Officials in Florida have cleared the way for an electric cooperative to purchase a portion of a Boy Scout camp near Tampa to build an operations center.
The Hernando County Commission recently voted to approve rezoning that will allow the Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative to purchase 52 acres of the 1,251-acre Sand Hill Scout Reservation in Brooksville.
The larger facility is intended to serve the area’s growing electrical demands and will include an office building and equipment staging area, with an improved entrance road, WREC said.
The approval establishes a Public Service Facility Overlay District on the portion of the reservation where WREC will relocate its western Hernando County headquarters.
The Scouts plan to use proceeds from the land sale to improve their remaining facilities, according to a statement provided by Scouts of America.
The 52-acre WREC site represents about 4% of the overall Scout property. The utility already partners with the Scouts for storm restoration staging.
The rezoning was passed amid opposition from residents who argued the sale violated the wishes of former landowner Larry DiePolder, who donated the original 1,300 acres with the intention that it remain undeveloped Scout land in perpetuity.
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