The Gainesville City Commission voted to take out a $22 million loan to build the new Gainesville Police Department Property and Evidence building and to continue forward with the 8th Avenue and Waldo Road project.  

The commission also had a long discussion and split vote to change course on redesigning two streets east of UF’s campus to only allow one-way traffic.  

Commissioners Ed Book, Desmon Duncan-Walker and Cynthia Chestnut voted to stop the plan, citing safety, parking and funding concerns. The total project cost is estimated at $1.2 million, and the plan has been in the works since 2019, when a previous commission approved it. 

Chestnut also said the project will hurt the Fifth Avenue neighborhood. She said she plans to stop the city’s destruction of neighborhoods while still in office.  

“Our neighborhoods are being impacted and are being destroyed, and so at some point we’ve got to stop,” Chestnut said. 

The city recently changed streets north of campus into one-way pairs as part of its VisionZero plan to increase pedestrian and cyclist safety.  

The commission voted to sign a loan with Regions Bank for no more than $22 million. The City Commission has that revenue coming in through the Wild Spaces, Public Places surtax, but those funds are spread out over the coming years. The loan allows the city to immediately begin the construction on the evidence building and pay back Regions Bank as the new surtax funds are collected.  

The commissioners also signed off on a contract that sets the limit for the police department’s evidence building at $19 million.  

City staff updated the commissioner on the 8th Avenue and Waldo Road project. The city is leaning toward renovating the Martin Luther King Jr. Multipurpose Center while focusing dollars on the two amenities that could fail soon: Citizens Field and the Dwight H. Hunter Pool.  

Currently, the city has identified $30 million in funding. The scenario looked at on Thursday calls for $53 million, and staff said the city could start with remediation, multipurpose fields, stormwater, trails, stadium, parking, competition pool, demolition of the existing pool, a community pool and a pad where a future senior center could be built.  

The additional funds would cover building the senior center, renovating the multipurpose center, a new playground and lighting the fields. 

The City Commission didn’t take action on Thursday, but staff plan to open the project to bids later this month.  

The city also started negotiations to sell the Citizens Field property to the School Board of Alachua County. The tentative price is $5.5 million.