Hernando Heard a 907-Lot Plan and a 978-Home Plan on October 6.

Hernando County’s Board of County Commissioners met for a land-use hearing at 9:00 a.m. on October 6, 2026, and the docket put two large residential caps in the same room: Ginny Grove, up to 907 single-family lots on about 226.9 acres, and Black Jack Ridge, up to 978 dwelling units on about 203.89 acres. Both are petitions from Jack Melton Family, Inc., in the I-75 and State Road 50 area east of Lockhart Road. The same agenda carried Emerson Oaks, a 23.8-acre request on Emerson Road for 80 single-family homes and 180 multifamily homes, a Driftwood Drive rural rezoning, a used-auto site on Cortez Boulevard, and three easement and right-of-way items. Legistar’s action lines for these October 6 files showed no recorded vote when this note was written. The agenda and the staff reports are the file. A posted minute is a later document.

This hearing is separate from the Spring Hill Drive master plan, Resolution 2022-139, which entitled 37.06 acres at the Suncoast Parkway with a 462-unit cap. Ginny Grove is file H-25-39. Black Jack Ridge is file H-25-40. Emerson Oaks is file H-26-11, with companion map amendment CPAM2602. Staff’s own notice, printed in the Ginny Grove report, says a rezoning is a land-use determination and does not constitute a permit for construction, use of the property, or a certificate of concurrency. The county frame for a house search stays in the Hernando market update. Statewide context stays on Florida markets.

Where the board sat, and what comes next on the calendar

The hearing was in the John Law Ayers Commission Chambers, Room 160, at 20 North Main Street in Brooksville. The agenda says every item can be heard any time after the 9:00 a.m. start. Public comment on items covered by section 286.0114, Florida Statutes, is limited to three minutes. The board sits in a quasi-judicial capacity for the rezonings and the vacate petitions. For the Emerson map amendment it sits as the local planning agency and then as the board.

The published 2026 schedule, approved December 16, 2025, lists the next regular meeting for Tuesday, October 13, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. in the same room. The next land-use day on that schedule is Tuesday, November 10. Staff’s recommendation on both Melton development agreements is that the board take public comment and approve scheduling a second public hearing for adoption on November 10, 2026. That sentence is a recommendation in the October 6 backup. It becomes a set hearing when the board’s action says so.

The chair on the county’s commissioner page is Jerry Campbell, District 4. Ryan Amsler, District 1, is vice chair. Steve Champion, District 5, is second vice chair. John Mitten is District 2. John Allocco is District 3. Development Services Director Omar DePablo is the staff name on the land-use agenda. County Attorney Jon Jouben is listed in the board’s comment block. The unsigned resolution forms in the packet name Douglas A. Chorvat, Jr., Clerk of Circuit Court and Comptroller, as the attesting officer.

Ginny Grove: 907 lots on 226.9 acres

File H-25-39 asks to rezone parcel keys 541364 and 541578 from agricultural to a planned development project for single-family houses, with deviations. The staff report describes approximately 226.9 acres on the east side of Lockhart Road and I-75, inside the I-75/SR 50 Planned Development District. The development-agreement overview describes the same keys as approximately 226.92 acres, south of State Road 50, west of I-75, east of Lockhart Road, and south of Old Trilby Road. The request is a subdivision of up to 907 single-family lots. The agreement caps density at 4 dwelling units an acre and building height at 35 feet. Nine hundred seven lots on 226.9 acres is 4.0 units an acre. The cap and the acreage describe the same ceiling.

The petitioner’s requested lot standards, printed in the staff report, are a 25-foot front setback, a 5-foot side setback as a deviation from 10 feet, a 15-foot rear setback as a deviation from 20 feet, maximum building coverage of 65 percent as a deviation from 35 percent, a 50-foot minimum lot width, and a 5,500-square-foot minimum lot as a deviation from 6,000. Staff’s comment says the minimum side setback it would recommend, based on earlier board direction, is 7.5 feet rather than 5. Perimeter setbacks in that comment are 35 feet on the north and south, 45 feet on the east from I-75, and 45 feet on the west for the northern portion, with 35 feet on the southern portion measured from a future right-of-way.

