could quite possibly not just take east Gainesville to a different level; we could take the city to a different level”

Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker said she liked the site plans but thought the “revenue-generating potential” piece was missing… Youth sports is a multi-billion-dollar industry, and I think that is something that I really want to hear more about from staff.” She said she was interested in being able to attract businesses and hotels and said, “If we had some vision about jumping into the youth sports industry, we could quite possibly not just take east Gainesville to a different level; we could take the city to a different level… I’m interested in economic development of east Gainesville.” She asked whether a Senior Center had been considered on the site and concluded, “At this point, I’m not interested in the sale of the property.”

Commissioner James Ingle asked whether a track could be added to the stadium if they decide to renovate it, and Robert Walpole from NV5 said there is no space for a track unless they tear down one of the grandstands. He said the options are a new $35 million stadium or a renovated stadium with no track for $8-10 million.

Site Plan B allows the project to be done in stages

Walpole said the advantage of Site Plan B is that the renovations can be done in stages because most of the facilities would stay where they currently are; he said that with Site Plan A, they could possibly keep part of the MLK Center open while the addition is being constructed, but it costs more money to do it that way.

Ingle said he would like to see more economic development around the site and thought that moving the GFR training facility would provide more space for parking or green space. He suggested that a phased plan might give the City more time to consider options for the training facility.

GFR buildings “take up a lot of land on this site”

Walpole said, “The GFR decision is a threshold decision… because we would do things extremely different[ly] if we didn’t have GFR sitting there today… I do not believe that Gainesville Fire Rescue, nor their burn building, belongs on this site… From a public safety perspective, there’s other locations that are just as good for response time. It takes up a lot of land on this site. This is a very small park to begin with, at 36 acres, and they’re occupying three of them… We also have the [check cashing] place in the corner that’s an eyesore, that ultimately, hopefully, we can absorb. We have the VFW.” He said Site Plan B has a retail strip building along the roadway and added, “[The] more things that we can remove from that, the more economic development things we can put on the site.”

Walpole said the site is not big enough “to create enough sports fields to create youth sports for this location… You need six to eight fields to be successful.” He said Jonesville Park, which hosts soccer tournaments, is 90 acres and has eight to 10 fields, depending on how they’re configured. He added, “The community was split 50/50, by the way, on whether they really wanted those influx of out-of-towners, as they called them, every weekend in their back yards.”

Issuing a construction bond will increase property taxes

Curry said Citizens Field is also not GFR’s preferred location and that the City is negotiating for another site on Waldo Road. She also said the funding for the project is “a question mark” and the City needs to fully explore partnerships, so she supported continuing conversations with the School Board, “just to see where they take us” because if they end up issuing a bond to cover the construction, “that’s an additional millage.”

Ingle said he didn’t want to sell the property: “It’s been a part of the City for a long time. I would like to see if there’s some way we can work around whatever those funds are.” He suggested a long-term lease to the School Board or selling it with a contract to buy it back after some number of years. 

Mayor Harvey Ward said he is not “deeply tied to too many things with this except a few core issues. It is of core importance to me that we have a football stadium on the site unless we get to a point and realize that the School Board is not interested in partnering… It is also extremely important to me that we improve the MLK Center… I would love to see that include something like a senior center, as well… The Dwight Hunter pool is incredibly important… I would like to see as many soccer fields, real soccer fields, as we could cram into that site… If we do those things right, it will be important that we create some commercial space as a part of it, because all those things draw people, and… people need to eat… Gainesville Fire Rescue has to have a home. That is probably not the best choice of a home, but it is part of the equation.”

Ward: “The School Board has to be a partner with us, or we have a very different conversation.”

Ward continued, “The School Board has to be a partner with us, or we have a very different conversation. The County is already a partner because we’re representing some of the County’s funds through the GCRA in this project.” He said the decisions they make now will lead to “something good or something bad” for the next 80 years. He said there will be disagreements along the way, but “I believe we all want those same things.”

Ward: “Lord, I hope it doesn’t cost $150 million – we’ve got to find a way around that.”

