The city of Alachua’s Planning and Zoning Board (PZB) will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. on Nov. 18 to discuss a special exception permit for stormwater infrastructure on the Tara April property.
The stormwater basin would pave the way for new development between Mill Creek Sink and I-75 in connection with Tara Forest West and its commercial counterpart, Tara Phoenicia.
Along with Tara Forest East and Tara Baywood, the projects are part of a five-development plan from developers Sayed Moukhtara and Jay Brown, president and principal engineer at JBPro civil engineering, to bring over 1,000 homes to the area.
Moukhtara and Brown have been involved in other Tara developments scattered throughout Alachua County, including Tara West End.
The Nov. 18 hearing held at Alachua City Hall will be the first for Tara April’s stormwater basin permit since the PZB removed the item from its Sept. 10, 2024, meeting agenda.
In addition to citizens, county and city staff have raised concerns regarding the environmental impacts on the land and water supply as the developments sit on top of Mill Creek Sink and its underground karst cave system over 220 feet deep, feeding into the Florida aquifer.
The National Speleological Society’s Cave Diving System has maintained the sink since 1993, when it acquired the basin as a donation. Much of Tara Phoenicia’s 40 acres sits in a flood hazard area below 75 feet, prime ground for more sinkholes.
Stephen Hofstetter, director of the Alachua County Environmental Protection Department, said during the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners’ (BOCC) regular meeting on Tuesday that staff will attend the hearing for Tara April to speak to the county’s concerns during cross-examination. A court reporter hired by the county will produce a transcript.
County Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler said the board is committed to taking legal action if the permit is approved. If it is approved but appealed, the permit will go before the Alachua City Commission.
Because of Senate Bill 784, which took effect this year, city staff, like interim City Manager Rodolfo Valladares, have the final say on approving land developments such as Tara, rather than requiring a vote from the commission.
The following timeline includes 18 months of events involving the Alachua Tara developments and the people linked to them in order to paint a picture of who has seen the project through, and how, ahead of the Nov. 18 hearing.
Anyone can submit comments for the meeting to the board at planning@cityofalachua.org.
May 2024 — Alachua planning staff is directed by former City Manager Mike DaRoza to place Tara Forest West and Tara Phoenicia on the June 11, 2024, PZB agenda despite concerns over planned and unplanned elements of the projects, according to former Principal Planner Justin Tabor.
In an open letter regarding his Feb. 2025 resignation (included in the story linked here), Tabor said planning staff didn’t believe the application should be presented to the PZB or City Commission because they felt Tara Forest West relied too much on connectors US 441, which were part of a separate, unapproved project.
Staff’s conditions that could address their concerns on DaRoza’s timeline attempted to ensure Tara Forest West could not proceed without Tara Phoenicia being approved and did not undergo legal review. Tabor said DaRoza instructed planning staff not to contact former City Attorney Marian Rush unless they received authorization from management.
June 11, 2024—Alachua’s PZB approves Tara Forest West preliminary plat with a 3-1 vote.
July 19, 2024—PZB Vice Chair Joe Hancock launches a petition opposing Tara Forest West, which has garnered 2,706 votes as of Friday.
“We are at a turning point in our community,” the petition says. “Now is the time to say no to overdevelopment and yes to protecting what needs to be protected. If we don’t, once these lands are developed, they are gone forever.”
July 22, 2024—The City Commission approves a preliminary plat for Tara Forest West 3-1, with Commissioner Shirley Green Brown in dissent and former Commissioner Ed Potts absent.
Developer Moukhtara offers to filter the project’s stormwater on his own property and go “above and beyond” in his filtration of the water before it sinks back into the aquifer.
Sept. 10, 2024—Tara April’s special exception permit is removed from the PZB meeting agenda due to concerns raised by county staff to the city’s planning staff.
October and November 2024—In his open letter, Tabor said an independent consulting engineer and the county wanted additional geotechnical studies performed on Tara Phoenicia’s property to further evaluate its suitability for development and potential impact on underground cave systems.
Tabor said Tara Phoenicia’s proposed 9,000 dump trucks worth of fill, elevating the property for future commercial development, warranted ground penetrating radar and electromagnetic imaging recommended by the county and city’s independent consulting engineer.
Oct. 1, 2024—BOCC talks concerns over the City Commission’s approval of Tara Forest West. They directed staff to ask the city to pause the developments and considered buying Tara Phoenicia.
“Again and again and again, it always comes back to Tara projects being the projects that we use as examples of what not to do in this community,” County Commissioner Anna Prizzia said.
Nov. 12, 2024—BOCC dedicates $1 million that could be used for professional consultants, legal costs and possible litigations for Tara’s Mill Creek Sink developments.
Jan. 21, 2025—Alachua Principal Planner Adam Hall submits a letter of resignation after 9.5 years with the city.
Jan. 23, 2025—Even though the environmental studies hadn’t been conducted, DaRoza told planning staff that the Tara April storm water permit would be scheduled for the Feb. 11, 2025, PZB meeting agenda, according to Tabor’s letter.
“Planning staff asked [DaRoza] if he expected a recommendation of approval and Mr. DaRoza responded AFFIRMATIVELY. It was in THIS MOMENT I knew I could not in good conscience remain employed with the city,” Tabor said.
