Swinging to a different pendulum

Good morning and happy Monday!

I’ve been wracking my brain — I’m sure you have as well — trying to figure out why this year’s County Commission races didn’t attract the competition I expected.

Two years ago, both County Commission races were competitive featuring candidates with a depth of knowledge about Citrus and the challenges it faces.

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This year, while I give challengers Curtiss Bryant (District 1) and Janet Barek (District 3) credit for running knowledgeable campaigns, neither have laid out a vision that’s extended much beyond criticizing the incumbents.

Not that the current officeholders are showing much vision either. During last week’s budget hearing, Commissioner Rebecca Bays sounded the trumpet for an extensive master corridor study to determine this community’s transportation needs today and the next 50 years. Other than another commissioner saying, “That’s a good idea,” or something like that, it went nowhere.

Meanwhile, we’re weeks away from the grand opening of the most anticipated retail business since the Crystal River Mall 30 years ago.

And that’s when it dawned on me. It’s not a matter of whether we’re “ready” for this growth explosion, but rather are we even aware that we’re not?

I’ve written for decades about the pendulum swing. That’s how I phrase the shifting political winds that have shaped Citrus County for decades. We’re either pro-business, or pro-environment. Pro-growth, or pro-regulation.

The current pendulum shift is less recognizable.

Without Citrus County lifting a finger, thousands of people have “discovered” our community. Why? Who knows? The parkway seems like the logical culprit, but little else other than the usual reasons for moving here: It’s cheap.

Developers are flocking here for the 600-house cookie-cutter community that will bear identical resemblance to any number of others just like it up and down the Suncoast Parkway corridor. They don’t see the beauty of our community; they see dollar signs, and nothing else. A fat payday. That’s what Citrus County means to property investors.

The political winds that would drive these land-use decisions no longer exist, at least not today. The economy is driving our economy, not local government, and that can be both a good and not-so-good thing.

The 486/491 corridor intersection, which commissioners say is filling out exactly as their growth plan dictates, is a scary collection of brick, mortar, and asphalt, unlike anything we’ve seen. Basically, everything many hoped Citrus County would NEVER BE is shifting that area into avoid-unless-necessary territory.

Where the economy-driving-economy thing falls apart is when commissioners start approving projects that have no bearing on common sense.

Two cases in point still on the table:

— Betz Farm. Someone needs to give the big-picture reason for selling valuable county property to a developer who already has shown disdain for Citrus County and its citizens. Why, again, are we giving this person a sweet deal?

— Cardinal Farms. Six hundred homes in the middle of rural land. The ONLY purpose for such a monstrosity is the Suncoast Parkway interchange. That’s the only one. And that’s not even a good one.

For commissioners who say this is a sweet spot for affordable housing…great! Except…darn! They don’t have a mechanism for regulating that. So any talk of providing housing on Cardinal for teachers, nurses, office workers, and all those others who Citrus County says it needs to sustain the economy, is nothing more than political smokescreen.

I keep hearing about Citrus County having a citizen-led strategic plan. Pretty sure the citizens of Cardinal Street aren’t thrilled with this attempt to improve their lives.

Don’t talk about a strategic plan to protect Citrus County citizens in one breath and vote for a development to help the out-of-town rich in another.

The pendulum has shifted into unchartered waters. Local political decisions have little bearing on growth. People and businesses are flocking here regardless. Frankly, it’s a little unsettling.

— Saw an item about the Hernando County Commission voting to increase impact fees from $5,757 to $12,036, a massive jump. One of the commissioners said it’s not good that Hernando’s fees are double Citrus County’s.

To which Commissioner Brian Hawkins said: “The reason impact fees get more expensive as you get toward quality-of-life, is because quality of life is higher, you have more opportunity… Citrus is much different than Hernando County.”

Um…catch the not-so-veiled reference to Citrus getting what it pays for? We have cheap fees, they attract cheap developers, and the result is a “much different” quality of life than our neighbors to the south.

That’s our reputation. As of now, it’s earned.

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