Nursery digs in over zoning flap

ODESSA -- Rick Dugger's home is enveloped by noise.

Some of it he expected, living as he does off busy Tarpon Springs Road. But when he purchased the modest house in 1998, he could still enjoy morning cups of coffee out back amid the sounds of birds and rustling trees.

Then a nursery and landscaping business opened up next door, cutting down big swaths of trees to make way for loud hauling trucks.

"And I bought this property three years ago to be in the country," Dugger said. "I don't come out here anymore."

Dugger is at the center of a prolonged zoning fracas that accuses Hughes Nursery of operating illegally in an agricultural zone.

Although Dugger criticizes county officials for being unresponsive, they have supported his point of view. Last June, the code enforcement board ruled that Hughes Nursery was violating county regulations. The company, which owns 12 acres around Tyler Road but uses only 3 acres south of Tarpon Springs Road, avoided penalties by appealing the decision.

The company suffered another setback this week when county zoning administrator Paula Harvey reiterated a previous opinion that the company must have a commercial license for its landscaping services.

The 30-year-old company is not backing off. Hughes Nursery has spent tens of thousands of dollars in lawyer's fees arguing it is doing nothing different from dozens of other businesses, president Ryan Hughes said.

Driving trucks to the business from a commercial site every day would be impractical and expensive. "We don't require a commercial license to do what we're doing," he said.

No one questions whether the nursery is legitimate. The land development code allows trees, plants and sod to be grown in an agricultural zone.

The landscaping business is the problem. Hughes Nursery delivers wholesale materials to various job sites and often installs them for developers, requiring big trucks to handle the heavy loads, Hughes said.

The Arcadia-based family settled on the Tarpon Springs site after a long search. "We use it kind of like a holding area," Hughes said. "It's just an ideal piece of property."

Hughes said Duggers complained from the beginning. At first Hughes said he tried assuaging Dugger by spending $3,000 on a vegetative buffer between their properties. Dugger even got to pick out the materials, he said.

But Dugger, who has the moral backing of the Keystone Civic Association, was not satisfied.

Hughes and his lawyer, Lee Atkinson, argue that it's not fair to distinguish between the nursery and landscaping business, or to require them to operate at separate sites.

But under the land development code, Harvey said Wednesday, landscaping services are not defined as agricultural activities. They are allowed in commercial zones. She also said Hughes Nursery's approved site plan called for a "tree farm," not landscaping services.

What's more, she wrote, the importance of landscaping to the overall operation -- which Hughes acknowledged -- undercuts the company's argument that it is just an offshoot of the nursery business.

As for the company's claim that other nurseries operate the same way, Harvey said the company provided no proof any of them had received county permits.

The controversy is headed back to a land use hearing officer, who will determine whether Hughes Nursery is officially violating county regulations. A hearing has not been scheduled yet.

If Hughes loses, he can can appeal to the Land Use Appeals Board and even go to court. Hughes said he is prepared to go that far but would prefer finding a resolution with Dugger, .

"We're a family business. We're trying to work with him," Hughes said. "This guy's real persistent."

- Josh Zimmer can be reached at 269-5314 or zimmer@sptimes.com.

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