On March 10, Hernando County’s planning and zoning committee held a meeting to discuss and vote on several topics. Some of these, such as the potential rezoning of Oakwood Acres, were particularly hot-button issues. To the delight of the citizens of the Oakwood community, the committee voted 5-0 against rezoning. The next stop is the Board of County Commissioners, who will rule on the matter on April 3.
The owners of the 20 acres of pastureland bordering Powell Road near Deerfield and Oakwood Acres are looking to have 174 three-story fee simple townhomes built onto 14 parcels. To do so, they are requesting the property on the master plan be changed from AR-2, Agricultural Residential, to PDP/MF, Planned Development Project/Multifamily.
This decision was likely helped along when seeing the locals’ overwhelmingly negative reactions to the idea of rezoning. On the evening of March 6, just days before the committee meeting, at least 85 residents inside and nearby Oakwood Acres met for an “emergency” meeting to raise awareness.
Residents of the 130-plus homes in Oakwood were not happy. At the roadside gathering, citizens voiced their displeasure over several concerns, including traffic and drainage, among others.
32-year Tangerine Estates resident Paul Kastes worries about the dust levels caused by all the potential traffic. “This access road is going to be a nightmare over there with the lime rock dust,” he said. “It takes six to eight weeks for a county truck to come out and regrade those roads.”
That is not the only traffic-related issue, either. With morning and evening traffic on the single-laned Powell Road already being hectic, citizens worried how much worse traffic might get with an extra 174 townhomes-worth of families taking their kids to and from Chocachatti or Nature Coast. They also worry about the dangers posed to children crossing the road on the way to school.
When it came to potential flooding: “Their proposal is going to cover over 90 percent of the ground cover here, which is going to put water out onto this street,” one citizen said. “Water down here and everything around here is going to flood. It is going to flood. I do not care what their engineers say. They can say all they want. It is going to flood.”
Ritche Jones, President of Oakwood Acres, coordinated the event to help his fellow citizens have an active hand in what happens to the area in which they live.
“I’m trying to get as much participation as I can out of the community because I’m not the one to make all these decisions,” Jones said. “I want them to have a say in their decision-making.”
On Monday, the county touched on this issue further at the committee meeting. Many of the disgruntled members of Oakwood Acres attended to have their voices heard, wearing stickers with one word, “No.”
Show up they did. With the meeting hall’s capacity being 160, they filled the room, though not to bursting. However, they did not hit max capacity.
“All the barristers were filled […] and there were still people standing,” noted Jones. “It appeared full.”
For about an hour, citizens came up to the podium one by one and listed their issues with the potential rezoning. Afterward, the planning and zoning members appeared to realize the mistake as they voted unanimously to deny the property owner’s petition for rezoning.
Mr. Jones opined that the committee likely noticed that “this doesn’t match […] We were all pretty happy with [the vote]. It all worked out pretty well.”
That is not quite the end of it, though. The local government will reconvene next month for a final vote on the matter during a Board of County Commissioners Meeting on April 3. Planning and Zoning Chair Kathryn Birren advised the concerned homeowners to “do what you did today, go before the county commission” and voice their grievances with the proposal early next month.
