Important Meeting, Alachua BOCC, Gainesville, Jan. 23, 2018 5 pm

The Alachua County Board of County Commissioners will consider a proposal to extend Alachua County’s current wetland protections to the entire county under the voter-approved charter amendment that authorizes Alachua County to protect our water and air quality. Currently, Alachua County’s more stringent wetland protections only apply to the unincorporated areas, meaning some municipalities allow development under the State’s weaker wetland standards.

Please come to this meeting and support the protection of wetlands.  You do not need to be a resident of Alachua County to speak to the commissioners.  The aquifer is not confined by political boundaries and it is our source of drinking water.  Passage of this proposal will help protect Alachua County and all of us from harmful, unnecessary development such as Plum Creek.

Your attendance is needed in support of the proposal, which will have a significant impact on the future protection of wetlands in Alachua County.

 I’m hoping to get reps from surrounding counties to either come to the county commission meeting in Gainesville on the 23rd at 5:00 or write a letter. I’m asking people from surrounding counties to encourage our team to hold to more restrictive water protections for wetlands. I have emphasized the point that Alachua county has the resources to lead and empower neighboring counties and serve as a model for comprehensive  plans for north Florida. We need to take the lead in this as you  well know state and federal leadership is ignoring our water protections. Come represent your counties or write our commissioners in Alachua county to tighten restrictions on development in wetlands over the rights of municipalities. The whole deal is to take control of wetlands away from local control so to insure the water is protected for all. We have voices from Marion, Levy, Bradford, St. John’s and Putnam Counties. We need Columbia. Union, Baker, Clay, Hamilton and Madison counties as well. I’m also contacting folks in Gilchrist and Lafayette counties as well. Thanks you for all the territory you are covering. I want Alachua county to realize the responsibility it has to reach across county lines.

If you cannot attend this meeting, the next best thing to do is contact all the commissioners to let them know you want the wetlands protected.  You can do this easily by going to the following link and writing just one message.  It will reach all the commissioners.

• Board of County Commissioners
• 12 SE 1st Street, 2^nd Floor
• Gainesville, FL 32601
• 352-264-6900
• TDD/TTY users, ple​ase call 711 (Florida Relay Service)
• bocc@alachuacounty.us

Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
-A river is like a life: once taken, it cannot be brought back-