Citrus County resident Bob Schweickurt, Inverness, asked for, and received, an update on Tuesday concerning an appeal requested by ex-County Administrator Anthony Schembri, as to the legality of classifying a structure belonging to Sen. Charlie Dean as a barn.

Schembri had asked the state's Department of Community Affairs (DCA) head, Tom Pelham, whose office handles zoning issues, if his office would provide insight into the state statute which apparently allows Dean's barn to be classified a "barn" and not a "home."

Pelham's letter said an opinion would not be rendered, and it that it is the county that enforces the structures law. The county had previously ruled that Dean's structure qualified under a state statute as a "barn", and not a "home," as some county residents have asserted.

That interpretation had been offered by the county's Gary Maidhof, Director of Development Services. His office also oversees code enforcement and zoning issues.

Maidhof told commissioners on Tuesday a procedure has been implemented to deal with situations of this kind in the future. Commissioner John Thrumston said that if that is a "policy", it is the county commission's call to make, not the code enforcement department.

Schweickurt asked if someone could look inside the home to determine if it qualified as a home or barn, he was told by Maidhof that the county could not because it is a privacy issue.

County Attorney Robert Battista said he doesn't agree with Maidhof's previous interpretation concerning Dean's structure qualifying as a barn, and the county commission decided to ask Battista to draft a letter requesting a State Attorney General's ruling.

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