High Springs City Commission moves forward with ballot referendum for Charter amendments, postpones approval of CDD for Bridlewood development

BY DAVID LIGHTMAN

HIGH SPRINGS, Fla. – At their May 23 Regular Meeting, the High Springs City Commission voted to place changes to the City Charter on the November ballot. The first reading of an ordinance establishing the Bridlewood Community Development District was on the agenda, but Commissioners decided to table the item until a workshop can be held. Commissioners approved the site plan for a new Anytime Fitness gym, approved a Conditional Use Permit to allow a gas station to add an automated car wash and non-ethanol fuel dispensing station, and voted to seek proposals for laboratory testing of water and wastewater.

Changes to City Charter

Chair Sue Weller spoke on behalf of the Charter Review Board: “We spent many meetings going over the Charter and discussing the various revisions that we felt were necessary to bring to you.” Weller said that if Commissioners would like to enact some or all of the Board’s proposed changes, she recommended having the first reading of an ordinance in June and the second in July, to allow time for the Supervisor of Elections to place the Charter amendment question on the ballot in November.

Weller said the Charter Review Board meets once every eight years, and the Charter hasn’t actually been amended since 2011. She said some changes were recommended in 2016, but none of them were approved by the Commission.

Designating Commission seats

Weller gave an overview of the proposed changes. Currently, she said, the Charter lists the five Commissioners by name, and the Board recommends removing the names from the text of the Charter and changing the designations to Seat 1 through Seat 5.

Determining the winner if there is a tie vote for Commissioner

Weller said, “We had considerable discussion on how to handle a possibility of a tie vote… a lot of discussion on that was – should there be a runoff, should we change the Charter so that there is a runoff election? The Board felt that we should not do that… What we proposed is to keep it as a plurality as we currently have, and we also put language in there that if in fact there was a tie vote, the City Clerk would toss a coin.” She cited concerns about having a runoff election during the holidays and the additional expense that would be incurred.

Supermajority to repeat as Mayor

Weller said the Charter Review Board recommends requiring a supermajority for the Commission to select an individual to serve a second consecutive term as Mayor. 

Clarifying Commissioners’ role with respect to City staff

Weller addressed Commission/employee relationships: “We wanted to make sure that it was clear to whoever was on the Commission that their interaction with employees is to be through the City Manager. We did not want someone to either directly or indirectly direct an employee to do something without the Manager being aware of it. The other was that no individual City Commissioner could direct the City Manager to act on a matter that the Commission had not agreed on.’

A provision for censuring a Commissioner

Weller recommended a way to censure Commissioners: “If, in fact, a majority of the Commission felt that a Commissioner had violated the Charter, there’s the opportunity for the Commission to censure.” She said censuring would require three votes out of four, the equivalent of a supermajority, and the Charter currently has no provision for censuring. In response to a concern raised by Mayor Katherine Weitz, City Attorney Scott Walker said the person accused would have an opportunity to present a defense.

More notice for meetings

Weller said they need to change the 12 hours of notice given before meetings to 72 hours, to comply with current State law, and they should remove the sentence in the Charter about inaugurating new Commissioners at 10 a.m. since they have been doing that in the evening.

Removing a Commissioner

Weller listed suggested reasons that could cause a Commissioner to lose their seat. These include not meeting the qualifications to hold office, violating an express prohibition in the Charter, being convicted of a felony, and missing three consecutive regular meetings without being excused.

Miscellaneous staff provisions

Weller said the Charter currently allows the same person to serve as both City Manager and City Clerk. She recommended removing that language because of the heavy workload. The Board suggested adding a requirement that the City Manager gain residence in High Springs within 12 months of being hired unless an extension is granted by the Commission.

City Commissioner residency requirement

For anyone seeking to be a City Commissioner, Weller suggested a requirement to have lived in High Springs for a year and to be a registered Alachua County voter.

Updates to notice requirements, park names

Weller suggested relaxing the requirement to advertise upcoming elections in a newspaper to permit advertising online instead of in a physical paper. Lastly, Weller suggested updating the names of the parks in the section of the Charter that lists certain parks and public lands that the City may not sell.

Weitz thanked the Board for their work: “Four of those members are here tonight, and I can tell you that they did an amazing job. They really did.” The audience applauded.

Motion

Grunder made a motion to accept all of the Charter Review Board’s recommendations and direct Attorney Walker’s office to bring back an ordinance at the next meeting to put the changes on the November ballot. Commissioner Andrew Miller seconded the motion. It passed unanimously.

Bridlewood

Mayor Weitz introduced the next item, the first reading of an ordinance establishing a 244-acre Community Development District (CDD) for the Bridlewood planned development. Attorney Walker said he had spoken with the Bridlewood attorney, and they were hoping to postpone the vote and make it an informational session only.

Jere Earlywine spoke on behalf of the Tallahassee-based developer, Kutak Rock. He said having a CDD allows for the sale of bonds to raise capital, and the extra capital results in a better-quality project that looks better and can be priced more competitively due to lower interest rates on bonds compared to other types of construction loans. 

