Article Courtesy of The Tampa Bay Times

By Dan DeWitt

Published April 8, 2016

For a decade, Hans "Pete" Moschinger had easy access to a famously scenic and tough golf course, and a view from his house of the not-so-tough fifth hole.

"It was an easy hole," said Moschinger, 74. "It was a pretty open hole. You could easily get a birdie or a par."
   

   
The Dunes, previously called Seville, opened to rave reviews in 1987. The golf writer for the Times called it "nothing short of breathtaking." It was designed by famed golf course architect Arthur Hill, the story continued, and "lies on 150 acres of the most diverse and unspoiled land in Florida."

And after a renovation in 2007, said Brooksville lawyer Bruce Snow, an avid golfer, "it was as good a layout as there was in the county, including World Woods," referring to a club with two courses regularly rated among the country's top 100.

But if the remote location, just south of the Citrus County line, gave the course its natural beauty, it hindered the development of the surrounding community, which retains the Seville name and was intended to supply the course with golfers.

It has passed through several owners, including a previous company controlled by Kalka that in 2005 sold the development for $45 million to a company that got approval to build 3,811 homes on the property.

So far, only 23 homes have been built, and Kalka's current company, New Seville 2011 Development LLC, bought the land back in 2010.

The sluggish development and the declining popularity of golf led to the Dunes' temporary closure in 2013. Though it reopened late that year, it ceased operation again in June 2015, Moschinger said.

Kalka, who lives in Citrus County, did not respond to a request for comment. But Seville landowners say the sudden appearance of a pine-planting crew a month ago seems a sure sign the closing is permanent.

"You wake up in the morning, with absolutely no notification, and all of a sudden you see a tree farm," Frank Chiapperino told the County Commission on March 8.

Chiapperino and several other property owners showed up at the commission's meeting to complain about Kalka's action and what they said was the county's reluctance to stop it.

Assistant county administrator for planning and development Ron Pianta and assistant county attorney Joe DiNovo said at the meeting and in later interviews that the county is prevented from acting by the state's "right to farm" act.

That law says local governments cannot block farming "on land classified as agricultural."

The golf course is designated by the county as part of a planned development project, with allowed uses that include residential and recreation, Pianta said.

But Kalka, who has already received an agricultural classification for most of Seville's 1,033 acres, has applied for the same greenbelt designation on the 180 acres of the Dunes course.

That would likely reduce the annual property tax bill on the course from $21,000 to $500, according to the county Property Appraiser's Office.

Kalka has also submitted a forestry plan to the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Either the tax designation or regulation by the state would impede the county's ability to regulate the property's use, DiNovo said.

Also, counties historically have had little luck preventing property owners from receiving the deep greenbelt tax discount on land that has been approved for development, DiNovo said.

But Moschinger's neighbor, Bruce Tobin, noted that the landowners near such properties usually don't face the same steep declines in property values as Seville residents.

Tobin says the loss of the fairway view is partly to blame for his inability, so far, to sell his 2,200-square-foot home for the $204,900 asking price.

Also, he pointed out that neither of the actions the county says prevent it from challenging Kalka — the greenbelt designation or the acceptance of the forestry plan — have been finalized.

"Isn't it unusual," he asked, "that you go ahead and plow it up before you get approval?"