A law that promotes affordable housing has put the Sarasota County Commission at odds with the state and developers.
By Derek Gilliam/Suncoast Searchlight
Original Air Date: May 1, 2026
Host: A controversial state law has been used to push apartment development deeper into the countryside where they would not be allowed under current zoning regulations. Last month, the county commission blocked the projects located in residential and rural zoning categories, but organized residents opposed to such projects remain ready to fight. Derek Gilliam with Suncoast Searchlight has the details.
Derek Gilliam: Dozens of residents gathered inside a quiet, gated subdivision off Tatum Road last week. Many were dressed in golf shirts. They were there to protest a plan they fear could transform their rural corner of east Sarasota County.
They came in waves—retirees in polos, young families in T-shirts and jeans—united by frustration over a proposal to replace the Tatum Ridge Golf Links with a sprawling apartment complex that could bring thousands of new renters into a low-density area where cows and horses still graze along narrow country roads.
The proposed development was filed under Florida’s Live Local Act. The legislature passed the law in 2023 and expanded it in 2025. The Live Local Act was designed to accelerate affordable housing by shifting key development decisions away from local governments. Projects that meet the law’s requirements can be approved administratively without public hearings or votes by elected officials.
But Live Local has become a flashpoint across the state as residents and elected officials argue it can be used to push through projects that might not otherwise win approval.
In Tatum Ridge, neighbors say that is exactly what is happening.
This aerial photo was taken on April 16, 2026, of the Tatum Ridge Golf Links. Neighbors of the golf course have been fighting against development proposals after the property was sold in December 2020 for $2.9 million. Photo by Michael Barfield of the Florida Trident via Suncoast Searchlight
The same developer has already tried to build on the golf course at least twice before but the current plan now relies on the Live Local Act.
Under the law, developers who set aside at least 40% of units as affordable—for households earning up to about $130,000 a year for a family of four in Sarasota County—can exceed local limits on height, density and land use. If a project meets those requirements, it must be approved administratively, limiting opportunities for public input.
Since September, at least seven projects have been proposed in Sarasota County under the law, including in rural and low-density areas. The one on Tatum Road is the largest and perhaps the most controversial. There are plans for 2,250 rental units on land zoned for just one home per two acres.
On April 7, county commissioners voted to block six of the seven applications, despite warnings from County Attorney Joshua Moye that the decision could be difficult to defend in court. He said a strict interpretation of the law allows Live Local projects in any zoning district that permit commercial activity. That would include rural residential areas like Tatum Ridge.
The move also prompted some public pushback, including from Christine Robinson, chief executive officer of the Argus Foundation.
Robinson said: “We have an across-the-board housing problem, and I know that people don’t want to admit that. But that’s the truth.”
A group of StayTRU members rallied on April 16, 2026, to discuss their concerns about development of the Tatum Ridge Golf Links. The county commission blocked the owner from developing the property under Live Local Act, but organizers still fear plans could progress. Photo by Derek Gilliam via Suncoast Searchlight
Others question whether the Sarasota projects proposed under the law will address the current problems. The area’s apartment rental market has more units sitting empty than at any other time in decades.
The Tatum Ridge subdivision is now called The Legends. It sits just east of Interstate 75 and was developed in the late 1990s on more than 300 acres.
The neighborhood was designed around a Scottish-style golf course that carves through wetlands, lakes and wooded preserves where deer and other wildlife still roam through the area.
Homes were clustered on one end of the property, while the remaining 200 acres were left largely untouched, protected by restrictions requiring the land to remain open space.
In December 2020, a newly created limited liability company bought the golf course for $2.9 million. Records show the company is tied to Sarasota-based home builder Eldon Johnson Jr.
The initial proposal called for an amendment to the county’s comprehensive plan to allow denser development on the golf course property, paving the way for 400 single-family homes.
That’s when residents began to organize. They formed a group called Stay Tatum Ridge United—StayTRU—launched an opposition website and bombarded elected officials with messages protesting the plan.
The Stay Tatum Ridge United group packed the Sarasota County Commission chambers on May 20, 2025, as elected leaders shot down a growth plan amendment that could have allowed a golf course in their neighborhood to be turned into 400 single-family homes. Photo courtesy of StayTRU via Suncoast Searchlight
When the project came before the Sarasota County Commission in May, more than 100 StayTRU members in matching yellow shirts packed the chambers. After a short deliberation, commissioners voted unanimously to reject the project.
Even before the county voted down the first plan, the developer had already filed a second using a different tactic that would have allowed commercial business parks to be built on the property.
The second proposal, filed in April 2025, has yet to reach commissioners for a vote.
When state lawmakers changed the Live Local Act during the 2025 legislative session, plans to develop the Tatum Ridge golf course sped up.
The developers’ attorney used Live Local to come back with a third proposal. This time, the plan called for 2,250 apartments and townhomes on the golf course, a decision that stunned longtime residents of Tatum Ridge. They fought plans for 400 new homes—and never imagined it could somehow more than quadruple in size.
Stay Tatum Ridge United President Matt Procaccini said he’s spent more than 1,000 hours over the past year helping organize residents of his community against proposed redevelopment of the Tatum Ridge Golf Links. Photo by Derek Gilliam via Suncoast Searchlight
The whole situation puzzles Matt Procaccini, the president of StayTRU.
He said: “There are no development rights on the land—that has been known since 1999.”
Procaccinni continued: “I like our position, where we are at this moment. But it’s one of those things where you feel like you got to keep looking over your shoulders. At this juncture, we have to keep fighting.”
This has been Derek Gilliam for Suncoast Searchlight. Michael Barfield with the Florida Trident also contributed to this story. To read the full story, go to suncoastsearchlight.org/live-local-tatum-ridge-sarasota or floridatrident.org/sarasota-county-blocks-live-local-law-risking-clash-with-developers.
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