The High Springs City Commission reached a stalemate to repeal the city’s contentious Sunday alcohol sale ordinance during a joint meeting with the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) on Thursday.
Mayor Tristan Grunder’s motion to repeal the alcohol ordinance within city limits failed following a 2-2 vote, with Commissioners Andrew Miller and Katherine Weitz in dissent and Commissioner Wayne Bloodsworth absent.
The commission will revisit the motion during the next regular meeting on June 26 after city staff reviews code to determine whether the repeal could also bar breweries from opening within a few hundred yards of each other.
“There’s a very large majority of the city that would like to have alcohol sales open up on Sunday,” Grunder said. “It’s almost become personal now to a certain business here in High Springs. They’re not allowed to be open, but they’re a very family-friendly business.
Currently, High Springs’ “Hours of Sale” ordinance does allow for beer, wine and liquor to be sold in restaurants on Sundays, except after 1 p.m. Establishments like breweries who make less than 51% in gross revenue from food must petition the city for a special permit to sell alcohol outside those hours.
Public commentors called the ordinance antiquated and outdated, saying the city was growing and needed to adapt with the times. Others said their desire to keep it in place didn’t come from religious reasons, but rather they wanted a day of rest from the influx of traffic and noise accompanying extra sales.
Grunder said on top of the economic impact the ordinance has on the city’s tourism with people buying alcohol elsewhere before they come to the springs, the ordinance has become a “one business flogging” against High Springs Brewing that he said is unacceptable.
The co-owners of the brewery said during public comment that the commission’s failure to put the ordinance on the ballot for the citizens to vote on it was unethical and personal.
“We are one of the few breweries who opened right before COVID, and we’re still here because of the community,” said Kristie Ayers, wife of High Springs Brewery co-owner Kiffin Ayers. “If you cared what [citizens] thought about this, it would have been on that ballot, and we wouldn’t have to be here again in this psychotic little Groundhog Day conversation that we continue to have.”
The audience cheered when County Commissioner Ken Cornell suggested the city make a motion to repeal the ordinance themselves instead of going through the steps to get it on the ballot.
After the motion died, Kristie Ayers called the commission hypocrites for drinking at their brewery but voting for the ordinance. She then walked out of the meeting.
Weitz said she was willing to have the conversation, especially with a petition to repeal the ordinance already circulating and gaining momentum. But she said she didn’t think the meeting was the time or place without a full commission.
Miller suggested the stipulation in the motion of repeal to include breweries not opening within a few hundred yards of each other to address concerns about noise.
County Commissioner Mary Alford acknowledged the high emotions of the topic and thanked the city for letting them be part of the discussion.
“This is democracy in action, and this is what makes it all work,” she said.
During the joint meeting, the county presented the city with the results of a survey conducted on 11 of its community resource centers. They defined the centers as public locations where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information and other purposes.
County staff said they did the survey, wanting to identify the centers in need of financial support or who they could help connect to other pre-existing organizations.
One of the places surveyed was Deeper Purpose Community Church, which provides residents with housing, food, clothing, employment and utility assistance, and refers people to larger resource networks.
High Springs police officer and the church’s lead pastor, Adam Joy, said his church has a county-wide outreach, which he believed warranted financial support from the county.
While the county said it could work with Deeper Purpose to connect them with its staff as resources, they said its main funding focus would have to be for specific community centers instead of arms of church outreaches that didn’t fit its specific center definition.
The city also presented the county with updates on its 109-acre Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA). Projects have included commercial and residential facade grant programs, the farmer’s market, downtown beautification, adding more sidewalks and parking near the water tower.
According to staff’s CRA budget breakdown, the city spent $60,000 on the facade programs, $118,500 on personnel, and $335,000 on the capital investment project’s planning and professional services.
It made around $12,000 in rental income and $307,460 in tax increment financing split between the city and county.
Staff said their next phase of improvements would include fixing up the outside of Priest Theatre, reworking more parking at Prohibition Pizza and developing the strategic plan for a 58-acre expansion to the CRA.
The commissions also expressed support for a proposed rails-to-trails bike path connecting High Springs and Newberry, as well as a $333,000 joint county and city project for fixing up the Canoe Outpost on the Santa Fe River.
Improvements would include a new ADA-compliant boat ramp for recreation after a hurricane destroyed the property’s previous one, and a resident emphasized the importance of preserving the property’s educational aspect it as High Springs sits on top of an aquifer.
County Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler said she hoped the city would capitalize on revitalizing the unique property, which made memories for her and has the potential to for many others.
“I lived there for two years upstairs,” she said. “Hopefully, there’ll be enough people involved in this community who will help make sure that that stays intact.”