The master plan, as staff reads it, sets aside 89.5 acres for drainage, buffers, roads, and open space. Staff says the natural-vegetation acreage and the park acreage inside that figure are not clearly identified. The report requires, if the plan is approved, a minimum of 15.88 acres of natural vegetation, which is 7 percent of a project larger than 20 acres. Buffers may count toward that minimum. Neighborhood-park rules apply because the project is over 50 dwelling units: 1.0 acre for the first 50 units, plus one one-hundredth of an acre for each unit over 50 up to 250 units, for a maximum of 3.0 acres. Staff says the park acreage on the plan was not clearly identified.

Planning and Zoning voted 5-0 on February 9, 2026, to postpone the application, and 5-0 on March 9, 2026, to recommend that the board approve the rezoning with deviations and modified performance conditions. On April 7, 2026, the Board of County Commissioners voted 4-0 to postpone. The October 6 backup recommends that the board adopt a resolution approving the rezoning with deviations and performance conditions.

The companion development agreement, agenda item 17281, names the School Board of Hernando County as a party for school concurrency. It proposes single-family use not to exceed 907 dwelling units, recreational amenities, residential ancillary uses, and an existing communications tower. The county attorney’s note says two requirements of section 163.3227, Florida Statutes, are not in the draft, and that the omission is against advice of counsel. The recommendation is to consider the agreement, take public comment, and schedule the second hearing for November 10, 2026. The rezoning itself is agenda item 17999. The agreement does not replace that vote.

Black Jack Ridge: 978 homes, and commercial space, on about 204 acres

File H-25-40 is the parcel on the other side of that corridor. The development-agreement overview describes approximately 203.89 acres south of State Road 50, west of I-75, east of Lockhart Road, and north of Old Trilby Road. Parcel keys 840923 and 841138 are owned by Jack Melton Family, Inc. Parcel key 1760151 is owned by the Florida Department of Transportation, with negotiations underway for a transfer. The school district’s March 9, 2026 letter describes the site as 204 acres, more or less. The general location on the rezoning item is the southwest side of Cortez Boulevard and the east side of Lockhart Road, about 944 feet from I-75.

The request is a combined planned development: single-family, multifamily, general commercial, and highway commercial, with deviations. The agreement proposes single-family and multifamily uses not to exceed 978 dwelling units, at a maximum density of 5.3 dwelling units an acre. It proposes highway commercial uses not to exceed 200,000 square feet and general commercial uses not to exceed 100,000 square feet. It also lists hospital or urgent-care and stand-alone emergency rooms, educational facilities, light wholesale and storage, microbreweries, public or private recreation including virtual golf or pickleball, and residential amenities. Single-family height is capped at 35 feet. Multifamily and commercial height is capped at 60 feet. Nine hundred seventy-eight units on 203.89 acres is about 4.8 units an acre, under the 5.3-unit density line the agreement also prints. The unit cap and the density cap are both in the draft. The commercial figures are separate from the homes.

Planning and Zoning voted 5-0 on February 9, 2026, to postpone, and 5-0 on March 9, 2026, to recommend approval with deviations and modified performance conditions. On April 7, 2026, the board voted 4-0 to postpone. The October 6 backup recommends that the board adopt a resolution approving the rezoning. The development agreement is a separate item, number 17280. Staff recommends the same November 10 second hearing. The county attorney’s note again says two requirements of section 163.3227 are missing, against advice of counsel, and adds that the draft does not say how the project proceeds if the negotiations for the FDOT parcel do not close. FDOT is not a party to the agreement.

The School District’s non-binding capacity letter for Black Jack Ridge is dated March 9, 2026, and it assumes 978 single-family units in order to measure the highest potential impact. Multifamily and townhouse counts are marked to be determined. Using the district’s August 2022 student-generation study, the letter prints 294 students: a rate of 0.300 on 978 single-family units. It distributes them as 135 in prekindergarten through fifth grade, 68 in grades 6 through 8, and 91 in grades 9 through 12. The letter says adequate capacity for all 135 elementary students is available at Eastside Elementary. It says adequate capacity is not available for any of the 68 middle-school students at Parrott Middle, and that capacity is available in the adjacent area of West Hernando Middle. It says adequate capacity is not available for any of the 91 high-school students at Hernando High, and that capacity is also not available at Central High or Weeki Wachee High.

