‘Lemonade out of lemons’: Alachua County Commission approves land use change for UF golf course, state immediately approves

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – During the evening session of the April 28 Alachua County Commission meeting, the board approved a land use change for the Hickory Sink property that will allow UF to build a golf course; FloridaCommerce quickly responded to the proposed amendments with no comments, opening the path for a second hearing on the changes.

Phase one: Land Use change

The agenda item was described as “phase one” for the UF golf institutional property, which has been the subject of a Special Area Study since November 2023. The property consists of 580 acres and is east of Parker Road and just south of Oakmont. The existing Future Land Use designation is Rural Agriculture, and the County created a new Land Use for the property: UF Golf Institutional. The text change will include policies that require permanent protection of conservation management areas, along with policies addressing water use and landscaping. The permitted uses include outdoor recreation, a golf course, golf clubhouses, accessory retail, research and maintenance facilities, educational facilities, cottage lodging, and resort-based lodging. 

Commissioner Anna Prizzia said, “I just want to comment EPD (Alachua County Environmental Protection Department) for all their hard work on this,… and a lot of work went into this from UF as well, to get to a place that we can feel good — I mean, about having a conversation about a golf course on really sensitive environmental land — or maybe, if not good, at least better, about it.”

UF Golf Coach JC Deacon: “I think it would put us in position to be the best golf program in the entire country if we’re able to do this.”

UF Golf Coach JC Deacon told the board the project “would really be a game-changer for us,… and I think it would put us in position to be the best golf program in the entire country if we’re able to do this.” In response to a question about the existing golf course, Deacon said the university plans to keep using both golf courses, and “from my understanding, nothing’s changing with the current facility.” He said he didn’t know of any plans to make the existing course public.

Motion

Commissioner Mary Alford made a motion to transmit the proposed map and the text amendments to FloridaCommerce for review and comment, with two changes proposed by Prizzia: one was to reiterate that any boundary adjustments to the conservation management area would be for the protection of natural resources, and the other was to specify that the cottages are accessory temporary-stay cottages, with a limit of 30 cottages. Commissioner Charles Chestnut seconded the motion.

Commissioner Anna Prizzia: “This is an allowed use within the zoning category that exists… That was a decision made by a Commission, long before we ever existed, and so we’re left with that legacy and the decision, and I think that what we’ve done is made lemonade out of lemons.”

Prizzia said it’s important for the public to understand that the land was never County-owned conservation land: “We would never sell conservation land for development, at least not as long as any of the Commissioners up here are alive, or the EPD staff that we have now, who are in charge of those programs, are around.” She said she also wanted to be “clear… that this is an allowed use within the zoning category that exists… That was a decision made by a Commission, long before we ever existed, and so we’re left with that legacy and the decision, and I think that what we’ve done is made lemonade out of lemons… UF has come to the table to come up with some solutions that I think are going to make all the difference in protecting the natural resources that we have out there.”

The motion passed unanimously.

FloridaCommerce has already responded

On April 30, FloridaCommerce responded to the submittal with a letter stating that “FloridaCommerce has no comment on the proposed amendment.” The next steps are for the County Commission to hold a second public hearing to adopt the Comprehensive Plan amendment and then transmit the adopted amendment to FloridaCommerce. UF will also need to proceed through the remaining phases of the development approval process.