A unanimous vote from the Alachua City Commission on Monday rezoned a 111-acre parcel of land to pave the way for the development of single-family homes near San Felasco Hammock State Park.
The city annexed the parcel adjacent to the park and Calvary Baptist Church from Alachua County in 2004. The land couldn’t be developed until it was given a Land Development Resignation designation by the city.
The property’s owner, San Felasco Research Ventures, LLC, applied to rezone the parcel from agriculture (county) to planned development (residential), planned development (commercial) and conservation on behalf of San Felasco Research Ventures.
Staff said the commercial designation would encourage sprawl by extending zoning common to the existing business district along US Hwy 441 and would be a step down in use intensity for the conservation designation.
A development known as The Hammack plans for up to 340 single-family homes and a maximum of 150,000-square-foot non-residential units on 103 of the 111 acres.
Commissioner Jacob Fletcher was absent from Monday’s dais, but a second hearing and final reading of the approved rezoning will be held on Oct. 13.
The commission also approved a tentative budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
The budget totals $61,040,093 with $19,939,437 in the general fund and a 6.25 millage rate increased from the current 5.95.
The total budget is around $6 million less than the 2024-25 year, and nearly $20 million more than 2023-24. Nearly one-quarter of the budget, or around $14.5 million, uses fund balance reserves.
The proposed millage would be 8.86% more than the 5.7413 rollback rate of 5.7413, which would generate $743,944 less than the 6.25 mills.
Interim City Manager Rodolfo Valladares said the budget both prepares for growth to continue in the city while also maintaining reliable services as costs rise.
He said some of the key financial priorities for the 2025-26 year will be growing the Alachua Police Department’s staff, launching the city’s solar project, completing a new well field, furthering the Hathcock Community Center project and live streaming its meetings.
A final hearing for Alachua to approve its budget will be held on Sept. 22.
“This budget is more than numbers,” Valladares said. “It is a blueprint to long-term success, ensuring we continue to deliver high-quality services our residents expect while building a resilient, sustainable and future-ready city.”
Monday’s regular meeting was also City Attorney Marian Rush’s last.
In August, the City Commission voted 3-2 to fire Rush, who’d served the city for 22 years. Commissioner Jennifer Ringersen made the motion to do so during commissioner comment of the Aug. 11 regular meeting, with Vice Mayor Shirley Green Brown and Commissioner Dayna Williams voting in favor.
During public comment at the beginning of Monday’s meeting, Alachua residents, former city staff and commission members expressed their appreciation for Rush for her time with the city.
Former Mayor and Commissioner Jean Calderwood said Rush had done a “yeoman’s job” for Alachua. She said Rush navigated the city through contentious times, frivolous lawsuits and successful developments, often giving staff advice they didn’t want to hear.
Former city planner Justin Tabor said the 17 years he’d worked with Rush had been a privilege. He said he gained an immense amount of experience about planning from Rush and that the city wouldn’t have navigated through the tumultuous circumstances it did without her.
Tabor was one of three planning staff members who resigned in February. The resignations prompted the commission two separate times to task Rush with finding legal counsel that could perform an investigation into them. Rush was fired one meeting after the commission voted to call off an investigation into the resignations of three of its former city planners for the second time.
“There was a time when the city had very few, close to zero lawsuits, which is almost unheard of,” Tabor said. “She and I might not have always agreed, but we had a mutual respect for one another, working together, and I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that everything that she has done has been with the city’s best interests at heart.”
Tabor also read a letter on behalf of Alachua’s former land use attorney, David Theriaque, who terminated his contract with the city last month after 21 years.
Theriaque told Tabor he planned to be at the meeting but was under the weather. His letter acknowledged that Rush often went the extra mile with late nights and weekends to make sure the City Commission’s decisions could withstand legal challenges and that her hard work caused the city to prevail in several high-profile lawsuits.
After the comments, Rush exchanged places with attorney Scott Walker of Folds Walker Attorneys at Law, who presided over the meeting. Walker will serve as the city’s interim city attorney until it finds a full-time replacement.
He said Rush had been a colleague he’d admired for many years and that he’d have big shoes to fill in her place.