Alachua County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to purchase the West End Golf Course property in Jonesville for $3.8 million.
The county will move forward on a plan to take over a purchasing contract held by Viking Companies, the owner of Celebration Pointe, which filed for bankruptcy in March with debts totaling at least $209 million.
The money to purchase the property at 12830 W. Newberry Road across from the Tioga Town Center in Jonesville, will come from the Wild Spaces & Public Places voter-approved sales tax designated for acquiring and improving land space in the county.
“I know it’s been a lot of work to get to this point, not just in terms of recognizing that that land is recreation and should remain recreation,” Commissioner Anna Prizzia said, “but also now to get a park in an area that severely needs it and to support the goals of the neighbors that surround the area to have a robust and beautiful park and recreation in their backyard.”
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The defunct golf course property, which is designated for recreational use, has undergone many votes and discussions in recent years.
In 2022, the commission voted to deny a developer’s proposal to change the land-use designation for the site from recreational to low-density residential. A 70-home residential development called Tara Club was proposed for the property.
Prior to that decision a sprawling mixed-use development was proposed with homes, a hotel and stores by the previous land owners. That later shifted to a 129-home development — with an option to build up to 140 homes — along with donating around 36 acres of the property to create the third-largest green space park in Alachua County.
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All of the ideas for development were met largely with pushback from community members and commissioners who said they wanted to prioritize accessible and functional green space for the community.
Now, commissioners say they’re pleased to move forward with the purchase of the land to use recreationally.
One such upcoming recreation event is the 2025 World Masters Athletics Indoor Championships, an international sporting competition to be held in the county next year. The event will host nearly 4,000 athletes from 80 different countries in 24 different athletic events.
“I’m also excited that it can serve a dual purpose and that it will be a place that we can upgrade in partnership with the World Masters program so that we can provide robust resources not just for that event, but hopefully for many many other events to come which will help our Economic Development and Tourism and bring in more of those Wild Spaces Public Places dollars that allow us to do these great parks to begin with,” Prizzia said.
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Alachua County Commission votes to buy West End Golf Course
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