We all won the Cardinal debate

Good morning! Let’s dissect the debate.

Oh…not THAT one.

The one for the future of Citrus County.

I expected some give-and-take Tuesday when commissioners went to vote on the Cardinal Farms plan.

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What I didn’t expect was a non-debate.

County Commissioners voted 4-1 against the Cardinal Farms project Tuesday, with four commissioners echoing the high points of Tuesday’s blog and JWC reader comments that a housing development in rural Lecanto made no sense.

“I don’t like it. It does not feel like organic growth of a residential area,” Commissioner Jeff Kinnard said.

Commissioner Diana Finegan added: “It’s not smart growth. There’s nothing else there. Nothing’s ready for that. Nothing at all.”

Commissioner Ruthie Davis Schlabach, at her first meeting since losing re-election to Janet Barek, supported the rezoning, but I’m not sure why. I’ll get into that in a minute.

I don’t look at anything in a vacuum, especially when it comes to land use and growth. Is this the County Commission preserving rural areas, or simply one isolated vote?

Well, I can argue that in my head all day. Instead, we need to revel at what just took place.

Citizens have been justifiably nervous about growth ever since the Suncoast Parkway opened in February 2022. Each new development project is scrutinized. Citizens are more attuned to what’s cropping up down the road than they’ve ever been.

Even the places where growth is expected have brought alarm. We wanted a Target forever. Now we have a Target, and folks are complaining about the traffic. 

I’m not saying those folks are right or wrong. We are entitled to our opinions and, as seen from Tuesday’s blog when dozens of readers chimed in on Cardinal Farms, there is plenty of it. That’s good. We want to discuss this stuff in an open, direct manner. This is our home. We’re in trouble if we can’t have honest conversations about what matters.

And the public is making it very clear: Don’t place growth where it doesn’t belong. The very idea of building 600 houses and townhomes on Cardinal, miles away from the closest store or restaurant, was laughable. 

Interesting thing about this vote was it didn’t come before a roomful of residents. Two nearby residents got up to speak against it, but that was it.

Actually, there was one other speaker: Janet Barek, who frankly didn’t make a lot of sense. I couldn’t tell if she was for it or against it.

But Janet is no longer the Citrus Springs resident popping out of her chair to offer an opinion on this item or that. She’s a commissioner-elect, one of five votes come mid-November, and if her upset election didn’t send a shiver down the backs of commissioners, I don’t know what would. 

Coincidentally, Ruthie was the only vote for the rezoning, though she never really said why. She thought the developer was getting a raw deal from the county.

“We say we want to be welcoming and have economic development…and now we don’t like it? Why would we put developers through that?”

Her point is well taken. However, we can’t sell the county’s soul to ensure a developer’s bottom line. Preparing property for a zoning change is risky. The vote may not go your way. 

That’s the land-use business.

— A little talk, not much, about Cabot Citrus Farms and the Withlacoochee State Forest land swap. Interesting is that while some commissioners said they met (individually) with Cabot Citrus representatives, they knew nothing of the forest land swap until reading about it the same way you did.

That means the company never mentioned to commissioners that its Hernando County golf course expansion plans into Citrus included taking state land in the process. Probably not wise. Places commissioners in an uncomfortable position not of their doing, and my experience is politicians generally don’t appreciate that.

We’ll keep an eye on it.

— Patriot Day is always one of remembrance. I’m of that age when the memory of 9/11 is very real. There are observances throughout the county Wednesday, and I want to encourage a visit to the Valerie Theater in Inverness, where Andy Tarpey has his impressive memorabilia from the World Trade Center.

The exhibit is open from 9:30 to 6 p.m. I never miss it.

Have a wonderful day, friends.

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