The Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) tackled a variety of issues during its meeting Tuesday, from a scenic road designation to extending water and sewer service to a private school and a rezoning of the former Wahoo Seafood Grill.

Lakeshore Drive scenic road

Based on a recommendation from its Environmental Protection Advisory Committee and local residents, the BOCC asked county staff to review Lakeshore Drive, around the western side of Newnans Lake, for inclusion in its scenic road program.

The scenic road program includes six roads, from Micanopy up to High Springs. The last road to be added was Tuscawilla Road in 2021.

However, public commenters showed up and asked the county to deny the designation. The commenters were mostly homeowners on the road and said the designation could increase traffic and worsen road conditions.

When the item came up on the agenda, county commissioners didn’t even wait for staff to present. Commissioner Anna Prizzia put forward a motion to approve the staff recommendation, which was for the designation to not be given.

The motion passed unanimously, and the entire item lasted less than a minute—not including the earlier public comment.

Wahoo Seafood Grill

Once a Gainesville staple, Wahoo Seafood Grill closed in 2025, but a request for a new land use and zoning shows new activity could take over the spot, located at 3833 NW 97th Blvd.

The BOCC approved a land use change from tourist/entertainment to commercial and a zoning change from highway-oriented business to retail/sales and service business. It’s a broad category that offers flexibility for future development.

Westside Christian School

Westside Christian School currently meets at Westside Baptist Church off Newberry Road and NW 98th Street but plans to relocate its elementary school to Parker Road (SW 122nd Street).

According to Ryan Thompson, a planner for NV5 and agent for the school, Westside Baptist Church purchased the buildings of Faith Baptist Church (3200 SW 122nd St.) at its request. Faith Baptist Church will still meet on Sundays and for other events, but now Westside Christian School can use the space during the week.

Property appraiser documents show the sale happened last year, and Westside paid $10 for the 65,300-square-foot building spaces.

The request Tuesday was for a preliminary development review with a special condition: allow the school to connect with water and wastewater services if they want. That condition caused a debate on the board, with commissioners deciding to delay a vote.

Faith Baptist Church is on the west side of Parker Road, just outside the urban cluster boundary.

Inside the boundary, anyone can hook up to water and wastewater from Gainesville Regional Utilities. That’s the area where the county wants to incentivize urban growth.

But outside the boundary, the county limits water and wastewater expansion to limit urban sprawl and keep the rural, unincorporated feel.

According to county staff, Westside Christian School could expand to its proposed 750 students and remain on sewer and well.

Thompson said the school initially wanted only water service to power its fire sprinkler system. But county staff wanted the site to be on wastewater to avoid the addition of nitrogen from the high level of septic use.

The county staff recommendation would allow wastewater along with water service but not bind the school to both. Thompson said the school would want to connect with wastewater as the county requests but that the cost is prohibitive.

Thompson said the extension of wastewater would be expensive and wasn’t included in the school’s budget since it came from staff after the project submittal. But Prizzia said that comes with the territory of deciding to build a private school in a rural area.

Prizzia said she wants the school on both water and wastewater or neither. She said the current recommendation gives the school exactly what it requested without committing to anything the county wants.

“They want a school in an area that doesn’t have the utility services that are necessary to build that school,” Prizzia said. “They should be building that school in an area that either has those utility services, or they need to budget those utility services if they want us to extend them to them.”

She said a private school can then gather the connection costs from its tuition, like with all its other costs.

Commissioners also worried about traffic on Parker Road if the pickup or drop-off lines extend onto the road. Thompson said the plan is for traffic to loop around the school twice and there’s more room to expand the loop if needed.

He said the school would expand over time and isn’t near the 750-student load currently.

Assistant County Manager Missy Daniels asked the BOCC to delay a vote on the item to allow staff to return with more answers on the extension of wastewater and let the school confer with NV5 on how they can move forward.

Cornell noted that the delay allows the project to return quickly versus a denial. County Manager Michele Lieberman also said the county can now quickly advertise the new meeting since legal notices run through its own website.