Hunter's Lake site hailed as a good choice

Hernando officials who once wanted the Spring Hill campus near the airport now seem content with the trustees' choice.

By JENNIFER FARRELL

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 15, 2000

Elected officials from Hernando County who once insisted that Pasco-Hernando Community College locate its Spring Hill campus in the Airport Industrial Park, appeared content Friday with the Board of Trustees' selection of a site off U.S. 19 overlooking Hunter's Lake.

State Rep. David Russell, R-Brooksville, who was chairman of the Aviation Authority when the airport site was submitted for consideration, said the Hunter's Lake property represents a good compromise.

"Naturally, I would have preferred to see the airport, but the site they selected is a good choice, no question," Russell said, citing the infrastructure already in place to support the campus on the 53.6-acre property. "I don't anticipate them receiving any sort of problems . . . I'm glad it's finished, and I know they are."

Russell vowed to do his part to expedite further legislative funding as the building project moves forward.

State Sen. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, a longtime proponent of the airport site who was instrumental in securing the original $1-million in state money for the new campus, said she likewise would back the trustees' decision, provided local officials approve the necessary zoning requests.

"I think we need to move on, and if this is the obvious collective wish of the Pasco-Hernando Community College board, we need to now turn it over to the experts at the county level," she said.

Brown-Waite said she still favors the airport site and remains concerned that growth on the east side of the county might outpace predictions, forcing the college to speed up its plans to build in eight to 10 years. "I'm just glad that we're moving forward."

County Commission Chairman Paul Sullivan, who also supported the airport site, seconded the state lawmakers' remarks.

"If it can't be the airport, then it appears that the site they selected as No. 1 looks pretty good," he said.

Sullivan said he is interested in hearing more about why the Hunter's Lake site was chosen above the airport property and echoed concerns mentioned by Brown-Waite about possible environmental factors that might impede development.

Critics of the Hunter's Lake site have pointed to tight regulation of wetlands by the Southwest Florida Water Management District and questioned whether it could be adequately developed.

"There are lots of questions," Sullivan said. "They haven't sent us any of the documents that they used to make their decision."

PHCC President Robert Judson said he plans to reach out to state and local officials with information outlining how the property was chosen.

Praising the work done by Harper Partners, the Coral Cables engineering firm hired to help with the selection process, Judson predicted that officials will likely approve zoning changes necessary to begin construction.

"I anticipate we won't have any difficulty with that," he said Friday. "I think (officials will) probably like the choice."

A matter of intense controversy for more than two years, the search began with a tract in the southeast corner of the Weekiwachee Preserve, sparking a backlash from some residents and environmentalists.

A committee then developed a list of recommended sites, which the trustees toured. As the board was reconfigured with new members, though, questions cropped up over issues such as boundaries and minimum acreage. Around the same time, some Hernando County elected officials began a push for the site in the county's Airport Industrial Park, south of Brooksville.

The board voted to move ahead with the County Line Road property, then pulled out on the eve of signing a contract last July.

The trustees then reopened the search, throwing the County Line Road and airport sites back into the running, along with five other properties around the county.

At that point, they hired Harper Partners to help with the choice and to ensure objectivity in the selection process.

The consultants whittled the list to four properties and ruled out a proposal to build an expanded campus on the existing 13-acre one at Spring Hill Drive near Mariner Boulevard.

In May, the firm gave the properties a preliminary ranking, with the Suncoast Parkway site coming in first, the County Line Road site second, the airport site third and the Hunter's Lake site last.

On Thursday, trustees approved the Hunter's Lake site, after the consultant revised its preliminary recommendation and ranked it first, citing central location, high visibility and a reasonable sale price of $650,000.

Judson said PHCC staff will begin negotiating a contract with the hope of completing the deal in time for the trustees' next meeting in September. He said the college will seek more frontage on U.S. 19 and deed restrictions to limit development on nearby commercial property.

County Commissioner Bobbi Mills predicted the plan won't meet resistance.

"I don't see why we would go against it," she said. "Would I like to see it at another place? Yeah, but that's a personal decision. I guess we just have to make the best of it."

- Information from Times files was used in this report.

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