• “In general, any development in these karst sensitive areas, especially when we know there’s a cave system, there’s always a heightened concern that there could be direct impacts to our drinking water and aquifer,” he said. (Steven Hofstetter is the director of the Alachua County Environmental Protection Department.)

    The main concern is sinkholes. Since development changes an area’s landscape, it may direct large volumes of polluted water to places it didn’t naturally accumulate, explained Hofstetter.

Right now one of Alachua County’s more turbulent small towns is considering letting a developer build a project named Tara Forest West: a 523-home neighborhood, virtually on top of it. It’s sure to bring with it lots of polluting lawn fertilizer, gasoline, pesticides, and herbicides like Roundup, which will then seep into the caverns and wind up contaminating the aquifer.

“I feel like Alachua County has voted again and again to ask us to protect natural resources and the environment, and I feel like the city of Alachua, the developers of Tara and their engineers have us over a barrel right now,” Commissioner Anna Prizzia said. “And it’s really disgusting and unfortunate that this is the position we’re in.” 

The developments, backed by Sayed Moukhtara, are happening around Mill Creek Sink, a low-lying area that directly connects to the aquafer. Moukhtara owns more than 400 acres in the area that lies within the city of Alachua’s jurisdiction.  

…City attorney Marian Rush reminded the commission that, as the vote was a quasi-judicial proceeding, it must vote strictly on whether the proposed preliminary plat is in keeping with land development regulations. 

The commission voted 3-1 in favor of the preliminary plat, with Commissioner Shirley Green-Brown in dissent and Commissioner Ed Potts absent. 

The development, on about 198 acres, is planned to include 523 lots over the course of six phases.