- Construction of three new businesses across from Santa Fe High School caused flooding that damaged the school's softball field and facilities.
- The school district is testing the field for mold and working with water management and FDOT to find a permanent flood solution.
- Community members demand accountability from developers as flooding threatens volunteer efforts and the upcoming softball season.
Rather than focusing entirely on preparing for a state championship run, Santa Fe High School softball sophomore Rylee Swilley is worried about whether the school’s field can withstand weeks of flooding—and the threat of more rain.
The former No. 1 freshman pitcher in the nation told Mainstreet that the softball field started flooding after construction broke ground a few months ago on three new businesses coming to Westside Commons along US Highway 441 in Alachua, across the street from the high school. The businesses include Heartland Dental, Dutch Bros Coffee and Chipotle.
Swilley said she and her mom drove by the fields one day during a rainstorm and saw it filling up. They came back that night to find the complex completely flooded.
Swilley said the water destroyed the softball bathroom and locker room floors and lockers. The concession stands, visiting bullpen and flower beds completed by volunteers during the past season had been washed out, and the dugouts and batting cages filled with mud.
“Our season starts next week,” Swilley said. “Our team should be focused on preparing for the season and instead we’re worried about the flooding.”
Alachua County Public School District spokesperson Jackie Johnson said the district was made aware of the damage on Monday and confirmed the flooding came from the Westside Commons construction.
She said all the facilities had been cleaned up and dried off, and the sediment removed from the softball field. Out of an abundance of caution, the district is testing the grounds for mold and the district will meet with Suwannee River Water Management District next week to discuss the extent of the damage.
But the district is still searching for a permanent solution before it rains again.
As a temporary measure, Johnson said the district hired a vendor to cover the softball field fenceline with a large number of sandbags. But the bags had to be removed after the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) said they couldn’t go there.
Johnson said the district would continue working with FDOT to figure out where the bags can go.
She also said the FDOT is reviewing the design plans for Heartland Dental, Chipotle and Dutch Brothers and has contacted the contractors to find out what went wrong.
“The issue is if there’s another significant amount of rain,” Johnson said. “That’s why we’ve hired the company to do sandbagging until we can develop a permanent solution.”
Community members have called for the developer and building crews to be held accountable for the damage. The issue came before the City Commission on Monday when a citizen presented a Facebook video of the flooding during a regular meeting.
Alachua County resident Chuck McCray posted the video, which garnered almost 100 shares. It showed rivers of water flowing around the softball complex’s perimeter, pooling in the field and surrounding facilities.
Commissioner Jacob Fletcher said he’d heard of the same thing happening with drainage from the Tolosa subdivision development flowing into the Montclair neighborhood. He asked what the city could do to hold developers accountable for unchecked construction.
City Manager Rodolfo Valladares said the city could contact FDOT to ensure proper measures like silt fences are being installed according to the developer’s permit.
He also said the city was able to address the drainage in Montclair because citizens brought the complaint forward, and he encouraged everyone to continue doing so when they saw problems.
Alakai Acquisitions is listed as the applicant for the new Westside Commons businesses (Newberry is also slated to get a Chipotle and Heartland Dental, but from a different development team).
Mainstreet contacted Zach Pinel, listed with Alakai on the Alachua applications. He said he’s not in the know about the development, but that he’d reach out to the contractor on site for comments about the project. Mainstreet did not receive a response.
McCray, who filmed the flooding, said in the post that things needed to change soon to keep hours of volunteer work, player efforts, family involvement and sponsorship contributions from getting washed away every time it rains.
“Someone outside of the coaches, players, family members, and sponsors needs to take responsibility for this, come up with a solution, and fix the problem they created,” he said. “It needs to happen immediately.”