The Alachua City Commission unanimously voted during a regular meeting on Monday to grant staff the final say on approving land developments instead of requiring a vote from the dais.
Resolution 25-11 conforms city policy with the new state law, as Senate Bill 784 is set to take effect on July 1.
According to meeting back-up documents, the law says that a final plat may be administratively approved with “no further action or approval of the governing body.”
Land Development Regulation (LDR) applications must still go through the standard development review process, but the law appoints the city’s Land Development Regulations Administrator (LDRA) as the official responsible for approving or denying plats instead of the commission.
Rodolfo Valladares assumed the LDRA role when the commission selected him as interim city manager earlier this month.
City Attorney Marian Rush said the change is just one of many more to come from Tallahassee and that staff would evaluate its impacts over time.
“More and more is being taken from Tallahassee, and they do not care [about] the havoc that they’re creating locally,” she said. “So yes, we will be looking at this again in a lot of detail. We just wanted to make sure we stayed in compliance with state statute.”
The new policy came amid public concern over the commission directing staff to research the Tomoka Hills development’s potential land use changes from agricultural to residential.
The motion to do so passed 4-1, with Commissioner Jacob Fletcher in dissent.
“I hope, however, this vote goes that we make sure we cross our t’s and dot our I’s on it,” Fletcher said. “But based off of what I’ve seen and my understanding, I’m going to have to say nay.”
Although the site plan for a golf course on the development has already been approved because it complies with the agricultural land use, Tomoka Hills staff said low-density residential land use would allow them to make the golf course private.
They said they hoped the changes would clear any confusion that homes would be built on the golf course.
The commission’s approval also allowed the developers to skip the pre-application conference step of the process, circumventing a one-year waiting period before resubmittal.
Along with other residents, Alachua County Water Resource Program Manager Stacey Greco expressed concerns over the development’s projected negative impacts on water quality.
Because of the Tomoka Hills’ proximity to Mill Creek Sink and projected water use of 52,400 gallons per day for just the golf course—more than Meadowbrook Golf Course used and around the same amount as the entire city of Alachua uses—she said the county is concerned about harmful impacts to both water quality and quantity.
“The most recent status assessment shows that we are not meeting the minimum flows and levels,” Greco said. “We are in recovery on the Santa Fe River and the Ichetucknee, so that means that with the water that we’re already using, we need to start reducing use, not increasing use, if we want to have healthy springs and rivers.”
To increase transparency and bridge meeting accessibility gaps for disabled or elderly citizens, the city moved to direct Valladares to gather information on livestream platforms it could use.
The commission also held off on upholding or repealing its alcohol ordinance until churches and other affected stakeholders had been consulted beyond email about the changes.
Two of the city’s three empty Citizen Advisory Task Force (CATF) seats were also filled on Monday after Diane Carlson and E. Stanley Richardson secured three out of five votes over Vailma Fernández and Julie Smith.
Since Fernández and Smith failed to secure a majority of votes, the third position will be re-advertised and revoted on at a later date.