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Attention, government shoppers: Look at this idea

The idea has not been greeted with the enthusiasm she had hoped for, but even those who are skeptical may appreciate Hernando County Commissioner Diane Rowden's willingness to think outside the box - a big box, at that.

Rowden has proposed that the County Commission purchase and renovate the vacant Kmart on U.S. 19 in Spring Hill. She envisions county workers moving out of their patchwork quarters on Forest Oaks Boulevard and into the 33,000-square-foot building, which is just south of the entrance to Timber Pines.

Rowden's colleagues are skeptical, and with good reason. The store is about 25 years old and has been vacant for more than two years, and when a team of county employees toured it recently, the floors were wet and there were signs of vandalism. So it is not surprising that some commissioners are worried the structural renovation will cost too much and that the $3-million asking price is on the high side.

Some have even questioned the wisdom of spending any money to expand government facilities on the west side of the county when the future of the county-owned Brooksville Regional Hospital, which will be vacant in a few months, has yet to be decided.

The obvious answer to that concern is that Brooksville is not in Spring Hill, which is where the most people who use government services are. The speculative answer is that county government will need more facilities on both sides of the county, and perhaps in between Spring Hill and Brooksville, in the not-too-distant future.

But it is a worthwhile pursuit to determine whether it is feasible to run blue-light government specials out of the old Kmart building.

Rowden is using a success story from a South Carolina town to bolster her contention that it could work here. But there also are stories from places where Kmarts and other big-box stores were used for other public purposes, including schools and recreational facilities; the results were costly and unpopular with the public.

Rowden's proposition is one many residents here have wondered aloud. It's been voiced often by Times readers, who lament both the effect the stores' closures have on surrounding businesses and that the government does not reuse them, instead buying land and building from scratch.

Before all make up their minds about this proposal, they should wait and see what County Administrator Gary Adams and his staff recommend after studying which improvements are needed to inhabit the building and estimating what they will cost.

If they find it is affordable, it could be a prototype for acquiring other private properties for public purposes.

If not, at least everyone will know why it won't work, and the commission can save its staff the time and trouble the next time the idea resurfaces.

[Last modified August 3, 2005, 00:36:17]