In back-to-back unanimous decisions, commissioners block two major projects.
Ramon Lopez
Original Air Date: Feb. 14, 2025
Host: We haven’t seen anything like it in decades: Sarasota County Commissioners voted unanimously to end, or put the brakes on, high-profile developments. Twice. In one week. One of these developments is Hi Hat Ranch, the biggest ever in the county, with 13,000 homes on 10,000 acres. Ramon Lopez has the story.
The Sarasota County Commission, facing more than 60 public commenters on Wednesday, voted to stop a DR Horton project near a preserve.
Ramon Lopez: If you didn’t feel the tremors, there was nothing short of a political earthquake hitting Sarasota County this week. The county commissioners voted 5-0 on both Tuesday and Wednesday, applying the brakes on two major suburban development projects.
They quickly responded to an investigative report by the Florida Trident that showed questionable involvement of a former county commissioner on behalf of the Hi Hat Ranch mega-development leading to a sour situation for Sarasota taxpayers.
And the following day, the five elected officials unanimously sided with bird lovers, traffic haters and flood fearers to protect the cherished Celery Fields and the 250 bird species that populate the nature preserve.
First, the Hi Hat hullabaloo. Newly elected Sarasota County Commissioner Tom Knight most likely told his fellow commissioners: “I told you so.”
Hi Hat development concept plan. The questionable access road is marked in pink.
This after a January 28 vote by the county commission to approve Hi Hat road construction across 24 acres of county land. An ordinance should require the developer to cover the full cost, but the vote made taxpayers responsible for half of a Bee Ridge extension to the developer’s entrance. The Hi Hat development will add over 13,000 homes east of I-75, the largest residential real estate project in county history.
But Michael Barfield of the Florida Trident discovered, through an exhaustive search of phone records, that former County Commissioner Al Maio played a key role in drafting the terms of the land deal on behalf of the developer during a private meeting with county staffers in December 2024.
Florida law bars former commissioners from lobbying county officials for two years after leaving office. Maio left the commission in 2022.
In the January 28 vote, Tom Knight questioned the move and cast the lone ‘nay’ vote. Earlier this week, reacting to Barfield’s investigative report, Knight criticized the deal on Facebook.
He wrote: “I hope my fellow commissioners are as shocked as I am — even outraged — that a local reporter uncovered info that was not provided to us by county staff.”
He said the deal violated county ordinance. He said county staff knew this was a bad deal, but somewhere along the line they flipped and actually recommended that the commission pass it.
But on Tuesday, the commissioners applied the brakes on the Hi Hat road deal in the face of immediate public backlash. Commission Chair Joe Neunder brought up the matter, which wasn’t on the agenda list for the meeting. He asked if there was broad consensus to direct county staff to not move forward with the Hi Hat agreement, hold a public workshop on the road issue and then decide what to do within six months. The vote was unanimous.
Knight went back to Facebook, saying the Hi Hat issue is “not killed completely” and will be discussed again, this time in public. He went on to say, with an amount of satisfaction, this week produced productive days.
Rendering of the proposed 126 homes and retention pond on the Smith Properties land.
Getting back to the Celery Fields matter, a rezoning was required for go-ahead of a proposed housing development by D.R. Horton on land abutting the Sarasota Audubon Nature Center and the Celery Fields.
The land owned by Smith Properties is currently a cattle farm. D.R. Horton requested a rezone of the property from Open Use Rural, which allows for only a single house on every ten acres. The rezone petition would have allowed four houses per acre. Once devoted to growing celery, it was acquired by the county to address flooding issues in the area. Although it wasn’t designed to host wildlife, birds began to show up in droves.
Attorney Charlie Bailey said the project included a 60-foot buffer of foliage and wetlands between new houses and Celery Fields. This to mitigate light pollution that drives away bird flocks. But the Sarasota Audubon Society said the concessions were not good enough. In a marathon public hearing, over 60 speakers—bird lovers and flood fearers—were unanimous in their opposition to the rezoning.
Teresa Mast
There was a surprise nay vote from Commissioner Teresa Mast, who represents District 1, which includes the Celery Fields, and she is a staunch supporter of the local building industry.
Chair Joe Neunder called the Celery Fields “a gem,” saying his nay vote was a no-brainer—didn’t require a lot of intellectual effort.
Commissioner Mark Smith said all is not lost for Smith Properties. He said the land remains an economic opportunity.
Among those protesting the rezoning was nine year old Andromeda Rhea. She probably said it best to widespread applause in commission chambers.
Andromeda Rhea.
Andromeda Rhea: I don’t know everything, but I know one thing that’s for sure: Celery Fields is very important. People really care about all the animals and the plants that live there. I’ll just say it: When you build in that area, it doesn’t do a lot of good. In fact, it does some damage. Worst of all, where you’re planning to build in could be flooded easily, and that is so terrible, it would be just as bad as the huge flood of Laurel Meadows. When are they going to stop building? Once you’ve built a lot, you can’t really take it back. So, commissioners, I only ask one thing: Please don’t build so much in Celery Fields or at it because it could take away a lot of things that people enjoy about it. Now I’d better be going.
[Applause]
RL: 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.