When I was a kid, growing up in Citrus County was a picture of living in a relatively rural place. I was zoned for a high school that was literally 17 miles away from my house. I went to school in Lecanto, went to church in Citrus Springs, worked in Crystal River, went shopping and out to eat in Inverness, and had a Dunnellon address – even though Dunnellon was actually in an entirely different county.
If you weren’t from around here, that whole line of thinking was really confusing. It was difficult to answer the question, “Where do you live?” I just said Citrus County. It made way more sense to be less specific.
Over the decades, though, Citrus County has changed a lot – at least in terms of access. I remember when Super Walmart came to Inverness, kids actually skipped school to be there for the grand opening. The news of the first Panera Bread opening in the county actually made its way to me half a world away while I was living overseas.
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I mean, that was big time news.
Over the years we’ve watched Inverness became the true retail and dining hub of the county, offering the greatest variety the county had ever seen. We’ve seen huge changes in Crystal River, the city that once housed the mall that, in its heyday, was quite the weekend destination.
And now more change is coming.
Lecanto is about to be completely transformed with all the new construction, retail, and dining options headed our way. It will no longer be the center of the county with nothing but the jail and a school complex. The growth of that area is likely to exceed even what we can imagine right now.
For many people, that’s a scary and challenging place to be. The once typical rural days of Citrus County are in the rearview mirror. The genie is out of the bottle. It’s not going back in.
That’s why the Inverness City Council’s forward-thinking moves are an example of what the entire county should be thinking as we move into the future. Inverness is acknowledging that growth is inevitable. But the city is also standing firm on its motto: “Small town done right.”
Those two things are not mutually exclusive, but it takes a lot of intention to make sure they aren’t.
The studies launched by the council not only gave the city a better idea of what the future could hold, but also shed some light on pertinent information for the here and now – like factors that may indicate the strength of the local economy and important information about population demographics. All of those things are building a better picture for how to successfully move Citrus County into the next phase of its life.
I was born at Citrus Memorial Hospital. I went K-12 in Citrus County schools. The future of this place is wildly important to me. Being smart about planning for the future guarantees that the goodness that I grew up with will live on for generations to come.
There are a lot of changes coming to Citrus County and there is little that can be done to stop it. It’s important everyone take the cue from the Inverness City Council by looking for ways to move forward and still keep the feel of the place we all love. One thing is for certain though, we can’t stand still.
Cortney Stewart is a Lecanto High graduate with political science, international affairs, and intercultural studies degrees who has lived and worked around the world.
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