Proposed Development in Gilchrist County Round 2
Friends
I want to thank everyone one that helped out in the first meeting. If you can, please help out by writing letters and or attending the second meeting. In the message below from Georgia, she has done a good job of explaining whats coming up and the situation,
Tom
Hi Tom...
Below is an update explaining where we are on the Gilchrist Comp plan
changes.
TELL YOUR GILCHRIST COUNTY COMMISSIONERS:
VOTE NO ON PROPOSED COMPREHENSIVE PLAN CHANGES
On Monday, April 28th the Gilchrist Planning and Zoning Board voted down the
proposed changes to the comprehensive plan. But that was just a dress
rehearsal for the real voteSS.
THE PROPOSED CHANGE
The Stiles Corporation from Ft. Lauderdale proposes to develop a mixed-use
development on 814 acres (654 in Gilchrist and 160 in Alachua).
Gilchrist County¹s current Comprehensive Plan does not allow for the density
that this development would require. In order to make this happen, the
Stiles Corporation has written proposed amendments to our Comprehensive Plan
to allow what they want to do.
The amendment, written by the attorney for the Stiles Corporation, proposes
a brand new land use category called a Special Area Plan (SAP) which will
permit a developer to cluster residential development among various mixed
uses such as an airport, golf courses, stables, spas, restaurants,
convenience stores, etc. The permitted density is a uniform average of 1.0
unit per acre and there are no restrictions on where SAPs may be located.
Currently the density is for land zoned agricultural is one unit per at
least five acres.
This proposed amendment to our Comprehensive Plan, if passed, would pertain
not only to the Oak Tree Landing development. Developers would be able to
propose SAPs anywhere in the county where they could acquire at least 320
acres. The Oak Tree Landing Development claims to be a high-end development.
There would be no guarantee of the quality of the SAPs to follow. This type
of unlimited development will forever change the rural character of our
county.
THE PLANNING AND ZONING BOARD VOTED AGAINST THE CHANGES TO OUR
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
There were two issues that the Planning and Zoning Board voted on...the
general amendment changes to our comprehensive plan, which would allow the
Special Area Plan communities, and the specific proposal for Oak Tree
Landing. The vote was whether or not to recommend to the Gilchrist County
Commission to transmit the changes to DCA (Department of Community Affairs)
in Tallahassee which reviews changes to comprehensive plans.
I'm happy to report that on April 28th the Gilchrist County Planning and
Zoning Board voted 4 to 1 against recommending transmission of the changes.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
The decision now goes to the Gilchrist Board of County Commissioners. They
will be voting on two issues:
1. Whether to transmit the general changes proposed to the Comprehensive
Plan which would allow Special Area Plans (SAPs) to DCA.
2. Whether to transmit the specific plan for the Oak Tree Landing SAP to
DCA.
If they vote not to transmit the general changes to the plan then the second
decision is moot, because without the general changes, Gilchrist does not
presently allow a development like Oak Tree Landing. In other wordsS. if the
Commission votes not to transmit the proposed general changes to the
Comprehensive Plan to DCA, then Oak Tree Landing is dead in the water (at
least for now as I¹m sure they will not go completely away).
The big vote will be on Monday, May 19th (time has not yet been announced).
Both the developer and the County Planner will make presentations just as
they did for the Planning and Zoning Board.
It appears that the Planning and Zoning Board voted as they did because they
do not want some developer from outside the area dictating how our county
will grow. Everyone pretty much accepts the fact that growth is coming to
Gilchrist. Our Comprehensive Plan is ten years old and the process for
revising it will begin very soon. Our current plan was written through a
lengthy process where all interested citizens had the opportunity to input
through visioning, many workshops and public hearings. That process will be
repeated to make revisions. To bypass that process and hastily make sweeping
changes without full citizen participation, and without fully understanding
all of the consequences of the proposed changes is not in the interest of
the current residents of Gilchrist.
We must persuade the County Commissioners to follow the recommendations of
the Planning and Zoning Board.
Come to the meeting in Trenton on Monday May 19th (time to be announced).
Bring as many people as you can. It is important especially for residents of
Gilchrist County to write letters. It is an election year and three of the
commissioners are up for election. They are Kenrick Thomas, Randy Durden,
and Sharon Langford.
Write letters to your Commissioner, or all of the commissioners, or to the
County Planner, Taylor Brown. If you write directly to a commissioner be
sure to copy Taylor Brown, the County Planner. He will include all letters
in the packet he gives to all of the commissioners and he will make sure all
letters become part of the public record.
Hard copy letters with signature are always have more impact than emails,
but emails are better than nothing. Tell them that you want them to follow
the recommendation of the Planning and Zoning Board, which was to not
transmit the changes to the Comprehensive Plan to DCA. Let the commissioners
know that we, the people of Gilchrist, have a right to determine our own
future. It is in our best interest to revise our own Comprehensive Plan and
the Commissioners were elected to watch out for our best interests.
The specific plans for Oak Tree Landing are irrelevant at this point. The
issue is the general changes to the Comprehensive Plan which would allow an
unlimited number of Oak Tree Landing-type mixed-use developments anywhere in
the county.
Even if you have written a letter already, write another commending the
actions of the Planning and Zoning Board. Encourage the Commissioners to
follow their lead. They were elected to represent the interests of the
citizens of Gilchrist County, not the interests of some developer from South
Florida.
If you have questions or need more information, contact Georgia Shemitz
[email protected]
Taylor Brown
Planning Director
Gilchrist County
Community Development Department
209 South East First Street
Trenton, FL 32693
[email protected]
Sharon Langford
6650 SE 75th Ave.
Newberry, FL 32669
(352) 472-2629 (Home)
Randy Durden
P.O. Box 251
Bell, FL 32619
(386) 935-3256 (Home)
Tommy Langford
6650 NE 55th St
High Springs, FL 32643
(386) 454-3022 (Home)
Email: [email protected]
Kenrick Thomas
P.O. Box 885
Trenton, FL 32693
(352) 463-6101 (Home)
D. Ray Harrison, Jr
4599 S.W. 90th Court
Bell, FL 32619-1935
(352) 463-2147 (Home)
Email: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
If you have any questions or need more information, contact me.
Georgia Shemitz
[email protected]
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