![]() Happy Tuesday! Few things on my mind wondering why Biden/Trump didn’t issue a blanket pardon for us all… — The County Commission has a strategic planning workshop in the morning … and I can see the glassy eyes already. I’m geeky about this stuff, so please humor me. A significant part of our “One for All” project is that county commissioners have their act together. At the moment, it’s iffy.
What we need to see from commissioners is vision and the ability to carry it out. Break out our award-winning strategic plan into components: growth, roads, impact fees, affordable housing, landfill, taxes, etc. These strategic sessions are notorious for commissioners pushing pet projects. While commissioners want to see one another succeed, I hope this doesn’t turn into three hours of happy wishes. Cuz we have stuff to do. Commissioners are under tremendous political pressure. The 2024 elections brought true leaders to nearly every level of local government, and those people are now looking at the County Commission to tie it all together. If nothing else Tuesday, I’m hoping for some forward direction. Talk it out, commissioners, and then set a course of action that makes sense. — Along those lines, the county’s website keeps a pretty decent track of ongoing projects through a dashboard. Here’s the link. Commissioners will receive updates on these projects and — we hope — offer direction. An example of one such project: Inverness Airport Business Park access. Right now, there are two access routes to the airport property off U.S. 41: Airport Road and Watson Road. The county had hoped to use Watson Road, a narrow residential street. This idea never made sense, the state wouldn’t fund it, and now I’m told the feds won’t allow the county to utilize Watson without a time-consuming and expensive environmental study. That leaves Airport Road, which commissioners have never been keen on to access the airport business park. The problem is a giant Ferris wheel known as the Citrus County Fairgrounds which sits smack dab between U.S. 41 and the airport. Board Chair Rebecca Bays thinks the county should relocate the fairgrounds to Lecanto which, of course, would take care of that airport access issue. Here’s the thing: The fairgrounds are owned by a not-for-profit corporation. Not the government. Asking the Fair Association to move is like asking Target to move. And, boy, does that sound like an undertaking. Looking forward to that conversation. — The board has its regular meeting in the afternoon, and the City of Inverness is asking the county to support its annual request of the Legislature. These are normally easy peasy. The local governments always support one another’s legislative asks. Commissioners may want to take a closer look at the Inverness request. The city, for some odd reason, wants the State of Florida to give it money to open an RV campground at Whispering Pines Park. I can write 700 words alone on why this is a bad idea. Here are five: It is not remotely needed. In a city reaching gridlock on its main thoroughfare, with no plan to do anything about it, do we really want a campground? What’s the strategy here, but to make money? I read Little League teams could camp there for tournaments, but wouldn’t that take customers away from private campgrounds and hotels in the area? Politically, in a year when the Legislature is targeting regional projects, this one doesn't pass muster. The governor, for three straight years, vetoed $1.125 million to connect the Withlacoochee State Trail (state park) to Whispering Pines (state-owned). Seems like a no-brainer, but it was whacked three straight times. Now, after three successive appropriation failures, the city wants the state to pony up taxpayer funds for a campground at Whispering Pines. I’d say it has one of three chances for success: None, nil, and no way. We want our local governments to play nice. But “One for All” is just that — ALL of us working in harmony. I’m not seeing how a city-owned campground gets us there. That’s it for today. Make it a good one, friends. Join the discussion on our Facebook page. Enjoying the blog? Please consider supporting it at Venmo, PayPal, or Patreon. Comments are closed.
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AuthorMike Wright has written about Citrus County government and politics for 36 years. Archives
February 2025
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