Will voters pay pennies for parks?
Gainesville Sun
October 5, 2008
By Cindy Swirko, Sun staff writer
Alachua County residents have voted to tax themselves to buy environmentally valuable land in the past but have not been inclined to do the same for recreation.
The half-cent sales tax would be in effect for two years. It would raise an estimated $40 million. Necessities such as food and medicine will not be subject to the tax.
So even if times were good, the Nov. 4 referendum for a two-year, half-cent sales tax to raise money for both was dicey. But throw in the financial free fall of the past few weeks and it becomes an even bigger test of the commitment of voters to preservation and recreation.
Robert Hutchinson of the Alachua Conservation Trust, one of two organizations spearheading the Wild Spaces ‹ Public Places drive, said he confronts the spiraling economy head on when he pitches the proposal to groups and individuals.
"Everybody says this is a bad time to be seeking a tax increase. On the other hand, when the economy was booming four years ago, everybody said that was the wrong time also. So when is the right time to invest in the community?" Hutchinson said. "Right now happens to be a wonderful time for buying land. It's a great time to be contracting for construction activities on city park sites. The prices of everything have come way down. Our phone is ringing off the hook in terms of people who have land to sell."
The referendum would raise about $40 million to be split between the land conservation and recreation components. Hutchinson and Jack Hughes of the Gainesville Sports Commission, the other driving force, said it would cost the average person about $3.83 per month.
Passage of the referendum would continue the Alachua County Forever land conservation program. It is funded with a quarter-mill tax passed in 2000 that raised about $29 million.
So far it has resulted in the purchase of 13,715 acres valued at $70 million according to the Alachua County Forever Web site ‹ $24 million in Alachua County Forever money and $46 million from partnering sources such as the state.
Advocates say many more acres of environmentally valuable land could still be bought including acreage in the Lochloosa area in southeast Alachua County, along Lake Santa Fe and the Santa Fe River, at Kanapaha and Paynes prairies and at other spots.
Gainesville would get a portion of the money for urban nature parks.
"The city of Gainesville will be able to buy or improve their nature parks. I call that "nearby nature," Hutchinson. "These are small urban or suburban nature parks like Cofrin Nature Park and Sweetwater."
A small portion of the $20 million in recreation money would go to the county. Most of it would be split among cities. Each government has a prioritized list of projects for which the money be spent. No projects can be added to the list.
Gainesville, for instance, would use the money to make improvements at most of its existing parks and would partner with the county to build a senior center at one of the parks.
Archer would complete its community center and build a skate park, among other projects. High Springs would establish a youth/senior center.
A full list of projects can be seen at www.wildspacespublicplaces.org/rec.html.
In 2004, a half-cent recreation sales tax was rejected by a 50.9 to 49.1 margin. Advocates said they were hampered by a busy hurricane season. Hughes said this year's effort is starting earlier and in time to begin reaching absentee and early voters.
Hughes added he is getting good feedback from the small cities. The 2004 referendum drew the least enthusiasm from the small cities.
"I think I'm having a better response in the small cities than I expected. It's still a harder sell but all of them have projects they have been trying to get completed for years and even the limited funds this will raise will get them well down their list," Hughes said. "When you look at how little we have done in the past, $20 million in improvements to existing facilities and at least a few new facilities will make an impact."
Longtime recreation advocate Alison Law worked on behalf of the 2004 referendum and a similar proposal in 1998.
But Law is opposed to the current initiative. She said the distribution of the money is unfair to residents in unincorporated Alachua County west of Interstate 75 along the Tower Road corridor.
Law said even though the plan calls for a new community center at Kanapaha Park, she and others who live in the vicinity are skeptical. She added that the facilities at Kanapaha Park are not enough for the number of residents in the area.
"It's not that I'm opposed to anybody else getting what they need because they need it. I don't believe we have adequate infrastructure in this county, period, but it is absolutely unfair, inconsiderate and greedy to describe how this thing was structured," Law said. "It totally ignores the fact that the largest population is here on Tower Road ‹ 50,000 people within a three-mile radius. There are 112,000 people within a five-mile radius of Tower and 24th Avenue. That's half the population with almost nothing for recreation."
So far no political action committees have formed specifically to raise money to oppose the referendum. Stafford Jones, head of the Alachua County Republican Party and co-manager of a political consulting company, would not say if he knows if any organized efforts will be launched against the referendum.
The initiative is primarily aimed at conserving land and improving parks. But Hutchinson and Hughes said the program could save the county money in the running of its criminal justice program since recreation has been shown to reduce juvenile crime.
Advocates also say the program could help boost the local economy. With the downturn in construction, the building of community centers and improvements to existing facilities would give contractors and the labor force some jobs.
"It's scary for everybody what's going on in the economy, but this is one of those things where we can take charge of our own destiny. If you want to call this an economic stimulus package, I don't think that is out of bounds," Hutchinson said. "We know that greenspace acquisition improves adjacent real estate values. We know construction projects in parks generates jobs and improving the quality of life is what this community has to sell on the real estate market. This is as good a time as any to take charge of our own economic destiny."
Cindy Swirko can be reached at 374-5024 or at swirkoc@gvillesun.com.
* The $40 million would be split between land conservation and recreation. The conservation money would be used for the purchase of more environmentally valuable land while the recreation money would be used to improve parks, primarily those in Gainesville and the smaller cities.
* The cities and the Alachua County Commission picked their own projects for the recreation money. Major projects include a senor center in Gainesville along with community centers in several small cities.
* Conservation money would be used to continue the Alachua County Forever program, which has purchased 13,000 acres of land to protect water quality, provide space for recreation such as hiking and preserve wildlife habitat.
Photos by Mac Stone and Dominick Martino
