“The community isn’t being heard; the landed gentry is being heard”: Gainesville City Commission moves forward with Eastman’s proposed zoning changes

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the August 10 General Policy Committee meeting, the Gainesville City Commission considered a proposal from Commissioner Bryan Eastman that would reduce lot setbacks and allow cottage neighborhoods.

Eastman’s proposal would retain single-family zoning but allow more flexibility to build
starter homes by creating one single-family zoning category titled “Residential Single Family.”
The new “Residential Single Family” zoning will give landowners the ability to build homes on
smaller lots of .08 acres; Eastman said the proposal would make it easier to build affordable homes.

Eastman also proposed simplifying the platting process for getting new subdivisions approved, allowing cottage neighborhoods, and reducing water/wastewater connection fees.

GRU General Manager Tony Cunningham said GRU already charges 35% lower connection fees for homes under 1,400 square feet and said they could look at whether an 800-square-foot accessory dwelling unit (ADU) might be a candidate for an additional discount. 

Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut was concerned about the zoning change being made city-wide, but Eastman said he was focused on RSF-4 zoning, which is “about 1% of even the single-family zone, so it’s a very, very small zoning.” He said he was trying to “protect single-family zoning while still giving people the flexibility to decide what happens on their own property and… ensure that homeowners have the feeling that there’s not going to be a duplex or an apartment or whatever they fear will be in their neighborhood.”

Mayor Harvey Ward suggested having two community meetings to discuss the proposal. Andrew Persons, Special Assistant to the City Manager, said staff consistently hears from the public that “they don’t want to talk to us, they want to talk to [commissioners].” He said the meetings would be more successful if commissioners attended instead of having the public give feedback to staff. However, he said this is a pretty simple proposal, and Eastman said he would be happy to work with staff to put a presentation together. 

Commissioner Reina Saco said, “I, of course, wholeheartedly support this tiny teaspoon of a step forward of progress. But I appreciate you continuing to fight the good fight and trying to do what’s best for our community.” She said she had been to community meetings on zoning topics, and they are often “derailed” by people who ask questions that are “not necessarily for the topic at hand.” She said she was fine with a commissioner hosting informational sessions, but she didn’t want staff to have to do that. 

“The community isn’t being heard; the landed gentry is being heard”

Saco continued, “Having come to the commission as, first and foremost, a housing attorney, I was in community meetings about housing since 2017, like almost weekly across Florida, and definitely in Gainesville. The people we desperately need at the table will not be able to come to the table. So when I hear, you know, ‘The community has to be heard,’ the community isn’t being heard; the landed gentry is being heard–those who have the free time and the opportunity to show up will show up. The single mom with two kids who can’t get childcare is not going to show up. The elderly grandma who can’t find adequate transportation or has to be at home, can’t be at a meeting for three-four hours, isn’t gonna show up. Renters who are covering two jobs to make ends meet as rent doubles and triples aren’t gonna be able to show up. You’re gonna have homeowners who are financially more stable, and you’re gonna have homeowners who oppose–often just for lack of understanding what’s happening, but just kind of balk at the thought of any change–show up. And maybe they’ll change their minds at the end of the meeting. But those are the folks who will show up.”

Saco said it’s the commissioners’ job “to make those decisions with our best judgment possible… Not everything can or has to be a community presentation or meeting. It just can’t be; it’s not practical.”

Saco added that she has been “informed by at least a handful of people who lived in different neighborhoods” that renters are often excluded from neighborhood associations, and “it’s a lot harder to fight or even put forward an opinion when you know you’re gonna stand alone because you’ve been excluded.” She said she’s not opposed to Eastman holding meetings, but “I don’t want us taking the totality of any one meeting as the totality of our constituents’ feelings on a matter.”

Saco said she supported Eastman’s proposal because “in my neighborhood, I see a property that’s about 100 feet across. And it kills me because it has exactly one small 900-square-foot house in the middle, which is the worst use of space. And every time I drive by it, it drives me insane…  Every day we delay is another day, another month that someone has to pay exorbitant rent and is closer to homelessness… It’s easy for us to say we should have more conversation; a lot of folks don’t have that luxury.”

“There are a lot of people who think they’re the have-nots. But if you own a home, you’re definitely the haves”

Commissioner Casey Willits said he supported streamlining the platting process. He agreed with Saco that renters are often excluded from neighborhood associations: “Too often when we talk about community engagement, we’re engaging just the landed gentry–just the haves, not the have-nots. And there are a lot of people who think they’re the have-nots. But if you own a home, you’re definitely the haves, you’re much more so than those who don’t… As Commissioner Saco said, all the delay, it delays someone getting the home they need, it leaves them paying higher rent, fighting people for the same house for sale, and just jacking up the prices as people fight for housing. It really is like musical chairs, and there’s not enough chairs, and people are fighting for the chairs that are existing.”

Ward said he would prefer two commission workshops on different sides of town. Commissioner Ed Book said he would prefer moving the location of an existing meeting out into the community instead of adding more meetings “on top of an existing meeting structure that’s very heavy at the moment.”

“I put this forward as a good compromise middle ground”

Eastman said he didn’t think all the commissioners needed to be at every community engagement meeting. He added, “I think this is a great proposal. I think it balances out the needs of neighbors who are worried about multifamily near their house with the fact that we do need more homes for people to live in. There’s a massive undersupply of homes, and it is very, very difficult for people to find a place to live. And we’re using far too much space in order to do that, which is creating sprawl and hurting our environment and increasing homelessness, as Commissioner Saco said, and… I put this forward as a good compromise middle ground.”

Eastman made a motion to direct staff to hold two neighborhood workshops to discuss lot dimension changes and minor subdivision standards, to bring back recommended changes to the platting process, and for GRU to review water/wastewater connection fees for reduction for small single-family homes and accessory dwelling units.” Chestnut and Saco seconded the motion.

The motion passed unanimously.

Utility Advisory Board

During a discussion about the status of the Utility Advisory Board, Ward said he thought they should “give direction after October 1.” Eastman agreed, “Quite frankly, we don’t know whether or not this is even going to stand. I mean, we do have an active lawsuit at the moment… I want to prepare as well as we possibly can, in case… it does stand. But the UAB, I think, is something that we can figure out after that point.”