Don't come to downtown Brooksville if you're looking for the county Development Department. The department, which handles building permits and occupational licenses, has moved from its cramped Government Center office to more spacious digs at 789 Providence Road, near the Sheriff's Office off the State Road 50 bypass. It opened Monday morning. It also has a place to put desks and chairs for staff members whose jobs have remained unfilled because there was nowhere for them to sit. The biggest benefit to customers, though, is not having to walk uphill from the courthouse parking lot to the Government Center, Director Grant Tolbert said.
Parking is adjacent to the building, which has three entrances for easy access.
County Administrator Paul McIntosh acknowledged that, by having the Development Department at a remote site, residents who need to use several departments might be inconvenienced. We will not make people run all over town for a permit. Development employees have been trained to help customers fill out any pertinent forms at the new office, Tolbert said. They will check occupational licenses via fax, rather than require people to go to the Tax Collector's Office. Tolbert is looking into whether the Development Department can take applications for other departments, such as rezoning requests, and send them downtown by courier.