The Greater Tampa Bay Area Scouting Council wants to sell 604 of the 1,300 acres at Sand Hill Scout Reservation in Hernando County. Hundreds of residents, environmental advocates, and Scouts filled Nativity Lutheran Church on Tuesday night to oppose the redevelopment plan.
The Scouting Council says proceeds would fund infrastructure improvements and Scouting programs. The proposal asks the county to change the land’s designation from recreation to a planned development district, which could allow a commercial area, mixed-use development, and multifamily housing on the acreage. Coastal Engineering, which represents the Scouting Council on the comprehensive plan amendment, hosted the meeting and presented the potential uses, including public facilities.
Water concerns
Opponents say the property sits over the aquifer that feeds the Weeki Wachee River. Marousa Placiotis Rodriguez, an organizer with Keep Weeki Wild, said development could harm wildlife and the river. Fred Stratton, chairman of the National Speleological Society Cave Diving Section, said anyone in the county who drinks water drawn from the aquifer could be affected. The Sierra Club and the cave diving group are among those seeking to protect the property, which contains caves and springs.
Coastal Engineering representatives responded that the sinkholes serving as cave entrances would stay on Scout-owned land. The meeting did not produce a hydrological study showing what development would do to the aquifer, and no development plan has been approved.
A will, a deed and a legal question
The Scouts acquired the property in 1978 after landowner Larry Die Polder left it to the organization in his will. According to information presented at the meeting, the will said the land would become a county park if the Scouts no longer wanted it. A later-discovered discrepancy between the will and the deed allowed the Scouts to sell. Placiotis Rodriguez called it upsetting that land left for safekeeping could be put on the market.
What happens next
The Scouting Council had not responded to requests for comment. The amendment is expected to go before the Hernando County Planning and Zoning Commission in November or December. If it advances, it would need approval from county commissioners and the state.
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