A donor to a Sumter County commissioner’s campaign wants to build a distribution center on State Road 44.
A rezoning request from GOP political activist Carlos Beruff will be considered when the commission meets at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Everglades Recreation Center in The Villages.
Beruff is hoping to win approval for 109 acres on State Road 44 west of Interstate 75 in unincorporated Sumter County to be rezoned from heavy commercial to industrial.
The proposed Florida Turnpike extension makes the State Road 44/I-75 area very desirable for transportation and distribution uses. The rezoning would allow a freight distribution center to be located at the site, which is currently pastureland.
Beruff, whose companies include Medallion Homes of Sarasota, has been the top donor to the campaign of Commissioner Roberta Ulrich. The Village of Bridgeport at Miona Shores resident was appointed earlier this year to the commission by Gov. Ron DeSantis. She is now running for the District 1 seat to which Villager Gary Search was elected in 2020. He recently entered into a plea deal in a perjury case in which he stepped down from office.
During the month of April, Ulrich raised $8,570 for her campaign. Beruff’s Medallion Homes and his associated companies were responsible for $5,000 of the amount Ulrich raised.
In 2017, Beruff was appointed by then-Gov. Rick Scott to head the Florida Constitution Revision Commission, on which Villages Vice President Gary Lester also served.
In 2016, Beruff challenged incumbent U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio in the Republican primary. Rubio easily defeated Beruff
