BROOKSVILLE — Residents of Brookridge, a 55-and-older community, packed the Hernando County Commission chambers Sept. 10. They said the Alliance at the Grove commercial development going up behind their homes has brought glaring lights, heavy traffic and fears of crime and trespassers, and that promises made to them have been broken.
County officials told them there is little the board can do.
Development Services Director Omar DePablo said the fence residents say they were promised was never made a condition of the project’s approval. “This board does not have any legal standing to force a fence at this time,” he said.
The first public speaker’s voice broke as she described life along the boundary.
“I feel exposed, and I feel endangered because I can’t take care of myself and I can’t protect myself,” she said.
Other speakers voiced similar fears. One resident said a fitness center under construction will let homeless people shower there, and said older residents are nearly helpless against people who might come onto their property. Some noted that Brookridge also borders Register Chevrolet, but they said the dealership doesn’t operate around the clock the way businesses at the Grove do.
Several residents said living next to an active construction site means lights glaring into their yards and vehicles passing close to their homes.
Traffic was another sore point. One speaker noted that the commercial center has four entrances, while drivers leaving Brookridge on Brookridge Central Boulevard have a single exit to head east or south. Another called the situation “a proverbial train wreck from day one,” citing near-misses and crashes. Some residents live a couple of miles inside the community from its only entrance.
The fence remains the biggest grievance. One resident said a temporary wooden fence had been promised, but residents never got an answer on whether it would be treated for termites. A recent letter to the Brookridge board and to a resident said the developer will not install any more fencing, only plants.
Brookridge residents have come before the commission several times to complain about what they see as a porous border between their backyards and the development. The tract was wooded for years until it was cleared a couple of years ago. It now has an Olive Garden, an Outback Steakhouse, a Dutch Bros coffee shop and a Rooms To Go store. A Valvoline oil-change shop, a fitness center and a hotel are under construction.
Commission response
Commissioner Steve Champion said he thought the Brookridge issues had been resolved because he hadn’t heard about them in a while.
He said the homeowners association should open a second entrance and exit. “It should have been done a long time ago,” he said. “Why is there only one entrance and exit when there’s so many homes in there?”
Champion added that the company that owns the commercial land has rights, too. Still, he said, the commission needs answers from DePablo on “what was planned, what was promised.”
DePablo said staff received video of the public workshop where the developer and residents discussed the project. Staff did not attend the workshop because it was a private meeting between the developer and residents. Its minutes, however, became part of the board’s record. According to DePablo, a representative for the developer said at the workshop that a fence was an option, and the minutes reflect that.
He was responding in part to a speaker who said DePablo “lacked a desire to make a commitment.”
DePablo said the plan finalized after the workshop did not include a fence. It called for a 35-foot buffer, which was later reduced to 20 feet.
“Ultimately, the fence was not processed and it was not conditioned by this board,” he said.
Commissioner John Mitten, who called himself the “new guy,” thanked DePablo for the background. He asked whether the master plan had addressed a 24-hour hotel and gym.
DePablo said the developer requested a planned development project allowing general commercial uses. That included nearly 30 uses, plus three C-2 uses such as a drive-in and a mini-warehouse.
Mitten said he empathized with residents whose homes back up to the development. He said their heightened concern for their safety is understandable with a 24-hour gym and hotel next door. He asked County Attorney Jon Jouben whether the board could add performance conditions or appeal to the developer’s generosity.
Jouben said the county cannot impose requirements that aren’t already in the performance conditions. Doing so after the fact would amount to a “taking,” he said. That is the legal term for government seizing or restricting private property without compensation.
Commissioner John Allocco said he didn’t understand why there isn’t a lighted stop sign at Tundra Drive. For security, he suggested Brookridge could put barbed wire atop the fence, and he said the board would allow it. In the meantime, he said, the county can enforce opacity requirements.
Allocco also addressed the entrance issue. Brookridge has more than 3,000 homes, he said, which is 30 times the number now allowed without a second entrance.
“That’s reality,” he said.
Timber Pines, by comparison, has 3,600 homes, three entrances and its own wall, he said.
Commissioner Ryan Amsler said there has to be a middle ground and the county should try to find it. DePablo agreed.
Kirk remembrance
The meeting fell on the first anniversary of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s killing, and several speakers asked commissioners to do more to honor him.
Carol Yakimo-Avelo, John Aveola and Pastor Jack Martin asked the county for three things: proclaim Kirk’s birthday, Oct. 14, “The Charlie Kirk Day of Remembrance”; build a memorial, preferably at a school; display his books in county libraries for a week.
Aveola is a lobbyist with the Christian Family Coalition. The speakers said a road sign naming a stretch of road for Kirk is not enough, and a local artist has already worked on a memorial design.
Yakimo-Avelo and Aveola previously pushed to have the print edition of BookPage magazine removed from county libraries and to have books removed from school libraries.
Kirk co-founded Turning Point USA. He was fatally shot Sept. 10, 2025, while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Yakimo-Avelo said he was killed by “an angry leftist” who tried to silence the values Kirk stood for.
Aveola said “a member of the transgender community” killed Kirk over Kirk’s statements that a man cannot become a woman.
“The people of Hernando County do not want a target placed on their back because they believe in the Bible,” he said.
The man charged in Kirk’s death is Tyler Robinson, 23. He has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder and other charges, and a Utah judge ruled Sept. 1 that the case will go to trial. Authorities have said Robinson lived with a romantic partner who was transitioning, but they have not identified Robinson as transgender.
Yakimo-Avelo told commissioners Kirk stood for the free exchange of ideas and for conservative values such as family and church, and that he inspired millions of young people. Turning Point USA has chapters at local schools.
Kirk wrote several books, including “The MAGA Doctrine” (2020), “The College Scam” (2022) and “Right Wing Revolution” (2024). “Stop, in the Name of God: Why Honoring the Sabbath Will Transform Your Life” was published after his death, in December 2025.
Champion said Kirk would be recognized at the commission’s next meeting. He said the board did not want to combine a Kirk tribute with the 9/11 remembrance held at the start of the Sept. 10 meeting.
In other action
Commissioners approved a contract of nearly $1.79 million to build wildlife fencing around the airfield perimeter at Brooksville-Tampa Bay Regional Airport.