Alachua to restrict business types near interstate

Moratorium to be liftedTattoo parlors, sex shops, funeral homes, liquor stores and several other types of businesses will not be allowed in the Interstate 75 and U.S. Highway 441 intersection area of Alachua if commissioners give approval Monday.  City officials say the measure is intended to protect one of the entries into the city and have dubbed the area a “Gateway Overlay District.”

City of Alachua Commissioners already gave the initial nod for the ordinance, which would prohibit certain business types in a 2,000 foot radius from the center point of the two major highways.  The area encompasses some 800 acres land divided up into 44 parcels.  Most of the land has a zoning designation of Commercial Intensive although a few parcels are Planned Unit Developments (PUDs).

Other types of business which wouldn’t be allowed include automobile body shops, commercial parking lots, crematories, laundromats, machine shops, outdoor kennels and recycling drop-off centers.  The ordinance also prohibits the outdoor display of any type of motorized vehicles, boats or equipment for sale or rent unless associated with hotels or motels.

In addition to restricting the types of businesses, the overlay district ordinance also sets design standards related to parking lot configuration, signage, outside storage, loading areas, fencing, street buffer and other aspects of development in the area.  The new standards would only apply to new construction in that area.

In conjunctions with the ordinance that restricts the businesses, commissioners are also expected to approve a measure that would repeal a temporary moratorium, which has prevented any business from opening in the overly district since Feb. 28.

The moratorium was initially proposed for a five-month-period to allow time for city staff to formulate the Gateway Overlay District and its design standards, but commissioners dropped that back to four months.  A repeal Monday would mean the overlay district standards are coming a month ahead of the original schedule.

During an initial review of the Gateway Overlay District standards at a May 9 meeting, some property owners raised concerns that the parking standards would have the unintended effect of hurting businesses.  Language originally proposed called for not more than 25 percent of a development’s parking to front U.S. Highway 441.  City officials have reportedly tweaked that language to allow for highway frontage parking to be as high as 50 percent under certain circumstances.

City commissioners are scheduled to take final action Monday in adopting new rules for the overlay district and in repealing the moratorium.