- Alachua County successfully negotiated additional easement with GRU to save five live oak trees during Parker Road expansion.
- Alachua County is investigating its Animal Resources department following public concerns about improper euthanasia and plans to hire a veterinarian and build a $30 million shelter.
- The county approved rezoning an 8-acre parcel on Archer Road to allow up to 112 housing units, including affordable units for tenants earning 80% or less of the area median income.
- Alachua County agreed to purchase 55 acres at Newnans Lake for $549,400, with closing expected in August 2026, preserving land within key environmental focus areas.
The Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) heard updates on the investigation into its Animal Resources department on Tuesday while also voting to purchase 55 acres at Newnans Lake and rezone a parcel along Archer Road for up to 112 units.
At the end of the meeting, Chair Ken Cornell also asked for an update about the negotiation with Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) to amend the county’s Parker Road (NW 122nd Street) expansion design in order to save five live oak trees.
Missy Daniels, assistant county manager, said the negotiations with GRU were successful and that the utility agreed to give an extra 16 to 17 feet of extra easement. The extra easement only includes the initial part of the road expansion just north of Newberry Road, where the county is trying to save five live oak trees.
She said the county is looking ahead to the next phase of the project to ensure another last-minute tree rescue isn’t needed. While wooded, she said the next second segment lacks as many large trees.
Cornell said he wanted to publicly thank GRU CEO Ed Bielarski and the utility for the decision. He added that despite some expert comment that the trees were already damaged and beyond saving, county staff believe the trees could survive.
Animal Resources
Concerned public commenters flooded the chambers on Tuesday and to speak about the investigation the county started into its own Animal Resources department. The commenters wore shirts with photos of dogs that had, according to them, been improperly euthanized at the shelter.
Their comments extended what is normally a 30-minute limit on public comment to around an hour.
The group also presented a 25-page report that included a timeline on Animal Resource’s dealings with Emerald Shores Humane Society and backup emails detailing how dogs were euthanized earlier this year.
County Manager Michele Lieberman said the investigation, done by an outside attorney, is continuing with employee depositions expected soon.
Lieberman highlighted that the county is taking a serious look at Animal Resources, posting assistant managers at the shelter for supervision, hiring a veterinarian in the next month, looking at more staff and making improvements to the shelter building. The county also entered a plan with UF to build a new, $30 million shelter just south of the main campus.
“We are in a very difficult position,” Lieberman said about the investigation. “The public wants answers, but some of the people with the most direct knowledge are the ones whose information is being discounted. So that makes the process more difficult and more time-consuming.
Lieberman was referencing that the public commenters named Gina Peebles, county chief of staff and interim director of animal resources, and Brittany D’Azzo, animal resources shelter supervisor, as part of the problem.
Lieberman said there’s been no direct evidence that would support sidelining these employees and said more oversight is now in place. She said the accusations are serious, but the investigation must remain focused on facts. Any employees accused also deserve fairness while the investigation happens, Lieberman said.
Alachua County is currently interviewing finalists for its Animal Resources director position. The county has had three directors over the past five years.
Lieberman said the county is conducting the search as it would a county manager search. The finalist will visit the shelter, talk with staff, be interviewed by the citizen-filled Animal Welfare Advisory Committee and have one-on-one interviews with county commissioners.
“We have elevated this to a level unheard of for a department director because it is so important to you and to the community,” Lieberman told the BOCC.
Commissioner Anna Prizzia and other commissioners assured the public that if any employees violated standard procedure or faked documentation, the BOCC would want to know and ensure those staffers no longer work for the county.
Cornell added that the timeline from the citizens gave him additional questions for the staff. The first: why were Lilly and 50 Scent, dogs in the animal shelter, called back from their foster homes before being eventually euthanized?
Archer Road rezoning
The BOCC approved a rezoning and new land use for an 8-acre parcel off Archer Road, allowing the potential density to move from 64 units to 112 for the site.
The project is one of several happening around the Tower Road and Archer Road intersection and the first to use the county’s affordable housing incentives to get extra units.
