<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=43XDmT_1GpJUtYn00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=43XDmT_1GpJUtYn00" width="695" height="522" ><figcaption>Gerri Kraft, Brookridge resident, speaks to the Board of County Commissioners on Oct. 27, 2026. [Photo by Austyn Szempruch]</figcaption></figure>BROOKSVILLE – Over the last few weeks, citizens of Brookridge have come en masse to local board of county commissioners meetings to voice their concerns and displeasure with the developments, or lack thereof, occurring near the 55-plus community.The various residents spent their allotted three-minute intervals discussing issues with noise, lights, vegetation, traffic, and fencing. During the most recent of these hearings on October 27, county staff offered some solutions. Though these fixes are not everything that the members of Brookridge feel they are owed, they are steps towards solving some of these issues.Regarding traffic and near accidents on the frontage road by Brookridge, Hernando County Public Works Director Scott Herring stated that the county is taking steps to mitigate this issue, including the recently installed lighted stop signs, “micro-resurfacing” the striping, and future speed humps. He will also request the developer remove two fence panels at the frontage road intersection at Tundra Drive and Central Boulevard to improve sightlines for traffic.County Administrator Jeff Rogers added that he will “continue to discuss that with the superintendent and his transportation department to minimize the buses on this frontage road… I will try to get them to stop.”There was also a short, preliminary discussion on a potential new traffic light at the Grove Road intersection, but considering the timelines of planning and construction, such a project would likely take “a minimum of three years to come to fruition,” said Herring.While “direct light” from nearby businesses is “prohibited,” there is “nothing really that staff will be able to do about the ambient lighting” coming from these locations, Hernando County Development Services Director Omar DePablo said.DePablo added that staff would reach out to developer Axiom to begin replanting plants in the area that have died off and that the issue of headlights streaming into Brookridge residents’ windows will be addressed with additional fencing.Regarding noise complaints, county staff also reached out to businesses about garbage pickup and Olive Garden oil pickup. Unfortunately, the county’s ordinance does not have timeframes for these types of pickup or for construction.Despite having no grounds to cite the developers, DePablo insisted that his staff would communicate with and work to hold the construction crews to their word regarding not beginning work earlier than six in the morning.The development services director added that he would “try to get an update” about a potential extra 500 feet of wooden fence to county staff by the end of that week. This offers little relief for boundary residents already affected by the developer’s existing wooden fence, which has begun to shrink and worsen light problems. While the announced fixes and concessions are an improvement, they are not quite what the developer reportedly agreed to back in an August 2022 workshop with Brookridge. According to quotes provided from that meeting, it was understood that the developer, Axiom, would build “an opaque vinyl fence along the exterior property line” and establish a “tree canopy with shrubs and several layers of vegetation to provide opacity.”Former Hernando County Code Enforcement Director Frank McDowell noted that the county used to make sure there was a “heavy duty fence” or even concrete walls to properly partition and protect property owners from noises and other disturbances brought on by nearby developments.“We are most certainly trying to fix these things,” Commissioner Steve Champion said. “It is not going to happen like that. It is not going to happen overnight. I would be willing to bet they are probably not going to build a [vinyl] wall… Legally they don’t have to do anything.”Though it may not have technically been in the “performance conditions,” Commissioner John Mitten stated that he “would ask that developer to consider the bigger picture and the name brands of people involved to be able to have that barrier going forward.”This will be especially pressing for the citizens on the property line with a hotel set to be built on the strip behind the Rooms-to-Go. Several Brookridge residents shared their thoughts on the matter with the Sun on Monday:“We believed [the developer, Axiom],” said Brookridge resident Gerri Craft. “Why would we not? We are not opposed to this development. What we are opposed to is the way we were and are being treated, the fact that… there is limited buffering, the loud noise, the intrusive lights. Now, there was a temporary wood stockade fence put up in some areas, which is shrinking… We are not upset about the development… It is really concerning because we should not have to fight and constantly go [to county meetings] for the developer to do the right thing.… We just want the developer to put up that six or eight-foot opaque fence that we were told we would get, and if he wants to be a good neighbor, if he wants to do business in Hernando County, why would he not? Is it all about money versus people and human lives?”“Brookridge was not taken into consideration on any level when this started in reference to… the buffer [and] the curfuffles all the time with traffic,” Brookridge resident Rose Knight said.“The opacity is what I am looking for,” said Brookridge resident Gerald Craft. “I am looking for some kind of structural barrier that separates our 55-plus, well-established development… which has been here for a good 50-plus years…we would like to just have a strong, hundred percent opacity from this development.”Besides the wooden fencing, the developer hopes to create opacity by planting viburnum bushes. Commissioner Champion stated that these shrubs are “by far the best bush in Florida to grow,” adding it took his plants three years to grow to eight feet tall and “90 percent opacity.” “It is an outstanding bush,” he said.Champion added that while the developer does not need to provide bushes that are mature to the desired opacity “on day one,” the commissioners are “starting to look at that,” he added.Spearheaded by Commissioner Allocco, the board is looking to have developers start working on buffers before anything else moving forward. “We are learning from situations like this,” Commissioner Champion continued.While it appears to be a positive development that the county will be making this adjustment moving forward, that fact is unlikely to mollify the 5000-plus citizens of Brookridge completely. “We are not a luxury expensive community,” Gerri Craft continued. “We are not extremely wealthy… So, a lot of us feel that we are being overlooked because they feel that we cannot financially battle… and we are older… We really want what we were told and what we deserve. We are doing our best. I just think they can make it right.”The Sun has called the developer (Axiom) and left a message for the contracting company (Coastal Engineering), though neither has yet been able to respond. “We are working,” said County Board Chair Jerry Campbell. “I apologize that it is slow. Unfortunately, that is the way it works sometimes, but we are working.”</div></body>

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BROOKSVILLE – Over the last few weeks, citizens of Brookridge have come en masse to local board of county commissioners meetings to voice their concerns and displeasure with the developments, or lack thereof, occurring near the 55-plus community. The various residents spent their allotted three-minute intervals discussing issues with...

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BROOKSVILLE – Over the last few weeks, citizens of Brookridge have come en masse to local board of county commissioners meetings to voice their concerns an

Development Grievances at Brookridge Continue

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