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Commission authorizes infrastructure‑surtax funds for road improvements to Black Lake Preserve trailhead, rejects using conservation allocation
Summary
After debate over using conservation land dollars, the Alachua County Commission authorized staff to use the infrastructure sales surtax allocation (not conservation funds) to improve roughly 670 feet of roadway to provide public access to the Black Lake Preserve trailhead; commissioners asked staff to return if the trailhead location changes.
The commission authorized use of the county’s local government infrastructure surtax (road infrastructure allocation) to fund improvements to a roughly 670‑foot segment of 225th Street to provide public access to the Black Lake Preserve trailhead.
Oversight Board staff had earlier determined the proposed work could be eligible either from conservation (‘‘wild spaces’’) or infrastructure surtax funds, but several commissioners warned that using conservation allocations to pay for road work would set a troubling precedent. The board amended a motion to explicitly replace a recommendation to use the conservation allocation with the road infrastructure surtax allocation and then approved the motion by voice vote.
The motion also said that if the trailhead location shifts to Northeast 221st Street the matter must be brought back to the board before funds are expended. Commissioners asked staff to coordinate with FDOT on turn‑lane planning and to obtain cost estimates before final appropriation.
No citizen vote or public funding appropriation beyond authorization to use the designated surtax bucket was approved at the meeting; staff will return with scope and cost estimates for the project.
