The City of Gainesville voted 6-0, with Commissioner Desmon Duncan Walker absent, to end Gainesville Regional Utilitity’s right-of-way exemption.
The ordinance aims to hold GRU to the same permitting requirements as other utilities, and create a direct line of communication between GRU and Gainesville’s public works department. The second reading, when the ordinance will be officially implemented, is March 21.
The city requires utilities to apply for licenses and pay fees for any work that obstructs its right of ways which include: public highways, streets, alleys, sidewalks, thoroughfares, medians or walkways, according to the city’s charter. These requirements allow the city to ensure all projects meet safety and legal standards.
However, a line in the charter specifically exempted GRU from these requirements, seeing as it was controlled by the city. This led to a series of informal arrangements between the city and GRU, in which public works may or may not receive notice of right-of-way usage, said Public Works Director Brian Singleton.
“With water-wastewater, we have received a ticket at city works where we do know what’s going on,” he said. “Some of the other portions of the utility, it’s a little less than formal and there isn’t as much coordination going on.”
These relationships have received scrutiny from GRU as it looks to redefine its ties to the city post-HB 1645, the bill which separated the two.
“My goal… is to go forward today understanding we're going to have to get a lot of things in writing because I'm sort of surprised, as everybody in the room is, that there's [been] a lot of handshake deals for the past 40 years, and that's a hard way to run a city or business,” said GRU Authority Chair Craig Carter at a Feb. 29 meeting.
The city hopes treating GRU as it would any other utility would strengthen communication and increase clarity with how it uses right-of-way.
“To me, this has very little to do with cost, and everything to do with how to run an efficient operation,” said Commissoner Bryan Eastman. “We can’t have an entity that does not directly answer to the main physical governing board that we have cutting up road without oversight of Public Works.”
Even though ending GRU’s right-of-way exception would subject the utility to increased fees, GRU Chief Operating Office Brock Goodman said GRU is willing to collaborate with Public Works moving forward.
“This is just the cost of doing business,” he said. “It’s in our best interest to make sure that we’re working together in the public right of way.”
In a memo sent to GRU authority members, Goodman said the city will collect fees anytime the utility conducts excavation work, closes sidewalks or roadways or increases the size of its infrastructure on the city’s right-of-way. He estimated GRU could pay up to $350,000 annually for routine management, and $104,000 annually for any new developments the utility wishes to construct.
These fees are required under Florida law to equal the actual cost of the services provided by public works, such as issuing permits and paying field inspectors. Singleton said he plans to request another staff member to help with the increased workload — funded by the fees — and that he is working with GRU to ensure efficiency in the permitting process.
The city will meet again March 21.
Contact Henry at hdeangelis@alligator.org. Follow him on X @Hadeangelis.
Henry DeAngelis is a third-year journalism major and the City and County Commission reporter for the Alligator. In his free time, you can find him on the basketball court or deep in a good book.
