Sand Mine Special Master

I am back from my work trip and ready to get back into things related to Citrus County.

Up first, the special master hearing tomorrow for the sand mine off of Homosassa Trail. This can be read about here.

To catch up... the mine location has been operating shortly after they purchased the property in July 2025. The county had given them permission under a non-confirming use and vested rights. However, that was challenged and the county has reversed their position. There is still pending code compliance case. Enforcement of the code compliance issues will depend on what the special master decides at tomorrow's hearing.

Here are the basics.

The application is to extend the mining operations south from the current extractive zoned areas to the parcels that are currently zoned low density residential (LDR).

Here is the map that is included in the packet. All of the yellow is included in this application.

Per the application, it appears they want to expand the extractive zoning to all the parcels and allow "landfill" use.

It is good to see that staff has referenced the ongoing code compliance case in the staff report. It will be interesting to see what the special master says to that.

However, the staff report is incorrect about something. They reference the 2006 letter from the county allowing a vegetative grinder within the existing extractive use...

But did not mention the 2008 letter that denied the request to remove a condition of that approval which would have allowed them to use the grinder.

The main reason for the denial? The county required that the owner pave the McClure street access road due to the truck traffic on that road and the dust produced driving on the dirt roads. The owner was not able to do so as they could not get permission from the surrounding land owners. Therefore, they would not have been able to use the grinder as they could not meet the conditions of the previous approval.

It appears that paving would still be required.

Not sure how they get around that one, unless it becomes a deviation if approved.

Also, staff has indicated that they will not meet the setbacks based on the current plan. They are supposed to be 500ft from residentially committed properties, but the site plan shows only 200ft on the east and 100ft on the west setbacks.

If approved, the staff report lists several conditions. One of them is the SWFWMD ERP permit before they begin excavation. Well that has already happened, as we all know.

So kind of ironic that it would not be a condition of approval.

To that point, the ERP has not been approved as of today.

One other point.. Remember back to the Southworth Mine Special Master hearing? The Special Master ruled that under Policy 17.13.4, the land could not be restored after mining operations ceased.

The same problem will occur here. This time, the staff report mentions it. There is a mitigation plan filed as part of the application to address this issue, but the mitigation plan references Florida Land Use, Cover and Forms Classification System 183213 as the plan, which is "improved pasture".

So the plan to restore the site is to make it into an improved pasture of grass? Yet, all the sand has been removed from it? Also, the FLUCFCS references this as being agriculture land that has been cleared, not mining type land. Not sure how this will apply as a mitigation plan, but we shall see.

Tune in tomorrow at 9am if you wish to watch this live.