Ward said the final project probably won’t look like either of the options presented by NV5 and “Lord, I hope it doesn’t cost $150 million – we’ve got to find a way around that, but… this is not going to get less expensive [as time passes], no matter what we do.” He said he was “fully open” to “property swaps and that sort of thing,” but “I’m not open to this not getting done. That’s the key.”

Ward also mentioned constructing a temporary stadium on the north part of the property for high schools to use while the stadium is being renovated. He concluded, “Today, what I hope we come up with is a motion that directs our City Manager and her staff and our consultants to have those conversations with the School Board staff and to create some creative ideas to come back to us.” He said those could involve discussions about transferring property, but if so, the School Board must be financially involved in the project; he suggested a joint meeting with the School Board and said there will be more community engagement meetings in the future.

Chestnut said she was “a bit concerned” to hear that the cost had jumped to $150 million because she remembered a presentation from different consultants that estimated both the stadium and the MLK Center at $35 million. She said the City should work on attracting private donors for the project. 

Willits said he thought the property wasn’t big enough for a youth sports facility. “I think we’d be having a different conversation if the State was giving over Tacachale,” he said. “From what I understand, the residents are wary of putting that much of a huge competition site there, as opposed to a… City park that’s pretty awesome,… but not a Jonesville.” He pointed out that there are no hotels near the Jonesville Park. He said it would “suck if we get this done” and the State offers Tacachale after it’s complete. 

Willits: “We can make all the demands in the world, but if we don’t have that partner, then why do we have a stadium?”

Willits said his priorities are more community fields, particularly soccer fields; a “better, bigger MLK Center”; a stadium with seat backs; a place where “students… can roll in like champions, not in the dirt and grass parking lot”; and a new pool, preferably without needing to close the old pool during construction. He added, “We can make all the demands in the world, but if we don’t have that partner, then why do we have a stadium? Because I don’t think we’re going to be that big of a draw without that partner there.” He said he was willing to transfer or sell the property “to unlock other dollars and to put the responsibility on the School Board to maintain the site, as opposed to the City.”

Duncan-Walker: “I simply don’t want to let go of this idea of youth sports because I think it’s an opportunity for us, down the line, to generate some significant income, revenue, notoriety, partnerships.”

Duncan-Walker said she wanted to “explore all of our options” but especially encouraged staff to “innovate.” She said one idea could be a “sports district” that includes the track at Cone Park and “other sports amenities at T.B. McPherson,” where improvements are scheduled in the next few years. She continued, “I simply don’t want to let go of this idea of youth sports because I think it’s an opportunity for us, down the line, to generate some significant income, revenue, notoriety, partnerships.” She said she was curious about “where the Chamber is on this” and hoped they could be one of the partners at the table, “bringing some insight, bringing some influence, and bringing some dollars.”

Commissioner Ed Book said that while he was not in favor of selling Citizens Field “as the first option,” he thought all options need to be on the table at this point so they know what their choices are.

Public comment

No citizens spoke during public comment, and Ward said, “It’s always interesting to me when people show up and when they don’t.” He said that City Commission and General Policy Committee meetings are “an opportunity for you to come let us know, when we’re talking about this, how you feel about it.”

First motion

Chestnut made a motion to “direct the City Manager to work with the School Superintendent to explore possibilities of a partnership for Citizens Field. Two, staff explore economic revenue generation for the City of Gainesville. Three, staff explore partnerships for Citizens Field with partners – for example, the Chamber. Four, staff explore mixed-use sports for Eighth and Waldo.” Duncan-Walker seconded the motion.

Superintendent Patton said the FHSAA is looking for stadiums in northern Florida to hold state tournaments, and she suggested that they also think about adding a diving pool.

The motion passed unanimously.

Second motion

Book made a motion to “direct City staff to explore alternative sites for Fire Station #3 and the training center, so that property will be potentially available as part of the NE 8th Avenue project.”

Curry interrupted to say her staff is already doing that: “We’re actively involved in exploring that, to include VFW and the check cashing facility.” 

Book withdrew the motion.