Several Gainesville residents are close to their goal of preserving the community aspect of the Fair Street and Newtown areas.
The Fair Street Neighborhood Planning Unit wants to rezone almost 300 parcels on the southeast side of Jesse Jewell and E.E. Butler parkways to prevent future commercial construction. The rezoning would change the area from residential II, which allows multi-family housing such as apartments, to neighborhood conservation, which calls for single-family housing.
After months of work, the group still needs signatures from 51 of the 295 properties. Six of the planning unit's steering committee members met Monday night to talk about the best way to tackle the task and decided to wait at least a month before submitting a plan.
"I would like to see the end of this," said Berlinda Lipscomb. "There are some people we know but can't find, and there are some properties where we know names but haven't been able to reach anyone."
The planning unit, a residents-based approach to city planning that was the first of its kind in Gainesville, was established for the Fair Street and Newtown neighborhoods in 2007.
The group decided in 2008 to rezone 129 properties from residential II to neighborhood conservation and succeeded in 2009. In early 2010, the steering committee decided to replicate the victory by seeking out an additional 300 property owners.
On Monday, the group had two options to move forward.
"You can take those who have already agreed and present the request before the city in April and May and then file a third application for anyone else who joins," said Jessica Tullar, the city's special projects manager who helped to establish the neighborhood planning unit. "Or you don't have to push anything yet and can bring it forth with a new deadline."
Steering committee members decided to hold out for one more month and grab a few more signatures.
"It's so difficult with absentee landlords who buy property. We send out letters, and it still takes weeks to get anyone," said Gainesville City Council member Myrtle Figueras. "Or mama died five years ago and her name is still on the tax records and we have to find the descendants or whoever is paying taxes."
The group's efforts will help city officials as they prepare a comprehensive plan this year, Tullar said.
The planning department hired Atlanta-based firm Urban Collage to create design drawings and identify character areas to preserve in future years.
Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, which runs past 10 properties whose owners the group is struggling to contact, could be one of those areas, she said.
"We've already talked about the idea of MLK being a character area and planning how it can look in 20 years and what steps it needs to take to get there," Tullar said. "With potential growth and change, the road will likely be widened, and the character area could play a role in how that happens."
The group of six left Monday's meeting with a sense of determination. They split up the properties and pledged to bring back 51 signatures by March 18.
"It's hard. It's really hard," Figueras said. "But let's keep pushing on this."