The table printed with that letter uses enrollment figures the district says were published on its website on October 11, 2024. Eastside Elementary is shown with a resulting level of service of 98 percent after including the 135 proposed students. West Hernando Middle is shown at 96 percent after including the 68. The high-school rows show proposed students of 0, with resulting levels of service of 100 percent at Hernando High, 104 percent at Central High, and 100 percent at Weeki Wachee High. The narrative and the table answer different arithmetic: the narrative says the 91 high-school students do not fit, and the table does not add those 91 into the high-school rows. The letter says there is no guarantee students would attend the named schools. A formal concurrency application, with a $500 fee, is due at least 30 days before a site plan or conditional plat. The March letter is not that finding.

Emerson Oaks: 80 houses and 180 multifamily homes on 23.8 acres

Emerson Capital Group, LLC, filed H-26-11 and CPAM2602 on parcel key 476407, on the west side of Emerson Road south of Cortez Boulevard. The staff report and the draft resolution place the site approximately 1,540 feet south of that intersection. The applicant’s narrative and the school district’s August 13, 2026 letter place it approximately 750 feet south. The site size in every one of those documents is 23.8 acres. The land is vacant. Current zoning is a combined planned development from earlier files H-08-06 and H-05-35, with general commercial, single-family, office-professional, and congregate-care entitlements. The future-land-use map designation is Commercial. Moton Elementary sits to the south.

The rezoning asks to change that combined district so the uses are multifamily and single-family, with deviations. The school letter states the proposal as 80 single-family units and 180 multifamily units, 260 homes in all, and zero townhouses. On May 6, 2025, the board voted 5-0 to deny an earlier request for a 215-townhome project that included an additional 16.38 acres. The staff report lists the reasons for that denial as intensity, environmental impacts, school capacity, and trip generation.

On August 17, 2026, Planning and Zoning voted 5-0 to adopt a resolution denying this rezoning. The October 6 staff recommendation still asks the Board of County Commissioners to approve it, with deviations and performance conditions. Those are two different recommendations in one file. The draft resolutions in the packet are forms. The approval form is not a recorded October 6 vote.

The companion small-scale amendment, CPAM2602, would change the future-land-use map on the same 23.8 acres from Commercial to Residential. Planning and Zoning reviewed it on August 17, 2026, and recommended approval to the local planning agency and the board. Staff’s recommendation on the amendment is that the board decide, and that the attached ordinance be adopted if the vote is to approve. The commercial buildout the staff report calculates for the current map, at a 0.35 floor-area ratio, is approximately 362,854 square feet. The residential category the amendment would enter allows up to 22 units an acre in the staff calculation, which the report prints as up to 523 units. The report says that 523-unit figure does not apply site constraints, zoning conditions, or a mixed-use proposal. The application in front of the board is the 80-and-180 count, not the 523-unit ceiling of the land-use category.

If the plan is approved, staff says the petitioner must designate 1.66 acres, or 72,571 square feet, of natural vegetation, which is the 7 percent rule for a project over 20 acres. A fire-protection plan would be required with the conditional plat because the report anticipates lots under 60 feet wide.

The school district’s August 13, 2026 letter is also non-binding. It uses the same 2022 generation study: 0.300 on 80 single-family units is 24 students, and 0.188 on 180 multifamily units is 34 students, for 58 students. The grade split printed on the letter is 27 in prekindergarten through fifth grade, 13 in middle school, and 18 in high school. The letter says Moton Elementary does not have adequate capacity for any of those 27 students, and that Eastside Elementary, in the adjacent area, does. It says Parrott Middle does not have adequate capacity for any of the 13, and that West Hernando Middle does. It says Hernando High does not have adequate capacity for any of the 18, and neither do Central High or Weeki Wachee High. The letter calls that a capacity deficit of 18 students at the high-school level. The same $500 formal-concurrency step applies before a site plan or a plat. Assigned schools are not a guarantee of where a child would enroll.

The rest of the October 6 docket

The consent agenda has one land item: release of a performance bond and acceptance of a maintenance bond for the Arbor Meadows subdivision, item 17860. The backup title does not print the bond amounts on the agenda face.

Item 17943 is a resolution ratifying denial of a petition by Jerrod K. Zelanka to vacate portions of a drainage right-of-way and a drainage and utility easement in Spring Hill. The agenda title is a ratification of a denial. It is not a new subdivision.

