Alachua County School Board votes against purchasing Citizens Field

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB) - Alachua County School Board members voted not to sign a proposed plan to purchase Citizens Field from Gainesville city leaders.

Board members went back and forth at Tuesday’s meeting, and denied multiple motions before coming to their decision. They said they don’t want to work with the city of Gainesville and they don’t want the financial burden.

“But I want to bring it back so we understand what that stadium would’ve looked like for the money versus what doing three stadiums would look like or what doing a different site would look like,” Sarah Rockwell said.

“You cannot just do that. There’s a design phase that comes up with that,” Kamala Patton said.

If they approved the plan to purchase Citizens Field, the district would have put down a $100,000 deposit which would have started an environmental study. The district could have pulled out if there were concerns about the site.

According to district documents, a full demolition and rebuild could cost around $22 million to $25 million.

Board members brought up concerns like not having enough public input and calling the project risky when it’s labeled as a brownfield. This means there is known or suspected contamination. That itself could bring on extra costs.

The field is shared by Buchholz, Eastside and Gainesville high schools for athletic events.

After denying two motions, board members voted 4-1 with Tina Certain in dissent to allow staff to bring back a presentation of all available options including three stadium options for each school, along with bringing back what Citizens Field would have looked like money-wise at a different site. This will take time and cost money.

The plan is on the Gainesville City Commission agenda for Thursday. Some school board members fear the city could stop negotiating with the city altogether.

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