Fairgrounds plan is put off

Give away the fairgrounds? Not so fast, other county commissioners say.

By Barbara Behrendt, Times Staff Writer
Published March 13, 2008

SPRING HILL -- Free Wii golf event for seniors 65 and older

Evergreen Woods Health and Rehabilitation will have a Wii interactive virtual bowling tournament from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 27 at the facility, 7045 Evergreen Woods Trail.

This is a free event open to all seniors 65 and older.

Teams will be assembled to compete against each other in tournament style on the Wii virtual bowling game. Prizes will be awarded to the winning bowler.

Refreshments will be served and door prizes will be raffled.

Space is limited. To register or for information, call Pam Cafra at 596-8371.

BROOKSVILLE -- Hernando Historical Advisory panel to meet

The Hernando Historical Advisory Commission will meet at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the council chambers at Brooksville City Hall, 201 Howell Ave.

The commission was created by the Hernando County Board of County Commissioners to promote public interest in the county's history and to preserve and document its history.

For information, call Mary Krabel at 796-8821.

Those with disabilities needing special accommodations to participate in the meeting should call 754-4061. Those who are hearing impaired can call toll-free at 1-800-676-3777 for assistance.

SPRING HILL -- Arbor and Earth Day celebration on April 29

The Spring Hill Garden Club's Arbor and Earth Day Celebration will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 26 at the Nature Coast Botanical Gardens, 1489 Parker Ave.

The event will begin with a continental breakfast, followed by speakers, entertainment, tours of the gardens and drawings for free trees.

During the celebration, visitors will learn about the importance of trees, how to select the right tree for the right place, and how to take care of that tree once it is planted. Information will also be given on native plants, water conservation, how to rid gardens of invasive plants and how to be good stewards of the environment.

For information, visit the Web site at www.naturecoastbotanicalgardens.com or call 683-9933.

BROOKSVILLE -- Suncoast Schools Federal Credit Union's Brooksville branch will host a rummage sale to benefit the American Heart Association from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 5 at 18915 Cortez Blvd.

SSFCU will participate in the American Heart Association's annual Heart Walk. Funds raised from the rummage sale will help reach the local team's pledged goal. Additional fundraisers are planned, including car washes, pancake breakfasts and hot dog and soda lunches.

Donations for fundraisers are appreciated. Local merchants or individuals interested in helping out can call Donna Morris at 799-6322, ext. 51104.

BROOKSVILLE - County commissioners were hardly thrilled Wednesday by a suggestion to fix longtime lease problems with the Hernando County Fair Association simply by giving the group most of the county's land at the fairgrounds site.

"Basically, we're giving away the store here," said Commissioner Diane Rowden. "There is a lot of valuable property that the county owns. This is our property. It belongs to the taxpayers."

Commissioner Rose Rocco wanted to know how things got to the point where giving away land is the best way to solve a problem. Commissioner Jeff Stabins asked about the financial impacts of the proposal.

Their reluctance led the board to back away from any deal and to direct the staff to come back later with more information.

Commissioner Dave Russell, the board's point person on talks with the association, had urged his colleagues to seal the deal. "This puts an end once and for all to the disputes and squabbles of the past," he said, noting it would get the county out from under complications caused by "shabby accounting" by past county officials.

Russell said the commissioners should not think of the deal as giving away land to some private entity that might build hotels there someday.

"The whole purpose here is to benefit the public," he said. "It's going to enhance the performance of the fair."

The complicated dispute that has lingered more than two years focuses on the approximately 35 acres along U.S. 41 S. The Fair Association has two leases that cover most of the site. The lease that covers the actual fairgrounds and auditorium was signed in 1964 and is renewable annually for as long as the county fair is held.

The acreage just to the east of the fairgrounds was leased to the Fair Association in 1984 for 20 years, Assistant County Attorney Kent Weissinger told commissioners Wednesday.

Part of the association's responsibility in the lease was to make the payments for the land. In 1997, the association told the County Commission that it could not make the payments, and the county took over paying the debt.

While the county contends that the lease has expired, the Fair Association says that an automatic 30-year extension is now in force.

The county could fight the association in court over the terms of the 1984 lease, Weissinger said the outcome would be uncertain.

Part of the reason the county is in a tough spot is that it has situated its Extension Services and Animal Services buildings on the easternmost parts of the property - on land that has been leased to the association.

Weissinger told commissioners he can find no documentation that association ever relinquished its interest in those sites.

Further muddying the waters are other leases on pieces of the 35 acres and the north-south connector road known as Governor Boulevard that the city of Brooksville plans to build through the middle of the site.

The push to get the right-of-way secured for Governor Boulevard is what has shoved the whole issue to the forefront, county officials said.

The complicated lease mess also squashes notions such as the county possibly trading the fairgrounds site for property closer to Brooksville to be used for a new court complex, or building the complex at the fairgrounds, according to interim county administrator Larry Jennings.

Barbara Behrendt can be reached at behrendt@sptimes.com or 352 848-1434.

[Last modified March 12, 2008, 20:44:20]