More than 50 Gainesville residents and local leaders gathered Wednesday to discuss the future of East Gainesville.
Hosted at First Missionary Baptist Church by Gainesville City Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker and Alachua County Commission Chair Ken Cornell, the event provided residents and community leaders an opportunity to share feedback on infrastructure improvements, housing development and road construction in East Gainesville.
The event included a brief Q&A session between attendees and commissioners and a roundtable opportunity for residents to sit down with city and county staff to discuss their concerns surrounding development. The event also featured updates from the Alachua County Public Works Department and the Housing and Strategic Development Division.
Duncan-Walker said Gainesville residents have raised serious concerns for years about the lack of infrastructure development and investment in East Gainesville. She said it is important for the county and city to continue working together to ensure East Gainesville residents feel represented.
"It's always important, beyond a phone call, to be able to meet with individuals face to face,” Duncan-Walker said. “So to be able to sit with people, literally hear what they have to say, and take real time with them is something that actually moves us closer to getting the results and the outcomes that the people want.”
During the meeting, the county shared updates about the Kincaid Loop Trail project, a $2.8 million 10-foot-wide shared-use path designed to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists in Southeast Gainesville.
The presentation included updates on the project’s construction, with an estimated winter 2027 completion date for roadways on the Kincaid Loop. The county also confirmed the extended closure date for the Florence landfill. It is now set to close in 2028, according to Cornell.
County staff also discussed potential traffic measures to reduce vehicle speeds, including raised crosswalks, roundabouts and medians. Alachua County Public Works Director Ramon D. Gavarrete said it is still unclear which speed reduction measures will be implemented.
During the Q&A, attendees raised concerns about pothole repairs in East Gainesville, asking why the county focuses on temporary pothole repairs instead of repaving roads. Other residents asked about how the county and city plans to reimburse residents for vehicle damage caused by potholes.
Among the attendees included soon-to-be Alachua County School Board member Jancie Vinson, who said she called commissioner Cornell about the potholes in East Gainesville.
“I didn’t realize how bad the road was, it was just so terrible,” she said. “I’m on the west side, I don’t have those problems, and you [East Gainesville residents] shouldn’t have those problems.”
Gavarrete provided updates on pothole repairs in East Gainesville, including the county’s plan to deploy four crews to fill potholes.
“I wish I could tell you we’re not going to have more potholes,” he said. “I can tell you that my staff is going to try to respond as fast and as efficiently as they can.”
Updates were also shared about the East Gainesville Legacy Project, an affordable housing development in the area. Ralston Reodica, the county’s housing and strategic development division director, said the county has coordinated with staff and volunteers to clean the site before construction begins.
Reodica said East Gainesville residents raised concerns about potential hazardous waste on the site. Residents requested the county invest in cleanup efforts to ensure safety. They also expressed concern with the site’s proximity to Lincoln Middle School.
Tina Days, a 46-year-old Gainesville resident, spoke to commissioners during the Q&A session. She said she appreciated seeing the city and county work together to address development concerns in East Gainesville but questioned why Alachua County Public Schools was not involved after voting to close schools in East Gainesville.
Williams Elementary School, located in East Gainesville, is set to close at the end of the 2027-28 school year. The school board approved the closure earlier this year as part of a school consolidation plan including two other elementary schools in the district. Foster Elementary School, which closed at the end of the 2025-26 school year, is located on Northwest Sixth Street, which is often considered greater East Gainesville.
Days said development and new housing opportunities could have brought additional students to the school district, potentially preventing school closures and rezoning decisions.
“Where was this before the rezoning issue came up?” she said. “I feel like there would have never really been a need to close the school.”
Days said school board members and UF officials should be included in conversations about East Gainesville, particularly because of disputes surrounding the Citizens Field agreement, an interlocal agreement that would have given the school district ownership of the field for athletic events.
“All of this is really interconnected, and the east side has been on the brunt end of it,” she said. “That’s my heartache now, because what I saw through the presentation, [the] east side is coming up.”
Contact Olivia Lofaso at olofaso@alligator.org. Follow her on X @OLofaso77652.
Olivia Lofaso is a third-year journalism student and the Summer 2026 city/county commission reporter. She previously worked as a contributing writer at The Alligator. In her free time she enjoys visiting art museums and solving crosswords.
