Hernando Beach convenience store approved

County commissioners opted against gas pumps and wanted limits on lighting, but a new convenience store will be built in Hernando Beach.

The board voted 4-1 to approve the new building, going against the recommendations of Hernando County Planning and Zoning.

Buddy Selph, a broker with Tommie Dawson Realty out of Brooksville, gave his sales pitch during Tuesday's commission meeting. It came complete with composites drawings, photographs and maps.

He said the project was "solely needed at this time" because of the lack of options for Hernando Beach residents. The business also would benefit from the eco-tourism along the shore, a popular site for fishermen and kayakers, Selph said.

Linda Prescott, a Hernando Beach resident, was among the five who spoke against the construction of a new store, which is slated to be built at the corner of Osowaw and Shoal Line boulevards.

She argued the location is a "high-hazard zone" for floods. She also said the store would be placed along a dangerous two-lane road that has five memorial roadside crosses, including three that have been posted during the last two years.

Selph said the 1.66-acre parcel is at a higher level than most of the rest of the Hernando Beach region and claimed it did not flood during the no-name storm of 1993.

Aripeka resident Leslie Neumann said the store would be "incompatible" with the rest of the area and doubted it was consistent with the eco-friendly environment that would surround it.

"We certainly don't need it," Neumann said.

In 2008, Planning and Zoning approved a campsite in the same vicinity, one that would have occupied more than 24 acres.

County Commissioner Jim Adkins asked Planning Department Director Ron Pianta why a 1.66-acre site seemed less palatable for that intersection compared to a sprawling campsite or mobile-home park.

Pianta responded the RV camp was a "better plan," but that it still was a "contentious decision."

The request for the campsite was withdrawn after residents packed the Coast Guard Auxiliary building in Hernando Beach to show their disapproval, Prescott said.

County Commissioner Jeff Stabins said he opposed gas tanks at the store, while Commissioner John Druzbick said the lighting must meet certain limitations.

Critics said a gas station at that location is a bad decision given the area's vulnerability for wildfires during the spring and winter.

Druzbick also questioned whether the convenience store would be a 24-hour operation. Selph said that decision would be made at a later time.

After the discussion, Commissioner Rose Rocco made a motion to follow Planning and Zoning's recommendation, but it was not seconded.

A motion to accept Selph's request also was not seconded. Once it was amended to satisfy Stabins' and Druzbick's concerns, the vote was passed.

As evidence of the residents' approval of the store, Selph submitted a 44-page petition that included more than 400 signatures from people who wanted it built. Comparatively, only five people signed the petition opposing it.

Rocco said she reviewed the petition more closely after Tuesday's meeting and noticed several of the signatures came from people outside of Hernando Beach - including many with Spring Hill and Brooksville addresses.

"These people live all over the county," she said.

Rocco said she opposed the store because it was going to be built in the "middle of a floodplain." She also feared the request for gas tanks at the store would be made again.

Prescott, Neumann and others at the meeting said they never saw the petition that was passed around among the residents.

Most of the signatures come from people who live in the immediate coastal area, but several of them came from residents who live in High Point, Masaryktown and Brooksville - more than 10 miles east of the proposed site.