Homeowners lose 1st round to stop Taco Bell

GAINESVILLE - Some north Gainesville homeowners convinced Mayor Ruth Bruner to side with them at Tuesday night's city council meeting in a contested rezoning to allow the location of a Taco Bell drive-thru restaurant in the 1400 block of Thompson bridge Road, but she cast the only no vote.

Council voted 4-1 on first reading to approve the rezoning from single family residential and neighborhood business to general business. Attorney Steve Gilliam, representing Taco Bell, said the area is mixed use, noting that several fast food restaurants have already located along the corridor and the Planning and Appeals Board has approved the rezoning.

Among the opponents from Honeysuckle Road was Bill Morrison, who said city planners who recommended approval of the rezoning were in conflict with their own comprehensive plan.

"It's a mixed message to me," Morrison said. "They're saying it does fit and then say it doesn't fit and they recommend it against what the current comprehensive land plan calls for. I don't understand why we're paying them a salary to recommend things that we've already voted for."

Morrison reminded Council that 31 residents opposed to the rezoning had signed a petition and submitted it to the city, adding that Council "has to consider that." Retiree Louise Kennedy, another Honeysuckle Road homeowner, said responsible, planned growth is good and helps property values, but haphazard growth does not, and the rezoning would hurt her.

"My home and half of the people I know who are old like me, it's part of my retirement," Kennedy said. "I do not want to see it taken from me by a gas station or a fast food restaurant, so would you please take into consideration what you are doing."

Mayor Bruner said the Taco Bell is a well-designed project but Council needs to be careful about its rezoning decisions on Thompson Bridge Road.

"We need to be very careful to make things as attractive as they can be and not put in every project that comes forward," the Mayor said. "It is the last attractive corridor coming in. I don't think it's the best use for that land."