The Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) voted to allow wetland impacts for the 1,067-acre Hawthorne Industrial Park and to keep the same commissioner districts despite preliminary approval of a new map at its Tuesday meeting. 

Wetland impacts 

The Weyerhaeuser property has evolved over 15 years of plans and approvals. It started as part of Plum Creek Timber Company’s “Envision Alachua Task Force” before submitting plans to Alachua County. The 1,067-acre site was removed from that overall plan and annexed into the city of Hawthorne in 2015 before the Plum Creek plan was denied by the county.  

While Hawthorne now has control over development plans, a referendum passed by voters in 2000 and then in 2018 gives Alachua County and the BOCC final approval for all wetland impacts, even if it’s within a city’s limits.  

The industrial park developers submitted a plan with 87 acres of wetland impacts on the thousand-acre site. County staff countered with revisions and 15 total acres of wetland impacts.  

Part of the developer’s plan would include 443 acres of off-site wetland mitigation, a few miles down the road, adjacent to Little Orange Creek Nature Preserve. Staff’s revised plan wouldn’t include off-site mitigation.  

Weyerhaeuser said the site is unique in the entire southeast, saying only 11 other locations have the same characteristics that make it extremely attractive to big industrial companies.  

The site has access to an active CSX railway line with connections to ports in Tampa and Jacksonville. Plus, the site borders two major roadway connections: US 301 headed to I-10 and US 24 into Gainesville or toward I-95.  

“We’ve got to get this project as close to what you call shovel-ready as possible, to be competitive, or this is all just a dream, and we need the county’s help with that,” said Clay Sweger with eda consultants.  

Weyerhaeuser said the company has had interested parties but no finalized contracts. That’s part of why the project needs county approval. With BOCC approval, all hurdles are cleared for Weyerhaeuser to finalize contracts.  

Gray Swoope, a real estate expert for Weyerhaeuser, said the industry fears uncertainty and seeks flexibility.  

The large site provides good flexibility, but with the wetland mitigation hurdle still unresolved, it has had uncertainties for prospective companies.  

Dr. Mike Dennis, another Weyerhaeuser expert, said that the wetlands on the site aren’t high-quality. The entire property has been used for silviculture for decades. Meanwhile, the off-site mitigation area has higher-quality wetlands to protect.  

Under the county’s plan, Dennis said the lower quality wetlands would be preserved while the higher quality wetlands remain open for impacts; the site has also been used for silviculture. 

Mark Brown, natural resources program manager for the county, said staff isn’t able to take that into account. With off-site mitigation, he said, a developer can always provide more and more acres to mitigate any development they want to move forward. 

The BOCC approved a mix between the two plans.  

Commissioner Anna Prizzia presented a motion to allow up to 44 acres of wetland impacts, but no impacts within the wildlife corridors on the property, without separate approval. The motion also included all of the offsite mitigation proposed under Weyerhaeuser’s original plan.  

The wildlife corridors are allowed to have two impacts from a railway spur and a road that needs to stretch across. The motion passed unanimously. 

BOCC districts 

The county started its redistricting discussion early in 2025. After three maps from a consultant landed flat before the BOCC, the county opened the redistricting process to the public to submit options.   

The BOCC received 12 options, selected two for review and ended with a 3-2 vote in favor of option 8.  

However, on Tuesday, Commissioner Mary Alford said she’d heard from multiple citizens against option 8 and in favor of option 4 (the other finalist).  

“I feel bad to, sort of, change my mind, but I can’t support the map,” Alford said. “I just had too many people with real, real, real concerns about it.” 

Prizzia agreed. She said a lot of people weren’t aware of the conversations from the start. The BOCC also isn’t in a rush now that the courts have settled the single-member districts versus at-large districts issue.  

The BOCC will use at-large districts for 2026, making the actual boundaries of less importance since all voters in the county get to select each of the commissioners. The tight deadline to pick a new map for 2026 would also require special meetings in the next few weeks. 

“People were very unaware of the conversations,” Prizzia said. “We were on a path, and it was a good path, but now we’re getting a lot of pushback.” 

She said the county should still move forward with a redistricting plan, but on a longer timeline.  

For now, the county will keep the current district map.