Prizzia said it’ll be the first that will need to comply with the new land-use restriction agreement set up for the affordable housing process. She said she wants staff to keep in close contact with the developer to see how the process unfolds and what tools the developer might need.
The agreement will set aside units for tenants who make 80% or less of the area’s median income.
“It’s baby steps in the right direction,” Prizzia said. “It’s just a few units, but every unit helps.”
The county report also notes that any development would be required to connect to the roadway stubs within the Park Lane development to the north and east, allowing more access than just Archer Road.
Newnans Lake purchase
The BOCC also signed off on the purchase of 55 acres with a small frontage on Newnans Lake. The purchase price was $549,400 with a 10% contingency approved by the commissioners.
Closing is expected to take place in August 2026.
The property is located within several environmental focus areas, including the East Side Newnans Lake Strategic Ecosystem, East Newnans Lake Alachua County Forever Project Area, Florida Wildlife Corridor and Orange Creek Basin Management Action Plan crediting area.
Suggested Articles
No related articles found.
MORE apartments? Is the population growing at a rate that justifies more and more new apartment complexes or are people just moving from one abode to another? Or are Alachua County and Gainesville permitting a glut of new housing construction for people relocating from south and central Florida?
More apartments = more people.
At present the area is in a severe drought. From where will the water come to support more and more people without further diminishing resources for current residents?
Also, traffic is already abysmal. More people = more vehicles on the roads. More vehicles = more emissions, further adding to climate change.
Unbriidled development and growth is unfair to currents.
At this rate Alachua County is destined to be the next Duval or Orange or Dade County.
Who is accountable for sustainable growth?
The ACBOCC could care less about any cost: It’s your money they are spending like drunken sailors! Only one way to stop them is to vote them out (those who are in the Nov 26 election) and then aim for the rest of the “Big taxpayer money” spenders next term!
Current ACBOCC members (and the AC Manager with her $250,000+ salary) are laughing all the way to the bank with your high property taxes, gas tax, and their “separate” police and fire department taxes (which they say is not property tax! F them!)
Too bad the AC Democratic Party is so liberal and Communist; they grab your tax money for BS causes year after year! Best bet: Leave this crap hole county!
Wait! I thought AC was against KINGS!
What we are seeing right now is a failure of leadership at the highest level.
The public has been presented with detailed reports, timelines, and supporting emails outlining serious concerns about how animals were handled and euthanized at the shelter. Yet instead of decisive action, we are hearing delays, deflection, and excuses about how difficult the process is.
This is not acceptable.
When trust is broken at this level especially involving the treatment of animals leadership should act immediately to restore confidence. Instead, we are being told to wait while the very people named in these concerns remain in place and continue operating under the same system that is under investigation.
That is not accountability. That is avoidance.
Michele Lieberman has stated that there is no direct evidence yet to take action. But leadership is not just about reacting after the fact is about protecting the public trust in real time. Right now, that trust is gone.
The community should not have to fight this hard to be heard, and it should not take this long to see meaningful action.
For these reasons, I am calling on the Board of County Commissioners to remove Michele Lieberman as County Manager and bring in leadership that will act decisively, transparently, and with urgency.
Anything less sends the message that this level of failure is acceptable. It is not.
Why would you add more congestion to the Archer/Tower Rd area? Have you done a traffic study and see how the morning and afternoon commute is already in excess of 30minutes to the west of the Tower Rd and Archer Rd intersection for eastbound commuters already due to traffic’s congestion and bus stops that back the commuters up? The volume of cars , trucks and buses coming from all the towns west, north and south, from including Haile and Tower Rd and all the schools, that use Archer to get to work, etc is horrible. I have lived in large metropolitan cities that do not have these issues and it takes 25-30minutes to go 3miles every morning staring at 7:15am. And then the same thing in reverse with the back up starting well before that same intersection on the westbound lanes on the way home. I have seen the traffic back up all the way to just before Parker Rd in the eastbound lanes and adding more, then I am sure you will have that occurring. Come on this is simple math. You have to expand and add roads as Archer cannot manage the traffic as it is no less more. In other counties, they actually make the developer solve these issues and pay the cost.