After spending over a decade in downtown Gainesville, Bill Bryson said he felt a call to nature. Now, surrounded by train tracks and a 300-acre blueberry farm, Bryson said he’s found a sense of peace after moving to Waldo in 2009.
“Even though it's only 20 miles away, it feels like it's very far from Gainesville,” he said. “I've viewed Waldo as this kind of undiscovered gem.”
Yet living in rural areas comes with unique challenges. In communities like Waldo, with a population of only 818 in 2023, it’s not unusual to have limited resources like no nearby stores or police force. Between 1972 and 2017, over 500 small towns in the United States were forced to disband city policing, which often led to county agents having to take over, according to a PBS article.
A 2023 study identified 15.4% of households in rural areas as food insecure, which compared to 13.2% in metropolitan areas. Over 14% of Waldo households received food stamps in 2023, compared to 9% in neighboring Gainesville, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
Alachua County hosted a community input session Jan. 25 at the Waldo City Square in hopes of addressing underlying concerns of future development projects. The meeting was a part of the county’s Forward Focus plan, an initiative aiming to “boost economic opportunities and address community needs in the eastern part of the county” over the next three years, according to the county website.
Bryson, who spoke during the community input section of the meeting, said he hopes this initiative can bring thoughtful development to his beloved town.
“I've had a hope that Waldo would develop into the potential that it has to be this great, small town, quiet town, preserve and build up its identity,” he said.
Through creative entrepreneurship, like renovating old buildings into new businesses, Bryson said development could help bring traffic from U.S. Route 301 and State Road 24, which run through Waldo, into the town and make his beloved community more than just a dot on a map.
However, there was also a sense of caution from community members at the event.
“I don't want it to develop sort of in a haphazard way and a heavily, heavily developed way, the way western Alachua County has,” Bryson said.
Alachua County is no stranger to development. With I-75 running through Western Alachua County, which includes parts of Gainesville and Newberry, new construction continues with recent developments in places like Celebration Pointe and Butler Town Center. Yet, with rich wetlands and forests, Eastern Alachua County, encompassing places like Waldo, Hawthorne and Melrose, hasn’t seen notable change over the years.
Wetlands make up over 94,000 acres in Alachua County, accounting for approximately 18% of the county’s over 350,000 acres, according to a report by UF’s IFAS extension. Much of the county’s wetlands can be found in eastern regions, including state-protected parks and preserves like Paynes Prairie.
Development in preserved areas can be difficult, said Sean McLendon, Alachua County’s economic development manager, due to efforts to maintain the balance between green and blue spaces alongside new renovations.
Beyond preserving the environment, the most common issues brought up at Forward Focus meetings include access to education, expanded healthcare options, economic development and alleviating traffic buildup, McLendon said.
Eastern Alachua County has been fairly untouched in comparison to the development in the west, he said. With thoughtful consideration, McLendon said, the commission is hopeful the initiative will bring with updates the community wants and needs.
“The county commission is very interested to have these [eastern] communities…have opportunities on their side,” he said.
Residents of cities like Waldo can feel forgotten, said Kim Worley, Waldo’s city manager. A common consensus among members at the Forward Focus meeting was an immediate need for traffic control to help with backup coming off the highway while still maintaining the identity of the historic, small town charm, she said.
Waldo was first established as a city in 1859 and quickly became a popular destination due to the railroad running through town. At one point, Waldo boasted resort hotels, an opera house, a theater and paddleboat cruises on Lake Alto. However, after a series of freezes hurting crops, a downtown fire, the Great Depression and the end of the railroad in Waldo, there was “an end to the town's tourism and trade,” according to the city website. Residents want to balance growth with keeping Waldo’s small town feel, Worley said.
There’s also a desire for simple necessities like somewhere to buy food, she said. Without a grocery store, Waldo residents have to drive to Starke or Gainesville, both of which are over 10 miles away, to do all their vital shopping.
“I think a lot of good discussion came out of the meeting,” she said. “But now the people are like, ‘OK, you've written all this down. What are you going to do with it?’”
The initiative is tentatively slated to receive $150,000 this fiscal year, said Missy Daniels, assistant county manager and Forward Focus team lead. Any unused money will roll over to next year.
The next meeting for the Forward Focus Initiative will be Feb. 20 in Micanopy.
Contact Morgan Vanderlaan at mvanderlaan@alligator.org. Follow her on X @morgvande.
Morgan Vanderlaan is a second year Political Science major and the Fall 2024 Politics Enterprise Reporter. When she's not on the clock she can be found writing, reciting, and watching theatre!
