Brookridge residents seek stronger barrier from Cortez retail project

A chain-link fence and a thin strip of vegetation are all that separate Brookridge from the Alliance at the Grove site on Cortez Boulevard, and about a dozen residents came to Hernando County commissioners to say that is no longer enough.

The Brookridge homeowners, many living in the gated 55-plus community along Highway 50, said the retail project next door has changed the edge of their neighborhood in ways they feel every day. Rose McKnight said homeless people have been climbing the fence and entering the subdivision since construction began. Gladys Moore said the noise, traffic and lights have become unbearable as the commercial site takes shape behind their homes.

The project is designed to bring major retail and restaurant names to one of Hernando County’s busiest corridors, including Outback Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Mission BBQ and Rooms To Go. That commercial draw is part of the problem for Brookridge, where residents said the daily realities of growth have become harder to ignore: bus and service-road traffic, headlights after dark, and constant activity just beyond their back fences.

The argument also turned on what county officials approved and when. Hernando County approved the project in 2022 with a 35-foot buffer along the Brookridge fence line, but the developer later persuaded the board to reduce that space to 20 feet. County staff said that history leaves the board with limited power to go back and force the developer to pay for a wall now, even as residents pressed for a stronger physical barrier.

Meeting documents show the petitioner is required to provide a 20-foot natural buffer enhanced to 80% opacity along the north property line. County officials have been discussing temporary measures, including added plantings and a mesh fence, until the landscaping matures. The wall residents want, however, would be a far more expensive fix, with the developer saying it could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The dispute reflects a recurring Hernando County problem: neighborhoods that sit next to approved growth often seek relief only after the construction is underway, when the county’s leverage is narrower and the cost of a stronger barrier falls into a gray area between developer responsibility and public compromise. For Brookridge, the question now is whether the county can still make the site livable at the edge, or whether the buffer that was approved in 2022 will remain the county’s final line between homes and a new retail corridor.