Alleging lack of process, neighbors respond to tree cutting and air quality concerns.
By Noah Bookstein
Original Air Date: April 24, 2026
Host: A group of six petitioners are formally challenging New College’s campus development plan. It’s about tree cutting and more. The neighbors’ actions will produce a hearing before an administrative judge in August, as Noah Bookstein learned.
Noah Bookstein: New College used to be a small, academically rigorous honors institution known for its experimental curriculum, self-directed learning and open student culture.
In 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis initiated a rapid transformation of the school, overhauling the board and college staff with political allies who remade the school into a showcase for conservative education reform.
Mangroves at the Uplands Preserve
The new board began pursuing significant expansion and a long-term redevelopment plan for its Sarasota campus that includes new buildings, sports facilities and increased housing.
As part of that effort, the college adopted a new Campus Master Plan in December 2025—a document that governs land use, infrastructure and development over the next decade.
The petitioners contend New College failed to correctly follow Florida statute and regulations governing how campus master plans must be developed and adopted.
When Floridians believe a state entity has broken existing rules, they can challenge it through the Division of Administrative Hearings—a court-like system for disputes between citizens and government. If the petitioners prevail, the New College master plan could be invalidated or sent back to be redone.
Two of the six petitioners challenging the master plan have lived in the neighborhoods around New College for years.
Karen Stack, l. | Photo: Werner
Ruth Folit is a New College alumna who raised her family near the campus.
Ruth Folit: I am a long term resident of Indian Beach Sapphire Shores. We would bike down to East Campus and play in the pool, meet friends, play frisbee, et cetera.
NB: Karen Stack came to the neighborhood because of New College.
Karen Stack: I learned about the area because my son graduated from New College. I was still living in Atlanta. He sent me an email with a listing for a home, and he said, “I don’t know the house, but I love the neighborhood.” I called the real estate agent, and I bought the house sight unseen.
NB: Stack started to see disturbing changes in her neighborhood.
Tree cutting in the Uplands Preserve
KS: I started hearing chainsaws. I walked out of my house and walked down the block, and they were—with Dumpsters—cutting all of the trees, or the majority of the trees, from the uplands preserve. They took slash pines; they took cabbage palms; they took old oaks—some of the slash pines certainly over 100 years old. That was enough to open my eyes. We were all extraordinarily sad about the loss of those trees.
NB: The Uplands Preserve, donated to New College in the 1960s, was designated as protected under the college’s own prior plans. It also served as a natural buffer against flooding for the Uplands neighborhood. But New College had already cleared 138 mature trees for an athletic field before the new plan was ever voted on.
Renderings of the Sweet Sparkman Architecture designs for the New College east campus.
A version of the plan shown to the public included language protecting the preserve. However, petitioners allege that protective language was absent from the version the board approved.
Folit got involved after she found out the new athletic facilities would be developed right near the airport, a major source of air pollution.
RF: The New College campus master plan cites six athletic fields and facilities on East Campus, all within a quarter to a half a mile from the ends of very active and busy runways. Student athletes will be strenuously exercising for about 10 hours per week, week after week after week. For me, my concern is the air quality. I just felt like it was a moral obligation. Once you see that, you can’t unsee it.
NB: The group expressed their concerns to the New College Administration but found they weren’t getting anywhere.
KS: Well, our voices were loud, but they apparently were not loud enough. We presented comments; we met with President Corcoran multiple times. This was the next and only step, for that matter.
RF: Using the administrative law hearing is our only way to be heard.
A City of Sarasota Building Department stop order for the removal of trees without a permit issued May 2024.
NB: They pressed on and filed—without an attorney. Administrative proceedings move on a tight timeline, and finding an attorney with the right expertise on short notice proved to be very difficult.
RF: I don’t think any of us really knew what we were stepping into before we jumped off this cliff. It’s a lot to learn. None of us have legal background.
NB: But at the end of the day, they feel it is worth the work because their community is worth protecting.
RF: Someone asked me whether, if it was the old New College administration, I would be filing a petition. And my answer is yes, I think I would, because there’s two parts to this. There’s the moral issue of student health—student health should be the highest priority for any educational institution. The second part, which is equally important, especially in the real world, is that it doesn’t comply with Florida regulations.
NB: A hearing in Sarasota is set for August 3 through 7.
Noah Bookstein, reporting for WSLR News.
Host: An hour before deadline, New College spokesman Jamie Miller provided this statement: “New College of Florida looks forward to defeating this frivolous lawsuit and moving forward with a campus master plan. The college’s planning effort spent more than one year and included significant public notice, multiple opportunities for community input and a level of engagement that exceeded that of any campus master plan process in the history of the Florida state university system. This baseless challenge will not distract the college from its mission or from continuing the historic renewal of New College for students, faculty and the broader Sarasota community.”
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