If you’ve seen the eastern half of Gainesville, there’s no question that we are home to seriously impoverished areas. A lack of quality jobs and economic development keeps the area depressed and few — if any — local leaders currently hold the key to solving the never-ending crisis. Some Gainesville residents are pinning their hopes to a company who owns more land than anyone else in Alachua County.
Sadly, this out-of-state company’s promises appear empty.
Plum Creek is a large, national company based in Seattle that also happens to own tens of thousands of acres in the eastern portions of Alachua County. After using much of the land for timber farming, Plum Creek wants to sell nearly 20,000 acres of their land to a developer who will subsequently build homes, shopping centers and industrial and commercial developments.
Essentially, Plum Creek wants to get thousands of acres that sit on swampland to be rezoned so a developer will buy the land from Plum Creek and put homes and businesses on top of the swamps.
This is not a small development. It’s a small city in a swamp. If this sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because developers have done this in south Florida for more than a century, destroying significant portions of the environment in the process.
To bolster its case, Plum Creek launched a public relations machine, promising thousands of jobs to those living in east Gainesville — never mind how they will get from east Gainesville to the Plum Creek development — and new opportunities for the eastern part of the county.
Downtown Gainesville has drastically changed for the better in recent years, but there are still many empty storefronts littering the area.
The city of Gainesville is in a much better location to serve as an economic center for those looking for work in east Gainesville. Instead of promising citizens a pie-in-the-sky development that may only benefit the corporate landowners, we need to do a better job providing economic opportunities right here in Gainesville.
If we have citizens who can’t get to jobs and services in the Gainesville city limits, how are we going to get them to eastern Alachua County? Regional Transit System has few routes in east Gainesville, and when was the last time you saw public transportation on the roads of Hawthorne or Windsor?
We need a plan for all of Alachua County that makes sense, not one that benefits a company based on the other side of the country. Smart developments that help lift struggling areas out of poverty and ensure our environment is protected are in the best interest of all those living in Alachua County.
Citizens in towns across the county have banded together to create a community group called Stand By Our Plan. The group spent the last several months educating Alachua County residents about Plum Creek’s plans as well as the county’s comprehensive plan.
Alachua County’s comprehensive plan was developed with input from individuals and groups throughout the county and helps lay the foundation for positive growth that benefits citizens and the environment around us.
Plum Creek, on the other hand, wants the county to change the rules, benefitting only Plum Creek, while they tell our friends and neighbors about their proposed city in the swamp and the supposed benefits of such a development.
We tend to ignore local issues, but Plum Creek’s proposed development has enormous implications on the future of Alachua County. The primary election is on Aug. 26, and the Plum Creek issue is one of the hottest issues driving the campaign conversation. It’s very likely that the outcome of the primary will determine whether Plum Creek gets its way or whether we, the local residents, win.
Educate yourself on the issues, and don’t forget to vote. The future of Alachua County depends on it.
[Joel Mendelson is a UF graduate student in political campaigning. His columns appear on Thursdays. A version of this column ran on page 6 on 8/7/2014 under the headline "Locals: Pay attention to Plum Creek"]