Item 17945 is a petition by Clarence Bailey and Cindy L. Bailey to vacate utility and drainage easements in Spring Hill. The attachment list includes an aerial labeled 8412 Elgrove Street. Item 17946 is a petition by Charlotte Zaengle and Keith Zaengle to vacate right-of-way in Ridge Manor Estates. Each file contains both an approval resolution and a denial resolution as attachments, which is how the county prepares the hearing. The attachment is not the outcome.

H-25-28, from MT Driftwood, LLC, asks to rezone parcel key 1425354, on the south side of Driftwood Drive about 467 feet west of Cortez Boulevard. The site is 10.8 acres, split between about 4.5 acres of R-1B residential and about 6.3 acres of agricultural zoning that staff describes as predominantly wetland. The request is a rural planned development with specific agricultural-residential and agricultural uses, so the parcel would have one zoning label and could be used for a home and permitted agricultural uses. Planning and Zoning voted 5-0 on August 17, 2026, to recommend approval with unmodified performance conditions. Staff recommends that the board approve it. The strategic-plan line on this item is Quality of Life. The larger residential petitions are tagged Economic and Workforce Development.

REZ-000025-2026, from Ryan McClure and Joseph McClure, asks to rezone parcel key 1006609 from R-1A residential to a highway-commercial planned development with outdoor storage. The location is the south side of Cortez Boulevard, approximately 3,093 feet east of Fort Dade Avenue. The stated intent is a low-intensity used-automobile sales operation. The petitioner describes an accessory storage structure of 40 by 48 feet, 20 feet high, placed toward the rear. The requested deviations are a front setback from 125 feet to 45 feet, side setbacks from 20 feet to 10 feet, front and rear buffers from 20 feet to 10 feet, and side buffers from 20 feet to 5 feet. Planning and Zoning voted 5-0 on August 17, 2026, to recommend approval with modified performance conditions. Staff recommends that the board approve it.

Correspondence on the agenda notes special-exception actions the Planning and Zoning Commission took on September 14, 2026. That memo is a notice. It is not one of the rezonings.

What a buyer, a seller, or an owner can use

A buyer looking east of Lockhart Road, or along Cortez Boulevard near I-75, can treat October 6 as the county’s hearing on two master plans that are still petitions. Ginny Grove’s ceiling is 907 lots on 226.9 agricultural acres, with a requested 5,500-square-foot lot and a side-yard deviation staff would rather see at 7.5 feet. Black Jack Ridge’s ceiling is 978 homes plus up to 200,000 square feet of highway commercial and 100,000 square feet of general commercial, on about 204 acres that still include an FDOT parcel under negotiation. Emerson Oaks is the smaller file closer to Moton Elementary: 260 homes on 23.8 acres, a Planning and Zoning denial on August 17, and a staff recommendation that the board approve anyway. None of those ceilings is a finished lot, a school seat, or a price.

A seller in Spring Hill, Brooksville, or along Cortez Boulevard prices the house that exists. A hearing on agricultural land east of Lockhart Road does not reset a comp in Sterling Hill, Timber Pines, or a Brooksville block. The Hernando commercial overview is the file for a shop or a commercial pad. Black Jack’s commercial square footage is a requested cap inside a combined planned development. It is not a listed storefront.

An owner near these parcels cares about the roads and the schools the backup actually names. Ginny Grove and Black Jack Ridge both sit in the I-75/SR 50 Planned Development District, which the comprehensive plan describes as the area between the State Road 50 interchange and the point where Lockhart Road crosses I-75, from Lockhart Road to the Withlacoochee State Trail. The district’s school letters, on different dates, both find high-school capacity short at Hernando High and at the two adjacent high schools. Those letters are non-binding. They are also the county’s own attachments.

Hernando is inside the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area. The August 2026 unemployment rate for that metro was 4.7 percent, not seasonally adjusted, in the metro unemployment note. That rate is residents of the four-county metro. It is not a count of construction jobs on Lockhart Road. The mortgage range in force after the September 16 decision is 3.75 to 4.00 percent, covered in the rate-hike note. A purchase quote starts on the mortgage page. Buying sits on residential. A shopper who wants the next county south can use the Pasco overview. A written assignment for this corridor starts at contact or (352) 515-0226.

The board’s next regular meeting on the published schedule is October 13, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. The development-agreement backup asks for a second hearing on November 10. Until Legistar shows an action on items 17999, 18000, 17973, and 17972, the October 6 record a reader can cite is the agenda, the staff recommendation, and the earlier votes already printed in those reports.