Nonprofit organizations urging board members to pursue that option
As the Sarasota County commissioners requested last week, during their regular meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 17, they will discuss how they want the Office of the County Attorney to proceed in the aftermath of a Nov. 4 ruling by 12th Judicial Circuit Judge Hunter W. Carroll that said Texas-based homebuilder D.R. Horton can proceed with development of a Live Local Act project on nearly 51 acres next to the Celery Fields.
The item is No. 38 on the agenda, the second after their routine period for reports from County Administrator Jonathan Lewis, County Attorney Joshua Moye and any remarks they may have for each other.
One option that they have is to appeal Carroll’s order, which said that, as he read it, the language of the state’s affordable housing law gives D.R. Horton the right to pursue the application that it submitted to county staff in late May.
Nonprofit organizations in the county and signers of a petition drive launched by a city of Sarasota resident are urging the commissioners to pursue an appeal.
The D.R. Horton application was provided to the county’s Planning and Development Services Department more than a month after the April 7 commission vote implementing a county policy saying that no lands zoned for residential, rural or open use are appropriate for Live Local Act developments. The project is slated for land zoned Open Use Rural; it is owned by the Cindy L. Smith Revocable Trust and Matt and Cindy Smith.
A memo from County Attorney Moye, included in the Nov. 17 agenda packet, points out that the county has 30 days from Nov. 4 to file an appeal. However, the memo stresses, “[O]ur office believes there would be an uphill battle given the strict language and legislative history of the Live Local Act. Most appeals are unsuccessful with the appellate court.”
Nonetheless, several of Judge Carroll’s rulings have been overturned in recent years by the Florida Second District Court of Appeal. Perhaps the most high-profile of those involved the complaint filed by Maya Kowalski and her family, of Venice, against Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg. The Second District Court of Appeal said Carroll had “misapplied Florida’s child abuse immunity law,” as reporter Jesse Scheckner wrote in an Oct. 29, 2025 article for Florida Politics.
The memo from the Office of the County Attorney (OCA) further explains, “[T]here are residual issues not resolved by the D.R. Horton ruling, such as claims for monetary damages” related to allegations of procedural due process violations and building height, for examples.
“If these issues remain unresolved following discussion with [the attorneys for D.R. Horton and the Smiths],” the memo added, “it may be necessary for our office to continue to litigate any remaining issues.”
Moreover, the memo reminded the commissioners that the Live Local Act “provides a prevailing party will recover reasonable attorney’s fees and costs (up to $250,000) in an action against the County for violation of the Live Local Act.”
The memo emphasized that the figure is applicable to each of the six pending Live Local Act lawsuits that have been filed against the county. In fact, the memo said, the plaintiffs in three of the other cases — those involving SITC, New Pope Holdco LLC and Sara de Cota Development LLC — “have presented arguments seeking fees in excess of the $250,000 cap.”
David Meinhardt, a real estate broker/builder/developer/general contractor, as his LinkedIn account notes, is the registered agent for Sara de Cota Development, as shown in the records maintained by the Florida Division of Corporations. Keith Pope of Sarasota, CEO of Pope Properties, is the registered agent for New Pope Holdco, the Florida Division of Corporations records say. The registered agent for SITC Inc., is John J. “Jack” Cox III, president of Halfacre Construction Co. in Sarasota.
If the commission accepts the ruling …
Then the OCA memo points out, “As an alternative to an appeal, the Board could revisit its April 7, 2026 Live Local Act policy directive. The Board could accept the Court’s ruling, which directs County staff to process the D.R. Horton application in accordance with section 125.01055(7)” of the 2025 version of the Florida Statutes.
Among the stipulations in that section are the following: “A county must authorize multifamily and mixed-use residential as allowable uses in any area zoned for commercial, industrial, or mixed use, and in portions of any flexibly zoned area such as a planned unit development permitted for commercial, industrial, or mixed use, if at least 40 percent of the residential units in a proposed multifamily development are rental units that, for a period of at least 30 years, are affordable as defined in [Florida Statute] 420.0004.”
That section adds, “A county may not restrict the density of a proposed development authorized under this subsection below the highest currently allowed, or allowed on July 1, 2023 … For purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘highest currently allowed density’ does not include the density of any building that met the requirements of this subsection or the density of any building that has received any bonus, variance, or other special exception for density provided in the county’s land development regulations as an incentive for development. For purposes of this paragraph, ‘highest currently allowed, or allowed on July 1, 2023,’ means whichever is least restrictive at the time of development.”
Section 7(d)1 also says, “A county may not restrict the height of a proposed development authorized under this subsection below the highest currently allowed, or allowed on July 1, 2023 … within 1 mile of the proposed development or three stories, whichever is higher. For purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘highest currently allowed height’ does not include the height of any building that met the requirements of this subsection or the height of any building that has received any bonus, variance, or other special exception for height provided in the county’s land development regulations as an incentive for development.”
The D.R. Horton/Smith family application pointed out that the property “abuts Raymond Road, a public road, and property owned by Sarasota County that is used as a drainage canal that is not part of a subdivision …” It added that the site also is located within 1 mile of a parcel zoned Industrial, Light Manufacturing and Warehousing (ILW). The county’s Unified Development Code (UDC), which contains all of the land-use and zoning regulations, allows building heights up to 65 feet. Thus, the application said, the D.R. Horton project “is entitled to a height of 65 feet.”
The company has proposed 864 multifamily apartments, of which 408 would be half units, with less than 750 square feet. (A prior County Commission approved such units in an effort to spur development of more affordable housing projects in the county.)
