Media Release

ALACHUA COUNTY, FL - The Alachua County Board of County Commissioners will hold a public workshop on Tuesday, October, 22, 2013 to discuss draft amendments to the County’s Comprehensive Plan policies on Rural Clusters.  The public workshop will be held in the Jack Durrance Auditorium on the second floor of the County Administration Building at 12 SE 1st Street in downtown Gainesville, beginning at 5 p.m., or as soon thereafter as the matter may be heard. 

The draft amendments to the Comprehensive Plan policies are available for review, along with other related information.

The Rural Cluster land use designation and related policies in the Comprehensive Plan recognize historic rural communities located outside of the urban area.  There are thirteen Rural Clusters, including the communities of Campville, Cross Creek, Earleton, Evinston, Grove Park, Hague, Island Grove, Lochloosa, Melrose, Orange Heights, Rochelle, Santa Fe, and Windsor.    

At the October 22 workshop, the Board will be asked to take action to authorize staff to advertise public hearings on a Comprehensive Plan Amendment to revise the policies on Rural Clusters.  The draft policy changes focus primarily on the process to be used for the delineation of more precise boundaries for each of the Rural Clusters.  If the Board authorizes staff to move forward as recommended, there would be three public hearings on these policy changes scheduled and advertised over the next few months pursuant to Florida Statutes and the County’s Land Development Code.  If these amendments are adopted, there would be future neighborhood meetings and public hearings to consider Comprehensive Plan Amendments to the Future Land Use Map on the more precise boundaries for each Rural Cluster.

Any interested persons are encouraged to attend the October 22 workshop and provide input.  Comments or questions may be directed to Ben Chumley, Senior Planner with the Alachua County Growth Management Department at 352-374-5249 or BDChumley@alachuacounty.us.