RESIDENTS MOBILIZE TO BLOCK EXPANDED SUPERDEVELOPMENT

       Massive traffic jams caused by a proposed superdevelopment in Northwest Gainesville led concerns that drew 200 residents to a Tuesday evening, Jan. 16, public meeting on ways to block the project.

      The meeting at Talbot Elementary School of the Coalition for Responsible Growth, a grassroots organization of Alachua County residents, is part of a county wide effort calling upon county commissioners to vote “no” on SpringHills, a Philadelphia, PA developer’s project much larger than Butler Plaza or the Oaks Mall.

      “We call upon the Alachua County Commission to abide by the intent and provisions of its own comprehensive plan,” said Kim Davidson, M.D., vice president of the coalition. “The comprehensive plan is our best assurance that growth will be managed so it does not cause sprawl, massive traffic jams, raise taxes, close local businesses, pollute our drinking water, and increase poverty.

      “SpringHills violates all of the commission’s guidelines and makes it clear they must vote no on the project.”

      County commissioners Mike Byerly and Lee Pinkoson attended the meeting.

      SpringHills is the largest single development in the history of Alachua County. According to a traffic analysis, it will generate 95,000 car trips per day, more than congested Newberry Road at the Oaks Mall. County documents show the development will cause traffic tie-ups at least as far as NW 13^th Street to the east, Jonesville to the west, and south to gridlocked Newberry Road.

      The largest feature of SpringHills is 1.5 million square feet of mostly big box stores, which generate large volumes of traffic, pay low wages, and force the closure of local businesses. Studies show smaller businesses funnel three to five times as much of their income into the local economy than big boxes, which sent most of their profits out of the region or state.

     SpringHills sits atop a fracture in the county’s underlying limestone rock, providing a direct path for pollutants to flow straight into the Floridan aquifer, the source of the area’s drinking water.

     As a non-profit organization, the Coalition is raising funds to hire an attorney to defeat SpringHills. The coalition Web site is www.savemillhopperroad.org