The Sunwest Park is a beach park on a 70 acre spring-fed lake. The park features white sand beaches, picnic tables, and pavilions. There are also kayaks, paddle boards, and a floating aqua park for people to use for additional charges when there is availability. It has become a popular summer destination for Hernando county residents.
The lake was created by filling portions of the former Belcher lime rock mine with water. The park is built on lands owned by Pasco County and managed by a private company. It opened without the anticipated seven boat ramps that would provide access to the Gulf of Mexico if the channel is dredged as planned.
Next to the park there is the proposed 1,076-acre SunWest Harbourtowne development, which would include 2,500 homes, 250 hotel rooms, 300,000 square feet of space for stores and offices, 400 boat slips and an 18-hole golf course.
The officers of Sun West Acquisition Corporation which purchased the mine are John G. “Gary” Grubbs, Brooksville lawyer Thomas Hogan Jr., and Palm Harbor accountant R. Victor Taglia. Recently they have been making news for all the wrong reasons. All three of these have been in tax court recently over disagreements on tax. The Tampa Bay Times reported that Taglia and Hogan are “fighting off claims that they owe a total of about $20 million in taxes.” A company called Dial One-One LLC of Wyoming, which lists R Victor Taglia as Organizer and had John Grubbs sign the 2015 annual report, filed a foreclosure suit against the Harbourtowne Property on April 28, 2016. The suit claims that Harbourtowne defaulted on their loan by not paying the taxes on the property. After the suit was filed someone started to pay off the property taxes.
One of the keys to this development has been the navigable channel to the Gulf of Mexico. Pasco County has submitted their third permit application to dig a deeper channel from SunWest Park to the Gulf of Mexico. The first two permits were denied by the Army Corps of Engineers and the county required the latest permit request to be financed by the Harbourtowne development. The new permit request is for a shallower and shorter navigable channel to the Gulf of Mexico.
This development would drastically change the secluded nature of the the Aripeka area. It would bring shopping, tourism, and traffic to this remote location. Construction and commercial economic opportunities would be greater, but it could forever change the small fishing village vibe of the area.