Zoning and Future Land Use in Pasco and Hernando: Rezoning, Special Exceptions, and Timelines

Zoning and future land use are two different maps

The Property Appraiser can show you a zoning code and, often, a future land use category. That is a start, not a determination. The Pasco County Property Appraiser's FAQ states that future land use, zoning, construction permitting, and millage rates are managed by the jurisdiction where the parcel is located. Ask that jurisdiction, in writing, whether your intended use is permitted, a special exception or conditional use, or not allowed in that district.

Pasco's Development Review Manual states that the zoning district on a piece of land must be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. The manual describes 27 zoning districts, with permitted uses, accessory uses, conditional uses, special exception uses, and lot and setback rules. Hernando publishes zoning district information and a GeoHub map from its Planning and Zoning pages.

If the Comprehensive Plan's future land use designation does not support the zoning change, the path is a Comprehensive Plan amendment, sometimes filed with a companion rezoning. That is a longer process than a straight rezoning, and it is a different legal standard.

Pasco County: rezoning, special exception, and timing

Pasco's Development Review Manual draws the hearing path clearly:

A preapplication consultation is required, unless waived, before the county will accept an application for a zoning amendment, conditional use, or special exception, and also for several site-plan and subdivision application types.

The rezoning application adds a gate in front of that filing. A Timing and Phasing and Substandard Road Review under LDC 901.2 must be submitted to the transportation planner and approved or exempted before a rezoning application will be accepted. The written approval or exemption letter has to be attached to the rezoning submittal. The current application (revision date April 1, 2026) tells you to call the Planning, Development & Economic Growth Department at 727-847-8140, or email das@pascocountyfl.net, to schedule a content meeting.

Public notice for rezoning, conditional use, and special exception applications is the applicant's responsibility under LDC Section 304. The current application says that after you file, the county provides a mailing list of owners within 500 feet (some areas may require 1,000 feet, as determined by staff). A neighborhood meeting may also be required. Confirm the current posting, affidavit, and newspaper deadlines in Section 304 with the county before you notice a hearing. The Development Review Manual makes a neighborhood meeting mandatory for a zoning amendment in the four rural areas shown on Comprehensive Plan Map 2-13, and for certain other application types.

Timelines the county has published. The Development Review Manual states that where a public hearing is required, final public hearing action shall be made on or before the end of a 180-day period, and that where no public hearing is required, final action shall be made on or before the end of a 120-day review period. Those clocks can be extended. Confirm how the county will apply them to your application, and count back from any contract deadline.

Comprehensive Plan amendment forms are also posted on the Documents and Forms page. If your use needs a future land use change, ask planning how that application will be scheduled relative to the rezoning.

Hernando County: rezoning, special exception, and timing

Hernando's Planning and Zoning department handles rezoning, master plan review, special exception permits, conditional use permits, and concurrency. Forms and hearing calendars are linked from Zoning Permits and Applications and Applications and Fees. The Planning Department can be reached at Planning@hernandocounty.us or 352-754-4057. The Zoning Division is listed at 352-754-4050 in the application packets, and at zoningdepartment@hernandocounty.us.

Rezoning. The county's rezoning instruction package recommends a discussion with the Planning Department before you file, "to ensure the rezoning process is appropriate and the best available option." It states that it takes approximately three months to complete the rezoning process from the application deadline submittal date to the final public hearing date. The deadline date is the only day that a sufficient application can be submitted. Hearing dates and deadlines are posted on the Planning Department website, or you can call 352-754-4057.

The rezoning process has two public hearings. The Planning and Zoning Commission makes a recommendation. The Board of County Commissioners makes the final determination. The packet says the Planning and Zoning Commission meets the second Monday of every month at 9:00 a.m., and the Board typically hears rezoning applications on the second Tuesday of the month following that hearing, in the John Law Ayers County Commission Chambers, 20 North Main Street, Room 160, Brooksville, unless otherwise noted. A representative is expected at the hearings. If a rezoning has an associated Comprehensive Plan amendment, the hearing schedule may be adjusted.

Commercial proposals for a single building, or a single site with multiple buildings of the same use owned and managed by the same entity, greater than 65,000 square feet, must apply as a planned development project (PDP) and also meet the Large Retail Development standards in the county code. If an existing structure will be used for commercial purposes, the packet recommends meeting with a Zoning Technician and/or the Building Department before you file.

Special exception and conditional use. The conditional use and special exception instruction packet, revised September 18, 2025, also says the process takes approximately three months from the application deadline to the final public hearing. The Planning and Zoning Commission makes the final decision on the permit, with a 30-day appeal period in which the Board of County Commissioners may review that decision.

The packet defines the two permits this way. A conditional use is a special permit that temporarily allows uses not otherwise permitted; it is not a matter of right, and it is a discretionary approval by the Planning and Zoning Commission. A special exception use may be permitted only in zoning districts where the ordinance designates it as a special exception, and only when specifically approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission. If a developer fails to obtain a building permit for the vertical construction of the principal building within two years of the special exception approval, or the use is not established in that period, the special exception permit becomes null and void.

Future land use amendments. Hernando's Comprehensive Plan amendment application procedure (revised November 2017; confirm it is still the current packet before you file) follows Chapter 163, Florida Statutes. Small-scale amendments involve 10 acres or fewer and other statutory limits, require one hearing before the Planning and Zoning Commission and one adoption hearing before the Board, and become effective 31 days after adoption, or later if challenged. Large-scale amendments involve more than 10 acres and/or a text amendment, may be adopted no more than four times per year, and require a transmittal hearing and an adoption hearing. Zoning changes needed to enact a plan amendment can be considered concurrently, but they are contingent on the plan amendment becoming effective.

What I want before an offer

• A zoning verification letter, or equivalent written confirmation, from the planning department of the jurisdiction where the parcel sits.
• The future land use designation, and a straight answer on whether the intended use is consistent with it.
• A current survey and legal description, because district lines and acreage matter.
• If a hearing is likely, a realistic calendar that starts from the next complete-application deadline, not from today, and that leaves room for notice, a traffic or timing-and-phasing review, and, if needed, a plan amendment.
• A first look at impact and mobility fees, driveway and access permits, flood zones, and, on vacant land, wetlands.

A use that is already permitted in the district, by right, is a different deal than a use that needs a special exception, a rezoning, or a plan amendment. Price and timing should reflect that.

Common questions

What is the difference between zoning and future land use?

Zoning is the current district and the uses it allows, with or without a special exception or conditional use. Future land use is the Comprehensive Plan designation. In Pasco, the zoning district must be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. If it is not, a plan amendment is part of the path.

In Pasco, who decides a rezoning, and who decides a special exception?

Zoning amendments and conditional uses go to the Planning Commission and then the Board of County Commissioners. Special exceptions go to the Planning Commission only.

How long does a Hernando rezoning take?

The county's instruction package says approximately three months from the application deadline date to the final public hearing. That assumes a complete application filed by the deadline, and it can change if a Comprehensive Plan amendment is attached.

Is a special exception a rezoning?

No. In Hernando, a special exception is an approval for a use the ordinance already lists as a special exception in that district. It is decided by the Planning and Zoning Commission, with a 30-day appeal window to the Board. A rezoning changes the district itself and is decided by the Board after a Planning and Zoning Commission recommendation.

Can I file a rezoning in Pasco without the traffic review?

The rezoning application says no. A written, county-approved Timing and Phasing and/or Substandard Road Analysis, or a written exemption letter, must be attached, or the rezoning application will not be accepted.