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© St. Petersburg Times, published November 8, 2001
Pasco County has proposed banning sand mining on all properties destined for residential development.
The new ordinance introduced Tuesday would outlaw the practice of excavating and selling dirt from a proposed housing site.
The county would restrict mining to agricultural and industrial sites as defined by Pasco's zoning and land-use maps.
County Attorney Robert Sumner initiated the ordinance, complaining that some land owners excavate dirt by promising to reclaim the land later with homes. But land owners often abandon the projects, leaving cratered eyesores, Sumner said.
Count Commissioner Ted Schrader, whose family owns large tracts of land in Wesley Chapel, where abandoned mines have angered neighbors, argued the proposed law was overly restrictive.
Mining need not be obnoxious, Schrader said, citing what he called beautiful lakes formed from old sand pits on the Bexley Ranch in Land O'Lakes.
"I'm not sure it's that simple," Schrader said of Sumner's goal of cleaning up the landscape.
The first public hearing on the ordinance is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Nov. 20 in Dade City.