Serenola Forest, a long-sought buffer to Paynes Prairie, purchased with money from Wild Places and Spaces sales tax

Serenola Forest, a 111-acre buffer between Williston Road and Paynes Prairie, has been purchased by Alachua County for $3.2 million largely from the Wild Places and Public Spaces sales tax approved by voters in 2016.

The county and the Alachua Conservation Trust have been negotiating the deal for the land between the Oak Hammock retirement community and Idylwild Elementary School for more than a decade. It lies just south of the municipal limits of Gainesville.

The county plans to add trails, a wildlife viewing platform, information kiosks, benches and a parking area to make the pine and hardwood forest more accessible to the public while maintaining it as a wildlife habitat and buffer area.

In addition to providing wildlife habitat in the urban fringe, forested buffer filters stormwater draining toward Paynes Prairie, the county said in a press release.

"Serenola Forest is a project that has had more public support than any other," said Tom Kay, executive director for the trust. "It is a great connector between Paynes Prairie and the rest of the community."

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The Alachua County Forever program used $2,997,966 generated by the 1/2-cent sales tax to acquire 103 acres from Serenola LLC, which had paid $18 million for the property in 2006. The deal closed Dec. 6.

An adjacent 7.7 acres was purchased by the Alachua Conservation Trust with privately-raised funds.

A volunteer workday is planned Dec. 29 to remove debris from the property.

The county has been buying environmentally sensitive land and protecting other tracts through conservation easements since voters approved the Alachua County Forever property tax in 2000. After that tax initiative ended, voters have twice approved a 1/2-cent sales tax to continue protecting land through a program now called Wild Places and Public Spaces.

Alachua County Forever has protected more than 24,000 acres, spending $37.8 million and leveraging more than $39 million in public grants and private donations.