PDC Hearings challenge LDC

We are now less than 2 weeks from the biggest land hearing this county has had in a long while and probably one of the most contentious... Betz Farm. Tomorrow we will dive into that a bit, new things happening and so on.

Today, we are going to talk about the Planning and Development Commission meeting tomorrow. There are two main items. While I do not expect to see a huge crowd at either, both will likely have a bit of pushback.

First up is the Monkey Island Resort.

Here, they are requesting to allow alcohol sales and consumption on their entire property shown in red here.

So what is the problem?

Well the Land Development Code does not allow alcohol sales within 500ft of a school, park or place of worship.

Homosassa Elementary is right next to this parcel. There is also a park and a church within that radius too if it is expanded. This would violate the LDC provision.

Without going too much into the history, the site has had some changes throughout the years. It appears that prior to 2022, they had a license and were allowed to utilize the entire property for these sales. In 2022, they dropped their license to allow a 3rd party operator to use the restaurant, this triggered the compliance to the LDC, as it is currently written.

They are now only allowed to serve alcohol in the restaurant and bar areas and it cannot be transported around the property.

This change would allow them to use the entire property. It appears they are wanting to expand into events and host events. Their compromise would be to apply for a permit from the county, up to 3 times per year, to be able to have alcohol in that event area.

Staff has visited the site and noted potential violations of code. They were not there for code compliance check, so they did not fully investigate, but noted some issues. Most of these potential violations are around what appears to be unpermitted expansion of seating for the restaurant. The biggest one perhaps is the buffer between the property and the school is no longer there. That was a requirement under the previous approval.

It will be interesting to see what the PDC says. The School Board is against the proposed changes and wants them to keep to what they have. Staff appears to agree with that assessment.

The next hearing will have a few people. This is in regards to a cell phone tower being erected in an agricultural area. There is an intervenor for this application.

To put it simply, the applicant wants to erect a 185ft telecommunications tower on a property. This is a conditional use request, so the PDC decision is the final one. This will not go to the BOCC.

This is a by-right development and can be done without much needed from the county. However, the maximum height is 150ft. This is asking for 185ft. That is why they are coming to the PDC for the variance.

The issue... residents on the neighboring parcels do not want a 185ft tower next to their property. Staff tends to agree that it may not fit in that area at that height.

Here is part of the presentation by the intervenor. She has done a really good job on this project. We will do an interview with her at some point about this process and how to be an intervenor. Lots of work had to be done to fight the big money applicants.

They are also arguing that the cell tower will reduce their property values due to the hazards of the tower.

These are both going to be interest. Both are asking for variances of the LDC to allow their projects to move forward. We will see what the PDC thinks.