Hancock Lake Road Residents Move to Vacate Their Own Street to Block Pasco Subdivision Traffic

Residents of rural Hancock Lake Road are asking Hernando County to do something unusual: officially close their own road so a Pasco County developer can never use it. County commissioners told them at an August 25 meeting they'd help make that happen.

The fight is over Hancock Lake Road, a dead-end residential street near Spring Lake that homeowners paved themselves years ago. Westco Properties LLC, a Pasco County developer, wants to build a 12-lot subdivision on 63 acres at 18638 Possum Trot, near Dade City. The catch: 11 of those 12 lots would have no way in or out except through Hernando County's Hancock Lake Road, even though the developer already has frontage on Possum Trot Road, its own unpaved street in Pasco.

That would mean Pasco County school buses, patrol cars, ambulances, fire trucks and construction traffic all funneling down a Hernando road that Hernando taxpayers maintain, while Pasco collects the property taxes and impact fees the new homes generate.

Commissioners already said no

Hernando County Public Works Director Scott Herring told the commission the county will not allow the connection. A county engineering study recommended against linking Hancock Lake Road to Pasco County at all. Commissioner John Allocco said the road was clearly built as a dead end and told the developer to build using Pasco's own infrastructure instead. Commissioners John Mitten, Steve Champion and Jerry Campbell all spoke in support of blocking the connection, with Campbell saying the county should pursue every legal option to protect the road.

Allocco went further, suggesting residents petition to formally vacate the end of the road. That is now underway.

Why residents are willing to give up a public road

Hancock Lake Road resident Randi Olson told commissioners she and her husband personally paid to pave the road themselves 20 years ago, largely so emergency vehicles could reach their homes. That wasn't the only money residents put in. A 2014 county ordinance created the Hancock Lake Road Paving Municipal Service Benefit Unit, a special assessment that billed property owners directly for paving and drainage work. Residents say they covered most of the cost of the road they now stand to lose access disputes over. Jennifer Ward, another resident, told the board she and her neighbors chose the road for its rural quiet and light traffic, and said the subdivision could add 30 to 35 vehicles a day once homes are occupied. Many residents rely on private wells rather than county water, which is part of why they're also worried about runoff and flooding from new construction upstream of their lots.

Resident Tracy Ramirez handed commissioners a petition along with the county's own engineering study opposing the connection, and said she left the meeting encouraged by how commissioners responded. Todd Crosby raised a fairness point of his own: because Hancock Lake Road is public, residents had no formal chance to weigh in the way they might if the road were private, since Westco's project is a Pasco approval, not a Hernando one.

How a road vacation actually works

Under Florida Statute 336.09, county commissions have the authority to vacate, abandon or close a public road following a formal resolution and a public hearing. If Hernando County follows through, a 1978 opinion from the Florida Attorney General holds that title to the underlying land automatically reverts to the property owners on either side, up to the center of the road. In effect, a public street becomes private property split between neighbors. Hernando County's own application process for vacating a right-of-way requires proof of ownership, a survey, a statement of reasons, sign-off from abutting owners, and a fee, plus confirmation that property taxes are current, according to the county's posted instructions.

Westco's site plan does not show any connection between Hancock Lake Road and Possum Trot, even though the developer already has its own frontage there. The subdivision would sit on the north side of Bayhead Road, a narrow strip of pavement in unincorporated Pasco County.

Neither Hernando County nor Westco Properties has said publicly when the vacation petition will come before the commission for a formal vote, or whether Westco will revise its site plan to rely solely on Possum Trot Road. Residents say they intend to keep pressing the issue until the connection is formally closed off.

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Header photo: DanTD / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)