Thus, the application explained, the total number of dwelling units proposed is 660. With the county’s Residential Multifamily-3 zoning standards to be used for the development, the application further noted, 13 dwelling units per acre would be allowed; the plans as proposed would put the density at 12.97 units per acre, as the site comprises approximately 50.85 acres, the application said.
The Nov. 17 County Commission meeting will begin at 9 a.m. at the County Administration Center standing at 1 Apex Road in Sarasota.
‘Protect our neighborhoods’
In a Nov. 11 newsletter to the members and friends of Protect Siesta Key, Lourdes Ramirez, president of that nonprofit, provided details about the D.R. Horton court decision and then pointed out that the Celery Fields is a “treasured bird habitat [that] draws residents and visitors who come to enjoy its wildlife and open space. Flooding during recent hurricanes has also underscored the importance of careful planning in this area.”
During the February 2025 hearing on a proposed D.R. Horton project with 126 single-family homes on the Smith family property, members of the public showed the County Commission photos of water standing on the Smiths’ land in the aftermath of 2024 storms as they stressed their stormwater concerns in regard to construction of any homes on the site.
The Celery Fields was created by county staff decades ago as a regional stormwater project. The subsequent nature of the land has been cited as the primary factor in the Celery Fields annually drawing hundreds of species of birds during the migratory season. Bird-watchers come from all over the United States and from overseas to see the wide variety of avian visitors, Sarasota Audubon Society leaders have stressed to the commissioners.
(Following that February 2025 hearing, the board members voted unanimously to deny the D.R. Horton/Smith family rezoning petition for the residential project. They also rebuffed one attempt by the attorneys for the company and the family to settle the litigation.)
In her Nov. 11 newsletter, Ramirez explained that Judge Carroll ruled that the Smiths’ property “qualifies for high density development” under the Live Local Act even though it is zoned Open Use Rural. However, she added, “[W]e believe lawmakers intended these projects for areas zoned for commercial, industrial, or mixed use, where affordable housing could be located near jobs.”
(In his ruling, Carroll pointed out, “Because the County’s own land development code allows a landowner a few commercial and industrial uses as of right in the Open Use Rural district, the [Smith] Property is considered zoned for commercial, industrial, or mixed use for purposes of the Live Local Act.”)
Then Ramirez wrote in the newsletter, with emphasis, “The ruling’s implications reach across the county. Eighteen Live Local Act proposals could add more than 7,600 homes, including a project on Siesta Key and others near Fruitville Road, Venice Avenue, and Manasota Beach Road.”
Moreover, she noted, “These developments will need roads, utilities, stormwater capacity, and public services. The state has provided no dedicated infrastructure funding to accompany these proposals, leaving our community facing potentially millions of dollars in additional needs while existing infrastructure is already strained.”
Ramirez called for the County Commission to appeal Judge Carroll’s ruling, adding that the Sarasota County Council of Neighborhood Associations (CONA, of which she also is president), and the Sarasota Audubon Society are “urging the county to do so. Protect Siesta Key members can help make that request heard.”
She asked Protect Siesta Key members to email the commissioners before the Nov. 17 meeting at Commissioners@scgov.net.
Another organization fighting a Live Local Act project — stayTRU, which is focused on a proposal involving the 206-acre Tatum Ridge Golf Links property, also is urging its members to email the commissioners and encourage them to appeal the D.R. Horton ruling.
The land located at 421 Tatum Road is the site where New Pope Holdco wants to construct its Live Local Act development.
A Dec. 12, 2025 letter from attorney William Merrill III, with what was then the Icard Merrill law firm in Sarasota, explained to county staff, “The Applicant intends to develop a total of 2,250 units (approximately 10.9 units per acre)” on the site. The plans call for 390 townhomes, villas or “building-to-rent units” in structures with a maximum height of 55.4 feet, the letter continued. The other 1,860 units also would be constructed in buildings at that maximum height, the letter noted.
In accord with the Live Local Act, Merrill wrote, 40% of the units — 900 — would be rented to households at or below 120% of the Area Median Income for the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton Metropolitan Statistical Area. Those units would remain affordable for 30 years, he added.
On Jan. 9, as the News Leader reported, Duane N. Henderson, a resident of the Legends at Tatum Ridge subdivision, wrote Commissioner Tom Knight, explaining that stayTru was “fighting a third attempt in less than a year to develop the duly recognized OPEN SPACE [emphasis in the email] of the Tatum Ridge Golf Links …”
A sample email that the president of stayTRU — Matt Procaccini — provided that organization’s members this week ends as follows: “Please protect our neighborhoods and preserve Sarasota County’s ability to make responsible local land-use issues.”
Additionally, on Nov. 12, Sarasota resident Kelly Franklin let the News Leader know that she has begun a petition drive in an effort to encourage the commissioners to tell the Office of the County Attorney to appeal Judge Carroll’s ruling.
Just after 6:30 a.m. on Nov. 12, she sent the board members an email, explaining that she launched the petition drive at 2 p.m. on Nov. 11.
“Within 12 hours of the petition being posted on Facebook, it garnered over 500 comments … asking you to appeal the judge’s ruling and protect Celery Fields and Sarasota’s rural areas and floodplains from developer overreach,” she told the commissioners.
In that email, she included comments that had been submitted.
This is the link to the petition: https://sarasotapublic.com/#/issueComment/102
Franklin added in the email, “I hope you will be buoyed by the strong public support, and fight this court ruling, while working with our state senator and state representative to close the Live Local loophole.”
She concluded by telling the commissioners, “Thank you for fighting for our home and for home rule.”