Collier County commissioners agreed Tuesday to postpone a scheduled hearing on holdout homesteader Jesse Hardy's request to renew a permit for earthmining in the middle of the Southern Golden Gate Estates restoration project.

Hardy's attorney had asked for a continuance, the second in a month. Commissioners agreed at Tuesday's commission meeting to delay the hearing until February 22.

Hardy's permit expired Oct. 26.

Collier County Attorney David Weigel has said he will recommend that county staff stop buying rock from Hardy until a new permit is granted.

Collier County government traditionally has allowed conditional uses to continue while the county considers an approval, but Weigel doesn't believe Hardy should be allowed to operate while the permit issue is resolved.

Hardy's situation is different because he is the one asking for the delay, Weigel said.

Hardy, 69, has become a hero to property rights advocates for refusing to sell his 160 acres to the state to make way for an Everglades restoration project to try to return natural water flows to the abandoned subdivision south of Interstate 75.

A court hearing is set for February 8, 2005, on Florida's attempts to force Hardy to sell his 160 acres for the environmental restoration project. Attorneys for Hardy want this case settled before Hardy's permit request is heard by commissioners.