The city of Gainesville is compiling a list of land to protect under the new voter initiated Registry of Protected Places. City Commissioner Jeanna Mastrodicasa says they will add land to the list in multiple steps, with the first wave including land the city already owns and can easily define. She says there is virtually no cost to the city to create the registry and there was no public opposition voiced during meetings to approve the plan.
“It’s a proposal that was brought forth by the voters, so it went through an election cycle on a referendum and it passed with overwhelming support,” she says.
Mastrodicasa says the only way for land to be removed from the registry would be through another referendum, but she doesn’t think this will have any economic fallout because the city doesn’t rely on one-time revenue sources, like land sales, to generate money.