BROOKSVILLE — Hernando County commissioners voted 5-0 on Sept. 1 to reject a rezoning that would have allowed duplexes on a Hernando Beach tract, ending a debate that ran more than two hours and drew a line of residents opposed to the plan.
The board approved two other contested land-use requests the same day, clearing the way for a concrete batch plant and a 110-unit townhouse community.
The applicant for the Insteada development sought a rezoning from R-1B residential to a single-family planned development project with deviations, a change that would have allowed two-family dwellings alongside the single-family homes already approved for the property. Both housing types would have been built to R-2 residential standards, which permit single-family and two-family uses.
The property owner can still build six single-family homes on the site. The rezoning would have allowed 12 units in six duplexes.
The Planning and Zoning Commission voted 3-2 on July 13 to recommend denial.
Residents of the surrounding area have protested the plan at earlier hearings, arguing it would hurt their property values and strain infrastructure. They turned out again Sept. 1, several carrying signs reading “Vote No!” and “Don’t Pasco Hernando!” — a reference to growth in the neighboring county — and another equating short-term rentals with drunkenness, noise and chaos.
Speakers said multifamily housing does not fit the character of Hernando Beach. Though the units were to be sold rather than rented, residents said they feared the homes would become short-term rentals. Cliff Manuel of Coastal Engineering and his son, Ford Manuel, said the units would be for sale.
“If you allow this, you’re setting a precedent,” one resident told commissioners.
Others said Hernando Beach is already difficult to evacuate and that the development would add traffic. Commissioners responded that a hurricane would give residents ample warning to leave, and that even a six-lane road would back up if everyone waited until the last minute.
“Commissioners, your vote is your legacy,” one resident said. “Please vote no.”
Cliff Manuel told the audience that he and his son are not developers but represent developers, responding to accusations leveled against the firm.
Dirt Doctor plan
Far fewer opponents turned out for a townhouse development proposed along Bourassa Boulevard.
The site is zoned agricultural and is surrounded by the Sandal Key community, also known as Lake Hideaway. The petitioner sought a rezoning to a multifamily planned development project to build 110 townhouses, with deviations.
Coastal Engineering presented a revised plan that satisfied a nearby landowner’s concerns about how traffic would be routed from the development to U.S. 19. The rezoning passed 5-0.
Concrete batch plant
Neighbors have been fighting a proposed concrete batch plant, and many of them — including residents of Pasco County — came to speak against it, citing noise, truck traffic, health risks, water use and other environmental concerns.
The petitioner sought a rezoning from agricultural to a highway commercial planned development project with specific C-4 uses.
Much of the hearing turned on a technical distinction: the difference between a concrete batch plant, which mixes cement with sand, gravel and water, and a cement plant, which manufactures cement itself.
“This is not a cement plant,” the applicant said. “This is a concrete batch plant.”
The operation also requires state permits for air quality and for air and water emissions, the applicant said, calling it a heavily regulated process. Only a small part of the site would be used to make concrete.
Commissioners approved the rezoning 5-0 with conditions, including a 30-foot tree buffer along the east side of the property.
In other action
Commissioners voted 5-0 to approve a landowner’s request to build a helicopter landing pad on rural property. A few people spoke against the request and several others spoke in support.
A rezoning petition to allow a real estate office on Mariner Boulevard was approved 5-0.