Following action this past week by the Gainesville City Council, a portion of 1,300 acres on Fulenwider Road has now been rezoned for industrial use, and city development staff said rezoning for the entire tract is on the horizon.
The City of Gainesville is the owner of the property, which last year was informally named the Gainesville 85 Business Park. The property was originally annexed and zoned in 1991 for a land application farm, which was never constructed. In November 2018, City Manager Bryan Lackey brought a proposal to city council members to establish the property as an industrial park, noting that the city was quickly running out of space for industries to set up shop.
At the council voting session on Tuesday, Sept. 17, members voted unanimously to rezone 395 acres of the property from Residential 1-A to Heavy Industrial.
Matt Tate, the Community and Economic Development Deputy Director, said there are no concrete marketing plans in place for the property just yet.
"There's no specific time frame for any specific development in there," Tate said. "It's somewhat of a placeholder zoning for the overall 1,300 acres."
Tate said what the development staff has discussed, however, is the marketing of the property for clean industry.
"Kind of a 21st century industrial park with some new ideas...we're still working through that," Tate said.
Tate said he anticipates the rezoning of the remainder of the property will take place within the next year.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2019/9/834232/gainesville-city-council-approves-rezoning-for-industrial-park-no-tenants-on-the-radar-yet