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Revisit Homosassa resort project

By GREG HAMILTON
Published July 16, 2006

The people of Homosassa have been down this road before, rising to oppose plans to build a handful of tall structures packed with vacationers along one of their local rivers.

They have swamped the County Commission with petitions and letters, packed meetings, and even hired an attorney to take the fight to a higher level. They have pleaded with commissioners to work with them to preserve the rustic identity of their community.

And they have lost the fight. At least for now.

Just as in 2002, when a divided board approved the Halls River Retreat project, commissioners on Tuesday allowed a major project to proceed over the apparent wishes of the host community.

Their 3-2 vote will allow Gail Oakes to raze the buildings on the east side of her 6.2-acre site along the Homosassa River and replace them with a number of tall structures housing dozens of motel suites.

For months, county staffers, lawyers and civic activists have argued over the particulars of the county's rules governing this kind of development and this particular location. They have parsed the meaning of the word "floors" as opposed to "stories." They have wrestled over the relative worth to the environment of having open space on the ground vs. concrete towers blocking out the sun.

On a personal level, Oakes' plans for a revamped Riverside Resort have torn apart this small town. While not as hostile as the open warfare under way up the coast in Yankeetown, the project has unraveled longtime friendships and turned neighbors against one another.

All of this is terribly destructive to a community that prides itself on being one big extended family. Making matters worse is that this was all avoidable.

After the struggles over the Halls River project, the county worked with the people of Homosassa to develop a unique plan for controlling the development that inevitably would come its way.

The regulations came out of months of town meetings and informal sessions aimed at drawing up rules that would ensure that this historic fishing village maintained its sense of place. The Old Homosassa District Overlay was hailed at its birth as a model for other parts of Citrus County, such as Floral City and Hernando, that are seeking to retain their heritage as growth continues its march into our county.

But in its first usage, the rules have been found wanting. There is not much that the two sides in this bout agree on, but there is no doubt that the language is flawed.

In the face of such overwhelming community opposition and in recognition of the vagueness of the development rules, the commissioners on Tuesday should have sent the project back to staff. It simply was not ready to be seriously considered.

Just as the Halls River Retreat saga laid bare the county government's mistakes in allowing a mixed-use designation on the property, which a judge ultimately struck down, this episode has revealed gaping holes in the very rules that were supposed to protect Homosassa.

Recognizing the fundamental problems in the wording of the county-crafted documents that were to guide their decision, there is no way in good conscience that the commissioners could have approved these plans at this time. And, yet, they did just that.

Now, the residents opposing the plans have a big decision of their own to make. Do they fight the county government one more time, as happened in 2002? Will they have to dig into their own pockets to pay for legal representation for both sides, because their taxes pay the salaries of the county legal staff?

It is an insult to the community that the situation has come to this point. Is this what the county had in mind when it set about setting up a special district for Homosassa?

If the numbers of signatures on petitions and opposition e-mails are any true measure of the pulse of the community, then dozens if not hundreds of Homosassa residents today feel frustrated by their government and angry that their voices were not heard. Obviously, every controversial vote has its winners and losers, but this resolution will do nothing to ease the anger that has taken root in Homosassa.

Before matters get worse, before the community and county find themselves battling each other in front of a judge again, the commissioners must revisit this issue. Their first step must be to clarify the very language that they are relying on for their judgment.

If the commissioners truly are interested in having Homosassa and other communities set their own destinies, they will not proceed with votes that force unpopular projects down the throats of the host communities.

[Last modified July 15, 2006, 22:30:16]