Opponents in nearby Spring Lake are devastated by the 3-2 vote to approve the upscale development.
By ASJYLYN LODER
Published June 15, 2006
BROOKSVILLE — Hickory Hill will go forward, the Hernando County Commission narrowly decided Wednesday night.
More than 150 people overflowed the commission chambers. More than 50 of them took three-minute turns at the podium. Hickory Hill supporters wore yellow ribbons reading “I Support Hickory Hill.” Critics from the Hernando Alliance for Open Land Conservation wore round stickers with a Live Oak emblem in green.
After a seven-hour public hearing, the commission split along party lines, voting 3-2 to forward the posh, 1,750-home development to the state for review.
It’s the first step in what promises to be a lengthy battle over turning the 2,800-acre ranch into a luxury golf course community. The developer hailed the decision as a success, while opponents from neighboring Spring Lake groaned their disapproval.
“I feel good about it,” said Bob Sierra, chairman of Sierra Properties LLC of Tampa, the developer. “I think it’s the correct decision.” Sierra still faces a series of hurdles, including reviews by several state agencies, additional commission input and more public hearings.
In its decision Wednesday, the commission agreed to ask the state to allow the county to change its comprehensive plan, which maps out how the county will grow.
The ranch straddling Interstate 75 in eastern Hernando is slated agricultural. The developer wants to change it to residential.
The state has 60 days to look at how the change will affect roads, schools, traffic, wildlife and the environment. The county gets to look at that review, and hold another public hearing before adopting the change. Then the state gets another look at it.
For or against, the issues were the same: growth, water, traffic, schools.
The developer and his supporters contend the project will generate enormous tax revenue for the county and will ultimately pay for itself. It won’t disrupt the rural character of the neighborhood, either, they said.
Opponents disagree. County residents will be left with a huge bill for roads and schools, and will get stuck in traffic generated by yet more urban sprawl, they said.
The golf courses will suck up scarce groundwater and allow pesticides and fertilizers to soak into the ground. The rural community of Spring Lake will be irreparably damaged.
Danny Mitchell, who lives nearby, told the board, “I believe Spring Lake was set up for country living, and now that’s changing because somebody wants to make some money.”
Commissioner Jeff Stabins, who voted for the development Wednesday night, said the developer must work with the neighbors and kick in some cash for fire stations, parks and other public amenities.
“I think it could be a wonderful project as long as they continue to be good neighbors and work with the people of Spring Lake,” he said.
Commissioner Chris Kingsley said the project will contribute to sprawl. The neighboring community is rural, while a planned development district to the east remains largely undeveloped.
“It’s premature,” Kinglsey said.
Commission chairwoman Diane Rowden pointed out that the county’s comprehensive plan took effect in February.
“The ink wasn’t even dry before it was starting to be erased and changed,” she said, casting her vote against the development.
Robert Thomas, whose family has owned the ranch for decades, said Hickory Hill will be far better than parceling out the development into smaller pieces on dirt roads. If he sold it as one piece and kept it agricultural, nothing would prevent someone from starting a hog farm or a huge poultry farm, he said.
“I could get 10,000 chickens over there,” he said. “Now how would the neighbors like that?”
