Hernando County to consider utility land exchange at April 28 meeting

A small strip of utility land could carry outsized consequences for Hernando County’s next phase of growth. The county is set to consider exchanging one county-owned parcel of about 46,735 square feet, along with an ingress and egress easement, for property owned by Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative in another part of the county.

The Board of County Commissioners is scheduled to take up the proposed exchange at 9 a.m. or soon thereafter on April 28 in the commission chambers at the Hernando County Government Center, 20 N. Main St., Room 160, in Brooksville. The public notice does not read like a typical development headline, but it points to the kind of behind-the-scenes land control that can determine where utility crews enter a site, how pipes and lines are maintained, and how much room the county has to expand infrastructure later.

For Hernando County Utilities Department leaders, the timing matters. Brad Smith was confirmed as utilities director on March 24, giving the department a permanent chief just weeks before the hearing. HCUD Engineering handles planning, design and construction of capital improvement projects, capacity analysis, mapping and research, and water and wastewater master plans, all of which make property access and easements more than a real-estate formality.

The proposed exchange also lands as the county manages immediate water pressure. Hernando County entered a Modified Phase III “Extreme” water shortage beginning April 3, and a burn ban took effect April 14. At the same time, HCUD has been working through a long-term consolidation strategy that has reduced the number of wastewater treatment plants from six to three over roughly 10 years, part of an effort to manage costs and simplify operations as the county grows.

That broader utility plan is why land swaps like this draw attention. County officials have said the department’s 2026 budget proposal was $38,864,548, down 2.3% from the prior proposal of $39,780,123. Even without a purchase price attached to the land exchange notice, the practical question for ratepayers is whether the deal improves access, lowers future maintenance costs, or reduces the chance that a critical utility corridor becomes trapped by surrounding development.

The exchange also sits against the backdrop of WREC’s expanding footprint in Hernando County. On Sept. 2, 2025, commissioners approved a rezoning request that allowed WREC to relocate and consolidate its Western District Office and operational facilities on a 52-acre portion of the 1,251-acre Sand Hill Scout Reservation. The approved site plan included administrative offices, customer service facilities, parking, a warehouse, an equipment shop, a fuel island, storage and a future substation, with conditions requiring permits, environmental compliance, a master plan within 30 days, traffic and access analysis, and setback, buffer and screening requirements.

Sand Hill itself remains a politically sensitive piece of land in Brooksville, a nearly 1,300-acre property gifted by the Die Polder family in the 1970s. That history makes any utility-related land move there, or tied to it, more than a routine transaction. For Hernando County, the April 28 vote is about whether property lines should be redrawn now to make future utility service more reliable, more flexible and less costly to maintain.