Panel approves utility operations center on Boy Scouts land with conditions after split vote

The Hernando County Planning & Zoning Commission approved a public‑service facility overlay district (PSFOD) for an electric utility operations center on a roughly 52‑acre portion of the Sand Hill Scout Reservation, voting 3‑2 after negotiating language on access and screening.

The proposed project by Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative (WREC) would create administrative offices, equipment and vehicle storage, a staging area for storm response and a future substation adjacent to an existing power line. The county packet says the WREC use will occupy about 52 acres of a 1,251‑acre Boy Scouts property.

Petition representatives described the site as a natural staging location for storm restoration and noted that the Boy Scouts and WREC already collaborate on storm response. Coastal Engineering and planning consultants told the commission the parcel was granted in fee simple to the Boy Scouts after a quiet‑title judgment finalized in January 2024; the consultants submitted that judgment to the record at the hearing.

Don Lacey and Betsy Jolley of Coastal Engineering, representing the applicant, said the plan preserves existing vegetation along the power‑line corridor, provides landscape buffering along State Road 50 (Cortez Boulevard) and avoids direct access to Route 50. Jolley said the requested overlay is consistent with the comprehensive plan because a PSFOD is an allowed mechanism for minor public facilities across future land‑use categories.

Planning staff and the applicant proposed three edits to staff conditions. The commission accepted revised language requiring the petitioner to coordinate with the county engineer on entrance‑road design, including potential future connections for a frontage/edge road to the east (and to investigate a possible west connection). The commission also agreed that outdoor storage be set back from Route 50 (staff proposed 125 feet) and screened by a landscape buffer and fencing, and that the petitioner deliver a master plan in coordination with the Board of County Commissioners within a clarified time frame after the board’s approval memo.

Petitioner presentations emphasized the public benefit of a consolidated operations center and storm‑restoration staging area. “This project will allow them to put equipment and staging on site to support quicker storm response,” one Coastal Engineering speaker said during the presentation.

Commissioner discussion focused on compatibility with surrounding land uses and the mechanics of frontage‑road interconnectivity. Commissioner Nick Holmes moved to approve the overlay and to incorporate the discussed revisions to conditions 5, 11 and 13; Commissioner Justin Noe seconded. The motion passed 3‑2.

Staff noted there is currently a new signalized intersection serving the HCA Oak Hill Hospital and that coordination with the county engineer will be necessary to ensure emergency and operational access. The Boy Scouts representatives told the commission that the WREC facility will occupy a small portion (about 52 acres) of the overall reservation and that remaining land would remain in scouting use.

The commission’s approval advances the project to the Board of County Commissioners for final action; staff will finalize condition language with the petitioner before the Board hearing.