Fourth email sent to members of the Faculty Senate
8 Oct 2003

[Note: Live links have been added to this email so that those reading it on the web can view supporting documents and images.]

How you can facilitate Senate action at its October meeting

Dear Senator :

This was to be your final email from NAAC, but I learned yesterday there must be yet another. In a nutshell, I learned that the Steering Committee will not meet on 9 Oct to set the agenda for 16 Oct as originally scheduled and has already set a tentative agenda for the 16 Oct meeting by email. Thus the options on how you can facilitate action on SW 24th Avenue at the Senate’s October meeting may have changed. I will work with the Steering Committee to learn what they are. As I wrote the Steering Committee on Monday, “NAAC wants to make what happens from now until the end of the 16 Oct Senate meeting as rational and effective as possible.”

Thus you will soon hear from me again. In the meanwhile, here is a summary of the content of the previous three emails:

(1) No traffic study has found a four-lane SW 24th Ave. with an extension to Archer Road to be warranted and professional traffic planners have recommended against it.

(2) On 25 Mar 2003, President Young committed to recommending an amendment to UF’s Master Plan to donate right-of-way through NATL and Preservation Area 1 for the extension of SW 24th Ave. to Archer Road.

(3) The Administration plans to draft the promised amendment and begin the amendment process no sooner than February 2004.

(4) In the meanwhile, elected officials have acted and are acting as though the donation is assured.

(5) Because of (4), the NAAC wants the Senate to vote on an action item at its 16 Oct meeting that requests President Young to withdraw his 25 Mar 2003 commitment. The longer the delay in faculty action, the more public money will be spent on the assumption that the donation of right-of-way is a fait accompli.

Point (4) is amplified by the County Commission voting yesterday (over the well-reasoned objections of two of the five Commissioners) to send a letter to Congressman Stearns asking for a $12.5 million subsidy for the (not-warranted) road. It is further amplified by an amendment to Alachua County’s Comprehensive Plan, proposed on 23 Sep 2003, with a 31 Oct 2003 deadline for comments, to “change the designation of Southwest 24th Avenue from a two-lane roadway to a four-lane roadway in the following maps of the Transportation Mobility Element of the Alachua County Comprehensive Plan 2001-2020:…” For more see Application CPA-08-03 at http://natl.ifas.ufl.edu/docs/compplnamend.doc .

Once more, if you want to learn more about the proposed donation, go to http://natl.ifas.ufl.edu/24thAve.htm.

Sincerely,

T. J. Walker (Tom)
Chair, Natural Area Advisory Committee