WSLR News interviews the Venice council member and her colleague Ron Smith.
By Ramon Lopez
Original Air Date: April 16, 2025
Host: Venice City Council member Joan Farrell made ripples last week when she resigned in protest against peers after they seemingly favored Pat Neal, the heavyweight developer, over a project in her city. WSLR’s Ramon Lopez interviewed Farrell, who won her seat just last fall as an underdog, beating an incumbent. Lopez also talked to Ron Smith, who was elected by landslide after he said Neal had asked him to drop out.
Ramon Lopez: The Venice City Council’s vote last week to uphold approval of a site development plan for a North Venice shopping center was the last straw for Council Member Joan Farrell. So much so she resigned from the Council.
“I can’t be a part of this travesty,” Farrell wrote in her resignation letter, “and I hope that the citizens of this city will turn out in unprecedented fashion next year when six city council seats will be up for election.”
At issue were traffic safety and stormwater drainage concerns raised by vocal opponents of the proposed Village at Laurel and Jacaranda planned by real estate mogul Pat Neal. The 10 acres involved includes significant wetland that is visited by endangered birds and other wildlife. Local residents claim that Neal promised to leave things as is.
Council members Joan Farrell and Ron Smith voted against the controversial shopping center to be constructed at the intersection of Laurel Road and Jacaranda Boulevard. There will be two commercial buildings housing a 50,000 square foot grocery store, a liquor store and additional stores.
Farrell, who won her election bid with a controlled real estate development platform, resigned her council seat, saying she was frustrated by the “city’s failure to perform its basic duties and ignore critical neighborhood concerns.”
The first-term member called the city council majority “hard-hearted” and “Neal-loving.”
Joan Farrell.
Joan Farrell: They could have denied the site plan, they could have approved the site plan, or they could have approved it with stipulations. And they approved it outright. That was just a nonstarter for me. That is the watershed example—the straw that broke the camel’s back. But, on so many instances, the council has failed to advocate for various neighborhoods.
RL: She said the city council’s endorsement of the Neal shopping center was malfeasance and just the tip of the iceberg of the council’s failures to address critical concerns of local residents in neighborhood after neighborhood.
She lists among the numerous mortal sins committed by the city council majority:
- failure to address known problems with the Flamingo Ditch drainage system
- failure to support a citizen group seeking a grant for Deer Town Gulley cleanup
- council members ceding their decision-making power to staff
- failure to log phone calls and visits from developers to the city’s planning department to ensure transparency, and
- cancellation of the 2025 election, providing another unelected year in office.
Mitzie Fiedler
Farrell defeated two-term incumbent Mitzie Fiedler in 2023. It was viewed as a reaction to Fieldler’s vote in favor of approving the rezoning of the shopping center property.
The Venice City Council has 60 days to appoint someone to fill Farrell’s seat to serve until someone is elected, either in a special election or at the next regular election. Fiedler is reportedly interested in returning to the Venice City Council, something Farrell doesn’t think will happen.
JF: I don’t actually see it happening. My understanding is that she actually found several of the council members, asking for their support, and I do know that in the last election, she wanted to run as well, and the Republican Party wouldn’t touch her. I don’t think this will change the matter. I don’t see it being Mitzie. I think a woman has a different perspective overall, and I think it’s too—it doesn’t have to be even stephen, but I think that what is needed is a woman of unquestioned integrity and compassion, and—here’s the caveat—liked by everybody. Republicans would like her. Democrats would like her. Independents would like her. In other words—like or be comfortable. Think about Mom and apple pie.
RL: Ron Smith told WSLR News he is sad to see Farrell off the Venice City Council.
Ron Smith
Ron Smith: It saddens me. I hope it will give pause to the council—that they’ll look at her statement that she made in resigning. I know a lot of it was out of frustration with the decisions that have been made over the last few years.
RL: Smith offered a compromise on the matter, but it was rejected.
RS: It was clear that the site plan was going to be approved. My idea was, “Okay, what adjustments can we make that might be acceptable to the developer and might also satisfy the neighborhood that we did something to try to help them?” We did nothing to try to satisfy the neighborhood. We told the neighborhood to drop dead.
RL: So what next for Joan Farrell? She will continue to be an outspoken critic of the Venice City Council. But she has turned her attention to helping woman inmates in Florida’s prisons. As part of her new journey, she is working for passage of Florida HB 181, a bill addressing objective parole guidelines, enhancing the fairness and transparency of Florida’s parole system.
This is Ramon Lopez for WSLR News.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.