Hernando County hearing set to weigh timberland classification for A and A Realty's 9.1-acre Cortez Boulevard parcel

A Hernando County Value Adjustment Board special magistrate hearing addressed petition 25-020, in which A and A Realty LLC asked to have a 9.1-acre parcel on Cortez Boulevard in Brooksville reclassified as timberland for the 2025 tax year. Joseph Haines Davis, the appointed special magistrate, presided and said he would write a recommendation to the clerk for legal-sufficiency review; the clerk told parties that process typically takes two to four weeks.

The property appraiser's office told the magistrate it denied the application after two site reviews (Feb. 13, 2025, and April 28, 2025) and recorded the subject parcel's just value at $355,037 and assessed value at $284,029. "It was found that insufficient effort has been made to care sufficiently and adequately for the land in accordance with accepted commercial agricultural practices pursuant to Florida Statute 193.461," said Nicholas Sisick, a representative of the Hernando County Property Appraiser's Office.

The appraiser's office explained it compared on-site conditions to the forestry management plan and found minimal timber-stand improvement, perimeter mulching that did not extend under the canopy,…