The Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) approved a special exception for the Flamingo Sports Center and heard a review of its pilot energy efficiency program.  

The commissioners also finalized their list of legislative priorities to send to Tallahassee and Washington, D.C. The priorities included funding to improve water quality at Newnans Lake, to expand Archer Road and to enhance jail facilities on Tuesday. 

The BOCC also asked for state leaders to clarify the roles of counties and cities in the homeless bill passed last year. 

The Flamingo Sports Center is a development planned for Archer Road, just outside the urban cluster and near the Historic Haile Homestead. The facility would focus on racquet sports, mainly tennis and pickleball.  

The developers went to the Local Planning Agency in November to get a special exception for the project. Because it lies outside the urban cluster, the development is limited by codes to 1,500 square feet of building space, but the facility wants 6,500 square feet of space to use as a clubhouse, store and concession stand.  

The Local Planning Agency approved the special exception, and the BOCC mirrored their motion. However, Commissioner Anna Prizzia raised concerns about so many people, potentially hundreds each day, using septic and well.  

She said that many people using the center would be equivalent, in septic terms, to a small housing development and the site is within a high recharge area for the aquifer.  

Prizzia asked if the developer could install an advanced septic system (enhanced nutrient-reducing system) instead of using the one originally planned for the YMCA in 2008.  

The representatives for the development said they planned to use the septic system already on site if it met the requirements. Clay Sweger, a planner for eda Consultants, said he believed the state would take over septic permitting and likely have protections considered advanced in place.  

But the BOCC did include a provision, with consent from Sweger, to include a provision that the site uses an enhanced nutrient-reducing system if an upgraded septic system proved necessary.  

The development will still need to go through the normal development process now that it has the special exception.  

Alachua County launched its energy efficiency program last year, aiming to help low-income renters afford utilities.  

The program served 66 applicants with the most basic tune-up. Of those applicants, the county has started or finished upgrades on 14 units, with renters at or below 50% of the area median income.  

Those 14 units included 10 with new central HVAC systems and new insulation, eight with new windows, four with new toilets, three with new driers and three with new fridges among other upgrades. Each unit can have up to $15,000 in upgrades. 

The county will now implement the full program and allow applicants from the city of Gainesville that was excluded from the pilot.  

The program provides the funds for free if landlords agree not to raise rates for a period of time that fluctuates on the cost of the upgrades.  

For more information, you can visit the Alachua County Energy Efficiency Program webpage.