Dear Commissioners:

My family and I recently stumbled onto the plans for the property located on Newberry Road between Tower and 91st. To say this is distressing is an understatement. 

I understand the desire to grow Gainesville. However, the growth needs to add to our quality of life, not diminish it to the point that every day becomes a battle. 

I reside in Buckingham. It currently takes me 4-7 minutes to leave my neighborhood due to the back-up of traffic. The road cannot accommodate the cars already sitting idle on Newberry for light change after light change. The past couple years has seen an increase as more people use the road due to the influx of traffic from Parker Road thanks to the hundreds of recently built homes (with more already planned). Additionally, the elementary school for this area has been rezoned to Parker Road - and elementary school children traditionally are dropped off by their parents. Those parents then join the masses on Newberry. 

Short of turning Newberry Road into a 8 lane highway, I cannot fathom how the County can possibly believe adding another 700+ homes (1,400 drivers) to the traffic issue will do anything but exacerbate an already difficult commute. Turning this neighborhood into a thoroughfare is not the answer. Nor should the current residents bear the cost of new roads to fix the issues created due to a lack of planning. 

My neighborhood is not the only one being strained by the slash and burn growth of Alachua County. Gainesville is quickly dumping the natural charm that draws people here and heading towards becoming another Lake City. I fear that once the fresh and new wears off and people move on to the next shiny town, we are going to be left with a bunch of cheaply built garbage buildings that will only serve to deteriorate Gainesville even more. The signs of unoccupied buildings is already blaring throughout the area. 

Slow The Growth. 

Rebecca Jensen 
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