Outreach, education and community meetings will be a critical part of selling Gainesville residents on the need for a new utility to pay for upgrades to the city’s aging stormwater infrastructure, according to officials. Protecting against sinkholes, road washouts and other problems are not the only reason why Gainesville officials are pushing hard to impose a new fee to replace infrastructure, some of which has been in the ground for up to 100 years. New federal and state environmental regulations and mandates have also prompted the acceleration of plans to develop a public utility to pay for these upgrades.