Granting developer-requested zoning changes, they vote unanimously for – and gush over – Palmer Ranch East.
By Noah Bookstein
Original Air Date: September 10 2026
Host: It was not surprising that the Sarasota County Commission on Tuesday approved yet another 5,000-plus-home development. But the unanimous vote and the commissioners’ enthusiasm about the megaproject was. Noah Bookstein reports.
Joan McGeehan: I’m here to suggest a moratorium on any building of residentials in this area until our drought is fixed.
Noah Bookstein: That’s Calusa Lakes resident Joan McGeehan asking commissioners to pause new construction during an ongoing drought.
Florida hammock on the 2,000 acres that are to become Palmer Ranch East.
JM: Where is all the water for all the households and the yards and the landscaping going to come from for this new proposed community? We don’t know if the next two years will be continued extreme drought conditions. There’s a bigger picture to Sarasota County than development. It’s the quality of life. The quality of life is being crowded out.
Hugh Culverhouse Jr.
NB: She did not get that pause. Commissioners voted unanimously to advance one of the largest developments in county history. Palmer Ranch East is a 2,000-plus acre proposal east of I-75 at the future SR 681 interchange near Nokomis. The applicant, led by developer Hugh Culverhouse Jr., asked the county to amend its Sarasota 2050 growth plan, update the development code and approve a master development order setting density and layout for the site.
At the meeting, the developer’s attorney Charlie Bailey reminded commissioners of Palmer Ranch’s history.
Charlie Bailey: Palmer Ranch’s genesis was in 1984 when Ronald Reagan was in his first term in the White House and Don Mattingly was still playing first base for the Yankees.
NB: Commission Chair Ron Cutsinger was happy to hear that.
Aerial view of the 2,000-plus acres just east of I-75. The project hinges on expanding the existing highway interchange, at state expense.
Ron Cutsinger: Charlie, you had me when you mentioned Reagan. That’s all you needed to do was mention Reagan. I got to vote for him, and I’ve got a picture of him on my wall.
NB: Commissioner Tom Knight, who was elected on a slow development platform, disclosed that he had a positive discussion with the developer over the phone.
Tom Knight: The applicant team has called me in the past, and we’ve recently had conversations about the benefits of the project that we’re hearing from today.
NB: Approval would clear the way for over 5,500 homes and nearly 1.5 million square feet of commercial, office, and light industrial space over the next 20 years, centered on what Bailey called a town center.
CB: We’re very pleased to be before you with the Palmer Ranch East 2050 Village. It’s designed to provide substantial economic development and job employment opportunities with an optional larger mixed-use town center rather than a village center.
NB: The developer plans for up to 500 affordable units inside that town center, plus land for a K-8 school, two parks, a fire station and a possible hospital. County staff and an outside reviewer found the project to be fiscally neutral. Some residents spoke in favor, citing Palmer Ranch’s track record and the need for local jobs and hospital capacity. But Glen Compton of environmental advocacy group Manasota 88 said the pitch skips over a risk the 2050 plan does not account for.
Glen Compton: I-75 and [SR] 681 come together; they merge right in front of the Palmer Ranch property. These are two major hurricane evacuation routes that we have for Southwest Florida and Sarasota, and there are no hurricane evacuation clearance studies required of the 2050 plan. The bottom line is this: The 2050 plan should not be changed to meet the needs of the developer. The development should be changed to meet the requirements of the 2050 plan.
The dredged Cow Pen Slough flows through the land.
NB: Compton also argued the fiscal neutrality math ignores the cost of hurricane hardening new schools and said the board should wait until the district four seat is filled after the election. Commissioner Joe Neunder, who lost his bid for re-election to the District Four seat, was absent from the hearing and did not cast a vote.
County resident Sue Perry also warned that extending Lorraine Road would just funnel traffic into two-lane roads, arguing expanding Lorraine alone just relocates congestion.
Sue Perry: Lorraine Road will, depending on which one they do here—the last rendering I saw was that it would end at Border Road. That’s where it would connect. That’s a bottleneck. That’s only a two-lane road.
Palmer Ranch East will connect and expand the South Sarasota County road grid.
NB: The Palmer Ranch East Master Plan sets aside just over half of its acreage as open space, including two creeks, greenways and a 200-acre gopher tortoise easement, but resident Sherry Potts argued Lorraine Road’s extension destroys habitat, leaving wildlife with nowhere to go.
Sherry Potts: I have seen, in the last six months, three deer caught in that area. There’s nowhere for them to go. Growing up in that area and seeing what has been done to it, I would just ask not to approve this and quit caving to developers and money and start thinking about the people that actually live here.
NB: Bailey said the wildlife corridors would stay open to the public rather than be gated off and that the affordable housing exceeds what current law requires.
Studies tracking the state’s rapid urbanization show that Florida’s developed footprint expanded by 44% over the last four decades. This massive growth is fueled by master-planned community sales – in which Florida leads the nation. Massive projects such as Lakewood Ranch, Wellen Park, Rye Ranch and Babcock Ranch have put pressure on the natural environment and rural areas. For years, the political balance in Tallahassee and in county commissions like this one has favored developers.
This week, Sarasota County let Palmer Ranch expand into one of the last large undeveloped stretches east of the interstate. Despite the opposition, commissioners praised Palmer Ranch’s 40-year record of no structural flooding and voted unanimously to send the comp plan change to the state while approving the master development order outright. Here’s Commissioner Teresa Mast.
Open prairie on the land that is to become Palmer Ranch East.
Teresa Mast: This is fiscally neutral. I would love to have ten developers like this all day long for Sarasota County. Mr. Culverhouse, sir, I thank you for what you and your family have done for my community.
NB: WSLR News previously reported that Culverhouse and Palmer Ranch companies have made campaign contributions to commissioners that span across county elections, including $10,000 to Teresa Mast’s campaign, $9,000 to Ron Cutsinger’s re-election and $8,000 to Tom Knight.
The master development order, which sets the project size and shape, is approved. The comp plan amendment now heads to the state before returning for final adoption in the coming months.
For WSLR News, Noah Bookstein.
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