The School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) discussed Citizens Field at its regular meeting on Wednesday night, receiving presentations from Gainesville City Manager Cynthia Curry, CHW Consulting’s Laurie Hall and Suzanne Wynn, director of community planning and concurrency for Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS). 

Hall presented two options for the 36-acre revitalization project, which encompasses the MLK Jr. Multipurpose Center, Citizens Field, Dwight H. Hunter Pool, multipurpose fields and Gainesville Fire Rescue facilities, with estimated completion in June 2025. She said the options came from a “tremendous amount” of public engagement and stakeholder input. 

“I can share some of the community feedback that we’ve gotten, is that there’s a lot of pride in these facilities,” Hall said. “There’s a lot of pride in the location of these facilities, but they’re not working.” 

School Board Member Thomas Vu asked for clarification on what the city and consultants wanted from the school board, and Curry responded to say the city is hoping for “partnership,” and wanted feedback on how the school board would be interested in participating in the cost of the Citizens Field portion of the renovation. 

Board Member Tina Certain said the school district is constrained in how it can use its funds, as it cannot expend capital funds on property it does not own. 

“Actually, my ask was going to be of my colleagues, to direct our superintendent to get with you all and just ask if the city would entertain transferring just the Citizens Field portion to us so that we could do some work with that,” Certain said. 

If ACPS does not own the property, it can only spend money on it from the general fund, which is the same fund used to pay many expenses, including teacher salaries.  

“I still feel like it’s really unclear, from the city’s presentation, what the specific ask is of us,” Vu said. “If it’s… to build this new stadium of $35 million from our general fund, that’s just a non-starter. That’s over 10% of an annual revenue from our general fund, and that’s $35 million that wouldn’t go to teachers and students.” 

Wynn’s presentation to the board included other options for how ACPS could proceed once its lease agreement on Citizens Field is up on June 30, 2026. 

Temporary solutions through the 2026 football season included either creating temporary stadiums at Buchholz and Eastside High Schools or pairing school stadiums—Gainesville High School would play at Santa Fe High School, Eastside at Hawthorne, and Buchholz at Newberry. 

Temporary stadiums would cost $2.6-3.2 million for each site, while pairing stadiums would be taxing to transport students and would require increased field maintenance for the additional use. 

Wynn’s permanent solutions included the following: 

• Renovate Citizens Field (two options) 

• Build a new stadium at the Citizens Field site 

• Build a new stadium at the site of Old Terwilliger, which should be demolished by May 

• Build a new stadium at the Loften/Horizon property 

• Build a new stadium at the Diamond Sports Park 

Renovation of Citizens Field is estimated to cost between $8 million and $20 million, while a new stadium would cost up to $35 million. 

Each of the other sites is estimated to cost about $22 million with a two-year timeline for 3,000-person capacity and 500 parking spaces, though each comes with caveats. 

Wynn said selling the Old Terwilliger site would save the district money in the long run, increasing funds for capital projects. The Loften/Horizon site would need to undergo an environmental evaluation for its wetlands. The Diamond Sports Park is far away from the three Gainesville high schools it would need to serve. 

Certain said she wants to make sure the focus is on redeveloping Citizens Field, not moving to a new location. She made a motion to direct Superintendent Kamela Patton to work with Curry to develop a plan to transfer Citizens Field to the school board so it can use its own capital funds on the property. She said the plan may include payment, or exchange for another parcel of land. 

Board Member Leanetta McNealy seconded the motion, and Vu asked to amend it to include a transfer of the entire 36-acre property so the school board could invest in multiple facilities that could become revenue generators. 

“If we have just the stadium, this just becomes another thing we’re just constantly spending money on,” Vu said. “And yes, our kids should have a nice facility, but if we’re not controlling the whole property, we’re not controlling parking, we’re not controlling any other part of it, and that, to me, is really problematic.” 

Vu’s amendment failed for lack of a second, and Certain’s motion passed 3-1, with Vu in dissent.