Feb. 4, 2025—Tabor submits a letter of resignation after 17 years with the city.
Feb. 5, 2025—Planning and Community Development Director Kathy Winburn submits a letter of resignation after 17.5 years with the city.
Feb. 10, 2025—The City Commission moves to find counsel who could investigate Hall, Tabor and Winburn’s resignations.
“You’ve got 75% of our professional staff in the planning department leaving. It’s catastrophic,” Commissioner Ed Potts said.
Feb. 24, 2025—The City Commission calls off the inquiry into planning staff departures.
March 2025—Tabor publishes an open letter detailing reasons he resigned, raising concerns over outside influence on DaRoza by former City Manager Adam Boukari for the Mill Creek projects. DaRoza denied the accusations and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is currently investigating Boukari for alleged crimes against minors.
April 2025—Data engineer Jacob Fletcher and pastor Walter Welch ran for commissioner and mayor, respectively, and defeated incumbents Potts and former Mayor Gib Coerper. Fletcher staked his campaign on transparency and accountability regarding Tara and all city developments.
May 19, 2025—City Commission votes to revisit hiring external counsel to investigate the city planner exodus.
May 26, 2025—DaRoza resigned as city manager with a few months left in his contract.
June 2, 2025—Fletcher objected to his fellow commissioner’s support for Valladares, the assistant city manager, to become interim city manager, which was expressed without a public meeting. The commissioner attributed his concerns to Tabor’s mentioning of Valladares in his open letter.
June 9, 2025—The City Commission voted Valladares to the interim city manager position 4-1, with Fletcher in dissent.
June 23, 2025—Alachua adopts Senate Bill 784, which grants city staff, like Valladares, the final say on approving land developments such as Tara instead of requiring a vote from the commission.
July 28, 2025—“We’re looking like liars”: vote to investigate Alachua resignations fails, again.
Aug. 4, 2025—Alachua County citizens’ threat of suit shines light on redacted public records in Alachua, including records regarding the Tara developments.
Aug. 11, 2025—The City Commission fired City Attorney Marian Rush during commissioner comment at a regular meeting.
Aug. 21, 2025—David Theriaque, Alachua’s land use attorney hired to oversee the Tara development, terminates his contract with the city after 21 years.
Aug. 25, 2025—Another motion to investigate resignations in Alachua fails.
Sept. 8, 2025—Attorney Scott Walker of Gainesville’s Folds Walker firm presides over the first meeting after Valladares hires him as interim city attorney.
Editor’s note: This story was underwritten by a grant from the Rural Reporting Initiative at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida. To learn more or get involved, click here.
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The deadline to email the City is Monday November 10th at Noon. Anyone is welcome to attend in person on 11/18 6pm at City Hall in Alachua.
1,000 MORE homes? Why? When is enough “enough”? And to be constructed on top of an enviromentally-sensitive area?
From where will the water come to support another 1,000 homes?
For years already local rivers and springs have suffered from reduced water flow.
At peak travel times, traffic is unbearable in the 441 corridor between Gainesville and High Springs.
As a long-time resident of northwestern unincorporated Alachua County, I can attest to a dramatic increase in the number of road kills, because of loss of deer (and other wildlife) habitat to unrelentless development.
Stop this madness.
CR235A is crumbling. Traffic is backed up two to three blocks at 441 and CR241 intersection. School zones create each week day, overly congested roadways and insufficient parking availability for activities. Current school zones require drop-off and pickup traffic to wait for access to schools on the active roadways, in turn lanes, halfway on road easements and yards, blocking driveways, and with potential emergency access blocked or delayed. There is minimal availability, reinforcement and repair or widening of roads or shoulders or easements evident in the Alachua city area including a railway overpass that restricts widening of a narrow road with current development, and in a direct access path to a large city park facility. There is no way that the fledgling roadways and narrow streets, with the sidewalk averse city byways of this little town support the gargantuan footprint of these growth initiatives. The disregard of essential natural features, existing structures and resources, reserve wild lands abundant with sinkholes, creek ways and wetlands is arrogance at a puzzling level.
The city hall staff does not work for the 9000 voters in Alachua who pay them. The were hand picked to do one thing: Rubber stamp and approve real estate development to profit 10 people, out of town developers. ALL of them must be replaced, or nothing will change. They are toxic, underqualified, and way overpaid. But loyal to The System.
County Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler is now threatening legal action over this permit, yet she’s the same commissioner who’s already raised eyebrows over changes to her own homestead exemption. She also sat on the commission that allowed an $84 million budget overrun and pushed through nearly $2 million for AI cameras on every county vehicle. And now, to make things even worse, Alachua County’s own staff have rated our county roads an “F.”
At this point, disappointment doesn’t even begin to cover it. Before launching into another legal battle, Commissioner Wheeler should be answering for the financial mismanagement, the questionable decision-making, and the state of basic county services. Taxpayers deserve accountability — not another distraction from the problems already piling up.
Thank you, Main Street, for keeping us informed. Though I’m aware of all the information, having the timeline is very helpful.
City of Alachua should know how important it is to protect our rivers, streams, cave systems but money is more important to them. Water is a finite resource you cannot buy more of!! Get real coa!