NEWBERRY -- Reporting the ability to generate millions of dollars worth of annual income, a new contender for the future location of the county fairgrounds has caught the Alachua County Commission's attention.
With plans to add a hotel and multipurpose sports complex to the already well-established Canterbury Equestrian Showplace, the city of Newberry convinced the County Commission Tuesday in a special meeting to seriously reconsider where it will rebuild the county fairgrounds.
The County Commission voted to allow other cities in the county a one-month time frame to propose new locations to construct the county fairgrounds. Prior concepts also can be resubmitted, if substantial changes have been made.
"The real question we're entertaining here is where the fairgrounds will be," County Commission Chair Lee Pinkoson said.
A new location for the county fairgrounds was originally planned to be built on county land on Waldo Road. But the city of Newberry has offered to build the fairgrounds at the already constructed Canterbury Equestrian Showplace. That offer had County Commissioners torn on making a decision at Tuesday's meeting.
"Fifty years is a long time," Commissioner Mike Byerly said about the proposed lease for the fairgrounds.
The Rural Concerns Committee will evaluate the currently proposed Canterbury and Waldo fairground locations for the time being. The Tourist Development Council will determine how much tourism revenue could be generated from each site.
"We need to be able to compare column A to column B," Byerly said. "We can't do that now."
Perhaps the most controversial issue of Newberry's proposal is whether Tourism Development Tax money could actually be spent on the proposed GoodSports Fieldhouse that would be constructed on the Canterbury property.
GoodSports Enterprises is a private company owned by Jerald J. Good, and the Canterbury GoodSports Fieldhouse complex is estimated to earn $15-$22 million a year by the company, he said.
Whether Newberry can contract any of Canterbury's property to a private company remains to be seen. The city may be forced to go through a competitive bidding process with different companies bidding to build the sports complex.
Residents of Newberry were quick to show their support of using the private business to construct the multipurpose sports complex and hotel on Canterbury property.
Tourism revenue played a large role in their arguments.
"The bottom line is business men like to make money," Bruce Nelson, a 66-year-old Newberry resident, said, defending the positive impact GoodSports could have on Newberry. "I have nothing against the University, but it cannot be the only economic factor in Alachua County."
On the opposite side of the argument, residents of East Gainesville voiced their anger that the County Commission was even considering changing the location of the fairgrounds.
"We would like for you all to stay committed to what you agreed upon," said Evelynn Fox, president of the Alachua County Branch of the NAACP.
Gainesville City Manager Russ Blackburn argued against the use of a private company in the construction of part of the fairgrounds.
"We don't do things the way the private sector does," he said about Gainesville. "We are transparent."
He also doubted Newberry's commitment to completing the fairgrounds in a timely manner.
"It takes more than just a thought to develop a new fairground," he said.
County Commissioner Susan Baird responded in defense of moving the fairgrounds to Canterbury.
"It clearly looks like it's the better use of funds," she said.
Newberry's proposed phase one cost of constructing the county fairgrounds was estimated to be between $7 million to $8 million, compared to Alachua County's proposed cost of $22 million.
"About 80 percent of the components already exist," Newberry City Manager Keith Ashby said of Canterbury's existing infrastructure.
Baird said she thought it was better for Gainesville residents to have to drive farther for permanent work, rather than a shorter distance at a location that might be closed after a few years.
"Even though it doesn't seem nice (moving the fairgrounds out of Gainesville), the nicer thing is something that is viable for a long time," she said.
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