Deltona seeks to add roughly 800 acres to Holder Industrial Park; PDC hears site, buffer and water-use questions

Deltona Corporation asked the Citrus County Planning and Development Commission on March 5 to expand the Holder Industrial Park (HIP) sub-area by roughly 798.6 acres, adding to an existing 557.4 acres and creating a combined planned industrial area of about 1,356 acres in the Hernando/Holder area near County Road 491 and U.S. 41.

The applicant’s team told commissioners the expansion is intended to make more developable, shovel-ready land available for a range of industrial tenants. Paul Gibbs, a landscape architect with Community Land Design, said much of the newly proposed area is constrained by former-mining pits and floodplain, but that roughly 500 acres of the addition would be prime development land. “This literally saves years of time if someone is interested in moving their business to Citrus County,” Gibbs said, describing prior environmental and geotechnical work and current utility investments.

In her planning report entered into the record, Avis Marie Craig, an AICP-certified planner, argued the sub-area text and map changes are consistent with Citrus County’s comprehensive plan and recommended favorable action by the PDC. “It is my professional planning opinion that the application is consistent with your adopted comprehensive plan,” Craig said, noting the sub-area policy…