The SSJ-SC Conservation Committee is following a new proposed development in the Mill Creek Sink basin. We have partnered with concerned residents to add our support as needed. The concerned residents have forward to the challenge with the help of resident Soorya Lindberg. Lindberg advocates for environmental protections within the fragile network of Karst in the Mill Creek Sink area. Here is her update on the Tomiko Hills golf course.
At the intersection of U.S. 441 and I-75 in Alachua, a proposed golf course has raised concerns about water protection, development, and local decision-making that the Sierra Club is actively monitoring.
The Tomoka Hills golf course lies within a karst landscape, where water moves quickly through limestone into the Floridan Aquifer. The site is also within the Mill Creek Sink watershed, a known pathway connecting surface water directly to the aquifer.
The project was approved in April 2025 as a private course for Tower Hill Insurance employees and guests. At the time, environmental concerns were raised, but several recommended safeguards were not adopted.
In March 2026, the project returned with a change to who could use the course. Instead of employees, access was expanded to members of a property owners association. While presented as a small amendment, this change broadens the user base and increases the intensity of use.
The course is expected to irrigate about 94 acres and use roughly 250,000 gallons of groundwater per day, even as the region faces drought conditions. The design also includes a 2.5-acre lined pond supported by groundwater. During the grow-in period, the golf course is permitted to use 11 million gallons per month of potable water.
The site itself is vulnerable. Sinkholes are present on and near the property, yet no comprehensive geotechnical or karst study was required. Experts have warned that, in this type of terrain, fertilizers and other chemicals can move quickly into groundwater with little natural filtration.
Recommendations from the Alachua County Environmental Protection Department, such as reducing the size of the pond, were not included in the final conditions.
The approval process has also raised questions. The item was advertised as legislative but conducted as quasi-judicial, and a board member who had previously recused herself participated in the vote. The amendment passed by a narrow margin of 3-2.
The local Sierra Club chapter is actively monitoring the Tomoka Hills golf course project and closely following developments, including the potential for an appeal. If an appeal is filed, the case would move to the Alachua City Commission for a de novo hearing, where the application would be reviewed anew with the opportunity to present evidence, expert testimony, and public input.