Some of you know me personally and know I live a few miles from this proposed
development. Please allow me to add my $.02 to this:

Some personal background:
I'm a graduate of UF having earned my Master's in Urban and Regional
Planning back in '95.
I am a member of the American Planning Association as well as the
American Institute of Certified Planners.
I currently volunteer a good amount of time to the Marion County
Citizen's Coalition and can speak to that organization's integrity.

I'M NOT ANTI-GROWTH. I am for cost-efficient and cost-effective growth
and development.
I'm a private property rights advocate, yet I believe that the
community has rights as well.

Last year, I along with many other citizens worked cooperatively with
the Planning
Department and Marion County's Board of County Commissioner's to see that rural
lands would be protected via the adoption of a Farmland Preservation
Area and Transfer
of Development Rights Program in the NW quadrant of Marion County.

As you cycle out of Micanopy toward McIntosh going the back way on what
becomes CR 329, you'll notice large brown signs with white lettering
stating that
you're entering the Farmland Preservation Area. There are approx. 16 such signs
around the county at the periphery of that land mass.

The intersection being suggested for development is the TIP of the iceberg.
It is based on a text amendment proposal to Marion County's
Comprehensive Plan that
would allow land currently zoned for 1 dwelling unit per 10 acres to
be built at much
higher densities using an idea called a Conservation Community. It's a
great theory!
Unfortuantely, the devil is in the details and the current text
amendment lacks too many
controls to make it a viable idea for this time--It's embryonic and
needs much work before
being adopted.

I did some conservative GIS analysis, and if this amendment is
adopted, we could see
more than 158,000 acres be converted from rural lands to sprawling subdivisions.

These are the roads you love to ride --- this is YOUR HORSE FARM HUNDRED!

I've personally met with some of the commissioners on these text amendments
and based on those meetings and other discussions I've had, I can NOT assure
you that this area is safe from development. I implore you to write to
the Marion County
Commissioners, especially if you're a Marion County voter, and let
them know your
feelings on the matter. But, don't delay -- the large scale text
amendments and this particular development application is scheduled to
be heard Thursday, August 3rd.

Regards,
Gary

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