- The Newberry City Commission approved site plans for two concrete batch plants and unanimously purchased downtown property for $125,000 for parking.
- Four residents were appointed to the Planning and Zoning Board with terms ending in April 2028.
The Newberry City Commission approved site plans for two concrete batch plants during a regular meeting on Monday, before confirming Planning and Zoning Board appointments and moving forward with a $125,000 purchase of property downtown to build a parking lot.
The vote in favor of the Norfleet Batch Plant was unanimous. According to meeting backup documents, the 54-acre site will operate at 2802 NW State Road 45 north of the Easton Newberry Archery Center. The facility will primarily serve Norfleet Construction projects but will offer ready-mix concrete for the community.
Plans account for a 5,000-square-foot ancillary office, concrete batch plant, truck circulation and loading areas, utilities and storm water management. Trucks are expected to average 14 daily trips off-site and six internal ones to NC Ranch.
The first land use amendment for the project was approved in March 2024 and the Planning and Zoning Board approved the site plans last month.
Site and development plans for the Smyrna Ready-Mix plant were approved by the commission 4-1, with Commissioner Tony Mazon in dissent.
The 9.60-acre site at 710 NW County Road 235 will include 600 square feet of office space and come with a few conditions because its northwest corner backs up to the Avalon Woods neighborhood.
Both plants will use dark sky lighting and could be subject to regulations from the Alachua County Hazardous Materials Management Code.
Although Commissioner Rick Coleman voted for the Smyrna plant, he said it aggravated him that it had taken over two years to approve a local concrete supplier when others from outside the community had been.
Not liking the location or buffering the Smyrna plant proposed, Mazon said he wouldn’t support the project. He said the buffer wasn’t adequate and would make the place like California without enough landscape, unlike Smyrna’s other plant in Cocoa Beach.
“I was against the buffering on this,” Mazon said. “I don’t think it’s sufficient enough, in my opinion. So, I’m not going to be supporting this.”
Downtown Newberry is going to get more parking on the south side after the City Commission unanimously approved a $125,000 purchase for a half-acre vacant lot as part of a land swap with Pat Post Properties.
Assistant City Manager Dallas Lee said the purchase compounds the Community Redevelopment Agency’s (CRA) $110,000 purchase last year for land off Seaboard Drive known as the Estes Property.
He said the city now wants to coordinate with the CRA to purchase the Post property and give the Estes Property to Mr. Post.
Commissioner Monty Farnsworth asked if the Post property had been appraised and Lee said it hadn’t. Farnsworth said he didn’t feel comfortable buying without an appraisal, but staff said the Alachua County Property Appraiser usually estimates on the lower end.
“We are paying an additional $125,000 for the Post property. So we’ll have invested $235,000 total in what would become the Post property,” said Mayor Tim Marden. “Under the property appraiser’s website, which we all know is usually lower, the estimated value on that property is $240,000. If it was $270,000 or $275,000, we’d be maybe $30,000 or $40,000 net to the good on that swap.”
The City Commission also appointed four new members to the five-seat Planning and Zoning Board and Historic Architectural Review Board.
Residents Jason McGehee (Seat 1), Bonnie Houser (Seat 2), Shawn Walker (Seat 3) and Daniel Thomas (Seat 4) will join Mellina Parker on the board with terms ending in April 2028. Marden serves as a non-voting chair.