Earlywine said a CDD is better than an HOA because the member fees are collected as tax roll assessments; all of the funds from the initial sale of the bonds are kept in a reserve account; there are more protections in the event of a default by the developer; and CDDs include roads, stormwater ponds, and other things not normally covered by HOAs. He said there are currently 982 CDD-based developments in Florida.  

Earlywine said the CDD will be governed by a five-member commission. Walker said this would be the first CDD in the High Springs area. 

Mayor Weitz asked, “When Bridlewood was pitched early on, a couple years ago, we were told about how great it was going to be for the community, how much green space there was going to be for the kids in High Springs. The amenities were going to be amazing for the community. If I lived in this community, I wouldn’t want somebody else’s kids swimming in my pool. So it seems to me like that might not be actually how it would work. Is that correct?”

Earlywine said they would be public facilities with user fees attached, like having to pay to get into a public pool. 

Weitz responded, “Like I said, when this was pitched, it was pitched because of all this great green space, all the parks it was going to add for the entire community. This really kind of sets this community apart from the rest of High Springs.”

Earlywine continued, “Here’s the thing, though: The project’s already been approved for development. The question is, do you want it to be the best community it can be, or do you want it to kind of have the older model?… It makes a lot of sense to do it with the CDD.”

Public comment

During public comment, Linda Jones said it is going to be a luxury community, and she was not aware of that. She said no one ever mentioned having to pay to get in to walk on the trails. She concluded, “It’s a different community than what I had anticipated.”

Rick Testa said he had 18 questions to read, but he wouldn’t have time to read them during his three minutes. He mentioned how the small town of Leesburg turned into The Villages, and he said that will happen with Bridlewood. He concluded, “Think about this long and hard before you bite this one. And don’t take too big of a bite.”

City Manager Jeremy Marshall addressed Testa: “I’m interested in your 18 questions, so give Ashley a call Tuesday, and I would like to set up an hour with you because I’m learning more about these CDDs as well. They’re very different than what I’m used to. I’m interested in hearing your 18 questions, and maybe I can get some an answers for you.”

Mel Campos suggested putting out an FAQ after the meeting between Marshall and Testa.

Development was already approved

Earlywine returned to the podium: “If the question is, ‘Is the development a good idea?’ – that question’s already been addressed because the property is zoned and entitled, right? The question we’re talking about is how you want to operate and maintain it. How you want to finance the infrastructure. So it’s two different questions.”

Weitz clarified, “Let me just make sure I’m clear. You said, ‘How we want to finance and operate.’ It’s not the City financing. You mean the developer. It’s not us.”

Earlywine said, “Yeah, that’s exactly right. My point is, the project’s moving forward.”

Brad Riddle, Chair of the High Spring Plan Board, said, “There was an awful lot said tonight. I don’t feel like, and I’m with Rick, I don’t feel like we got the information we needed… when we cast our votes the other night. I don’t know the way y’all are going to vote tonight, but I would have changed the way I voted the other night based on some of the other information I got here tonight.”

Earlywine reminded everyone that the developer had asked the Commission to table the item instead of voting on it. 

Motion and vote

Commissioner Tristan Grunder made a motion to table the item and have a workshop including the Commission, the Plan Board, and the community. Commissioner Byran Williams seconded the motion. It passed 5-0.

Anytime Fitness

Weitz introduced the next item, a site plan for Anytime Fitness, to be located north of Tractor Supply. A staff member said the Plan Board recommended approval.

Grunder raised a concern about lighting from the parking lot causing light pollution of the night sky. One of the owners said they are willing to use whatever bulbs or fixtures are necessary to prevent any problems. 

Motion and vote

Miller made a motion to approve the Anytime Fitness site plan, and Grunder seconded the motion. It passed 5-0.

SunStop conditional use permit

Weitz introduced the next item, a conditional use permit to allow a SunStop gas station located near Poe Springs Road to add an automated car wash and a non-ethanol fuel dispensary. Staff recommended approval of the plan but suggested adding a privacy fence on one side.

Miller made a motion to approve the conditional use permit with the added fence, and Grunder seconded the motion. It passed 5-0 in a roll call vote.

Cost of City Attorney services

The next item was discussing the possibility of replacing Attorney Walker with a more cost-effective solution. This would be accomplished with an RFP (Request For Proposals).

During public comment, Janet Evans said, among other complaints, that Walker does not answer questions succinctly but wants to talk about other things. She asked, “How do we know that he has our best interests at heart?”

Linda Jones said, “I, as a Commissioner, did not feel like I was getting proper representation. I didn’t feel comfortable talking with him. I consistently felt like there was bias, that I couldn’t reach him, and I often had conversations with him on the dais, stating that he would start on something, and I’d say, ‘That’s not my question.’”

Sue Weller cited Walker’s experience as a reason to keep him. Weitz said she thought it was a good idea to review costs every seven or eight years, in general.

Commissioner Williams made a motion to table the item, and Grunder seconded the motion. It passed 5-0.

Water and wastewater testing services

The final item on the agenda was an RFP for a laboratory to perform water and wastewater testing. 

Weitz said, “I think there is significant opportunity to get better pricing and at least equal or better quality.”

Grunder made a motion to send out the RFP for analytical laboratory services, and Miller seconded the motion. It passed 5-0.