Standing in front of St. John Baptist Church on the corner of E.E. Butler Parkway and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Emory Turner can see homes, a Burger King and the Cargill plant on his left.

As he sweeps his eyes across the horizon, there's more evidence of the commerce and industry that grew up around his childhood neighborhood.

Turner is one of a handful of Gainesville residents working to preserve the community feel of the Fair Street and Newtown areas. As one of the steering committee members for the Fair Street neighborhood planning unit, he is collecting signatures from property owners to rezone almost 300 pieces of land on the southeast corner of the city.

"I'm lucky. I was born near here and grew up on this corner. This is my neighborhood, so talking to people here isn't difficult," he said Thursday while trying to cross off the last few names on his list of residents to visit. "What's tough is the absentee landlords who don't live here."

The planning unit, a residents-led group created in 2007 to preserve the quality of the neighborhood, rezoned 129 parcels of land in 2008 from residential II, which allows multifamily housing such as apartments and some commercial uses, to neighborhood conservation, which only allows single-family housing.

They hope to replicate the success in coming months as they push forward an application to rezone another section of the city.

"We all grew up here together, so it's home. It belongs to me. It doesn't exactly, but you get that feeling," Turner said. "Progress comes and change happens, but you don't want to see drastic changes."

The preservation and beautification ideas are finally coming to fruition, noted Gainesville City Council member Myrtle Figueras, a steering committee member who was mayor when the planning unit started.

"When we get community buy-in, it really fuels my fire," she said. "I get excited because people are working and finding that they have a voice and somebody to talk to about their concerns."

Though the second round of rezoning is taking longer to tackle than the first, more residents seem to be jumping on board.

"It's good to walk around and find out who owns these homes and find the ones in greatest need of being repaired," Figueras said. "We may have always known the person next door but not necessarily the owner who would get it done. I've found people really want to help the neighborhood."

It takes time to reach 300 property owners, but the steering committee is almost there. They need 51 names to move forward, and Turner easily grabbed two more signatures Thursday.

"There are a lot of old houses in this area. One was torn down a few weeks ago, and a lot are in bad shape," said Veronica Milsap, a High Street resident who signed the petition when Turner visited. "I've got four kids, and they deserve to have a life, too. They need a place, and I want them to have a better life."

Turner explains to the homeowners that the rezoning should help property values and will make the neighborhood look better. Once the 300 parcels are added to the current neighborhood conservation section, planning unit members will try to bring in federal funds to paint houses and repair windows.

"I want to do what I can to make the property owners feel better and help them maintain their property," Turner explained to Raymond Lewis, a Mill Street resident who signed his name Thursday.

Chris Davis, the city's housing programs manager, is determining how to divvy up the city's federal Community Development Block Grant funds to best aid the Fair Street and Newtown communities. The funds are traditionally used to refurbish houses, demolish dilapidated properties and help residents with down payments.

"I've gone out with code enforcement officials and highlighted the areas that need some rehab," Davis told the steering committee last week. "One day, we can get volunteers and community members together and buy paint. If you get the labor, I can get the supplies and we can make some changes quickly."

Linda Carruth, one of the steering committee members, has seen the effects of rehabilitation firsthand.

"I lived in one of the houses that was rehabbed 29 years ago, when they put in vinyl and linoleum floors," she said. "We've done good work over the years to keep it up."

The group is whittling down the final list of property owners before submitting an application to the city's planning and appeals board in April. The last few names may be the toughest. Some homes are managed by descendants who never changed the property deeds after their parents died.

Others are owned by investors who aren't as in touch with the neighborhoodwide desire to rezone.

"I haven't had a problem talking to people and getting names other than the investment properties," Turner said. "When it comes to progress, everybody is worried about that dollar."