Hernando County Commissioners Approve Monument Business on Weatherly Road, 4-1

Residents packed a Brooksville hearing room with protest signs, but the Hernando County Board of County Commissioners voted 4-1 on March 3 to grant Merritt Monuments Inc. a special-exception land-use permit to continue operating on Weatherly Road, a rural east-county property that neighbors argued had no business hosting industrial activity.

Commissioner Ryan Amsler made the motion to grant the special exception. Commissioner Steve Champion seconded it after noting he was surprised by how many businesses had already taken root on Weatherly Road, including a machine shop advertising 24/7 service. Champion said he was willing to attach conditions to the permit to protect nearby residents. Commissioner John Allocco cast the lone dissenting vote.

The approval capped a months-long land-use dispute. The Hernando County Planning and Zoning Commission had voted 3-2 on Dec. 16 to deny the same special-exception request, with Commissioner Mike Fulford moving to deny and Commissioner Axel David seconding that motion. The planning panel's majority argued the sandblasting and monument-processing operation was better classified as light-industrial than as a home-based business, and that approving it under a special exception would set a problematic precedent. Assistant county counsel reminded the panel that quasi-judicial decisions must rest on evidence and the county's land-development regulations.

Opponents at both hearings described the operation run by the Merritt family, including business owner Joe Merritt, as an industrial intrusion into a residential neighborhood. Neighbors cited noise, traffic, and health concerns at the planning commission level before showing up in force at the March 3 county commission hearing.

Attorney Darryl Johnston represented the Merritts before the Board of County Commissioners, with Joe Merritt standing at the podium beside him. The family had applied for the special exception to continue operating Merritt Monuments Inc. on the Weatherly Road parcel, which is held by the Merritt Family Trust.

The central regulatory question throughout the process was whether the operation qualified as a home-based business permissible under narrow limits in Hernando County's land-development code, or whether its scale and character placed it in light-industrial territory requiring a full rezoning. The planning commission said rezoning was the right path; the county commission disagreed and granted the exception instead, giving Merritt Monuments the authorization needed to keep processing monuments at the Weatherly Road site.