Camping out with my BOCC buds

Happy Tuesday!

It’s a full County Commission slate, but a few items before going there.

One, the Suncoast Parkway section between S.R. 44 and C.R. 486 opened late Monday afternoon. Finished 500 days early. Can you believe that?

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It’s a lovely 3 miles. Though, and I’ll get into this later in the week, take a look at the LKQ vehicle junk yard just off your right as the parkway ends at 486. Yikes!

Semi-related, I’ve been hearing from folks that the state bought the Southworth sand mine property and would excavate it for the next section of the parkway. Which is exactly what we heard would happen if the county denied the sand mine.

Well, you may recall two weeks ago the landowner dropped his zoning case the day of the hearing. Since then, the rumor mill is on high alert that the Florida Department of Transportation is buying the Southworth property.

Someone sent me a note Monday saying the property was sold to FDOT. I'm still researching. I found an eminent domain lawsuit filed against Southworth in December 2024. It was settled on July 31, but my annoying reporter instinct is telling me to track this down to the detail. That means comparing legal descriptions to make sure the parcels identified as sold to FDOT are the same parcels as the proposed sand pit. And...not quite there yet.

Still, it would appear FDOT has its sights on the Southworth property, so we’ll keep an eye on it. Someone will (no doubt) let me know if I have it wrong.

And now, the County Commission. It’s a full day with a full agenda. Some highlights:

— 9 a.m. workshop called, “Charting our Course: Responsible Growth.” I’ll watch that from home. These consultant reports always bring plenty of discussion.

— 1:03 p.m. presentation on space needs. The board had an entire workshop on this two weeks ago, voted that same day to disregard moving County Commission offices to Inverness Government Center…and it’s on today's agenda as if that discussion and vote never took place.

Usually doesn't work that way. The other vote was rather abrupt. I get that, but someone might want to explain how a 5-0 no vote came back for another round.

— Not on the agenda, but expect some discussion about the Chassahowitzka River Campground. The idea floating around is that the Southwest Florida Water Management District, which plans to close the campground on Oct. 1, would do a dollar-a-year lease with the county. This seems like a win-win-win for everybody. Look forward to that discussion.

— Commissioner Holly Davis proposes the county do away with its texting ban for commissioners and staffers. Actually, it was citizen Curtiss Bryant who suggested it, and Davis is recommending it.

I’m all for this. We live in a texting world and texts are public records just like emails.

I do have more than a passing interest. I’m partially responsible for the ban to begin with.

It was several years ago, and I think the topic was Port Citrus. A local government watchdog writer (not me) got ahold of texts between a commissioner and the administrator, and I wrote a story about it.

This was WAAAAAY before anyone paid much attention to these things. The county overreacted. Its response to that story was to stop texting on county phones. Even writing this, I’m not sure why officials reached that decision. I guess it made sense at the time.

That time has long past. Removing the texting ban will make the government more efficient and accessible to taxpayers. Not sure how commissioners will feel knowing citizens can text them (and they are absolutely correct to guess that I will publish their phone numbers once this takes effect).

— Pine Ridge Golf Course master plan hearing at 5 p.m. I covered this a little last week. Interesting that this is essentially the same project commissioners voted unanimously 18 months ago to reject. The only difference is it’s 80 houses, not 85. And it’s not gated.

Other than that, everything about Pine Ridge Reserve is exactly the same as the one commissioners already turned down.

— I’m going to be blogging live updates from today’s County Commission meeting over on the Inner Circle page. It’s just 99 cents a month to join up, so come along!

That’s it for today. Enjoy it, friends.

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