§ 10-30. Exemptions.

(a)

Unless otherwise indicated, the following are exempt from the requirements of this article:

(1)

Agricultural operations: An application for an agricultural exemption must be submitted to the Hernando County Development Services Department and approved by the county administrator or designee. When an exemption has been granted based upon the use of the property for an agricultural operation, no development shall be allowed for any non-agricultural use or improvement on the same site within five (5) years of the receipt of the exemption;

(2)

Mining operations;

(3)

Specialized athletic fields.

(b)

The following are exempt from the requirements of this article regarding trees:

(1)

Agricultural operations, with one (1) caution: Majestic trees shall be preserved.

(2)

Airports, only to the extent that they are regulated for flight safety.

(3)

The installation and maintenance of utilities within existing street right-of-way or within utility easements.

(4)

Registered commercial growers on the premises of plant or tree nurseries, botanical gardens, arboretums, or tree farms (sponsored by the American Forest Foundation) are exempt from the requirements of this article, with the exception that majestic trees shall be preserved.

(5)

Any tree of the palm family or any Sand Pine shall be exempt from the requirements of this article.

(6)

Industrial lots: Where an industrial zoned lot abuts another industrial zoned lot, in an area intended and used solely for truck loading, docking, staging and/or truck parking and the area is located behind the front line of the main building structure, the area is exempt from internal tree and parking island requirements. Such areas shall not require the commercial buffer but shall require installation and maintenance of a five-foot-wide landscape strip consisting of at least one (1) tree, three-inch minimum caliper, per fifty (50) linear feet and two (2) shrubs plus turf grass, ground cover and/or mulch. Preserved natural vegetation may be substituted for the landscape strip with approval of the development department review staff. Mitigation of any existing trees in the area behind the main building will not be required.

(Ord. No. 2008-02, § 15, 1-15-08)