Only two proposals have reached stage for staff to begin formal determination of eligibility to proceed
In response to Sarasota County Commission direction on Jan. 13, county Planning and Development Services staff has created a set of webpages focused on staff’s handling of applications proposing to use the facets of the state’s Live Local Act.
As The Sarasota News Leader has reported, the board members stressed that, because of concerns about how communities could be affected by developments approved under the guidelines of the legislation, they want to be certain that the county process regarding applications is as transparent as possible.
As Matt Osterhoudt, director of Planning and Development Services, explained to the commissioners during their regular meeting on Jan. 13, staff has created a series of steps for applicants wishing to use the Live Local Act to create affordable housing projects. The state law calls for administrative approval, with no formal hearings before the county’s Planning Commission or County Commission. At the recommendation of Chair Ron Cutsinger, the county direction calls for staff to provide on the Live Local Act webpages the information about applications after they reach the third step in county staff’s review of proposals:
During the Jan. 13 discussion with the board members, Osterhoudt noted that only two proposed initiatives thus far had made it to Step 3. The first regards the site standing at 421 Tatum Road in Sarasota. The second is a plan involving the property located at 8893 Fruitville Road.
The proposal for 8893 Fruitville Road
In a Nov. 12, 2025 letter to the county’s Development Review Coordination group (DRC), William Merrill III and Colin Pember, attorneys with the Icard Merrill firm in Sarasota, wrote that the property slated for the 8893 Fruitville Road project is zoned Open Use Estate 1 (OUE-1), which allows one dwelling unit per 5 acres. The property comprises approximately 23.69 acres, the attorneys continued.
The DRC comprises representatives of county departments involved with land-use changes.
The proposal calls for 352 rental units, representing a residential density of 14.85 units per acre, in apartment buildings up to about 50 feet in height.
In accord with the provisions of the Live Local Act, Merrill and Pember pointed out, the plan is for 40% — 141 — of the units to be rented to households earning at or below 120% of the Area Median Income (AMI) of the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). (The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development annually updates the AMI levels for households in each metropolitan statistical area in the United States.)
Those units would remain affordable for 30 years, they added in the letter.
Further, in accord with a policy in the Sarasota County Comprehensive Plan, which guides growth in the community, seven of the 141 apartments would be provided for rent for five years to households making 80% of the AMI, Merrill and Pember continued. At the end of those five years, they noted, the rent would increase to 120% of the AMI “for the remaining period of 25 years.
“The proposed development will meet the RMF-3 … standards,” they wrote, referring to the Residential Multifamily-3 zoning district in the county.
The owner of the Fruitville Road property is Yeshuas Love Biblical Fellowship of Sarasota Florida.
The website maintained by Sarasota County Property Appraiser Bill Furst and his staff shows that that owner purchased the land for $2 million on Oct. 15, 2014. The previous owner was the First Church of God of Sarasota Inc.
The site is located in the AE flood zone, the Property Appraiser’s Office webpage notes. The base flood elevation is 31.8 feet. The county website explains that parcels within the AE zone are subject to a 1% annual chance of inundation. The website page adds, “Mandatory flood insurance purchase requirements apply.”
In 2025, Furst’s webpage says, the market value of the site was $3,994,300.
The map of the parcel shown through a link from Furst’s website makes it clear that the property is north of the Founders Club, which is east of Interstate 75.
Merrill and Pember first proposed the development to county staff in a Sept. 0, 2025 letter to Osterhoudt of Planning and Development Services, as shown in materials included in the County Commission’s agenda packet for the Jan. 13 regular meeting.
421 Tatum Road
Icard Merrill also is representing the developer who is pursuing plans for the property standing at 421 Tatum Road, as shown in materials also included in the agenda packet for the Jan. 13 County Commission meeting.
William Merrill III, a principal of the firm, signed the letter to Planning and Development Services.
The applicant is New Pope Holdco III LLC, the letter said, which owns the land. Property Appraiser Furst’s website shows that the company purchased the land — where a golf course still exists — in late December 2020 for $2,944,000 from Tatum Ridge Golf Links Inc., which had owned it since February 1987. The market value of the site in 2025 was $2,784,600, the property webpage says. The majority of that parcel also is in the AE flood zone, the Property Appraiser’s Office records note.
The Florida Division of Corporations record for that limited liability company says the registered agent is Keith Pope of Sarasota. He is the CEO of Pope Properties, the News Leader learned. The website for that firm says Pope has more than 30 years “of club and community management experience and has been involved with the successful management of numerous properties nationwide. Keith’s experience includes working with Kitson & Partners Club Management as Director of Operations. Prior to that he spent eight years with Troon Golf managing some of the most prestigious clubs in the country, such as Troon North in Scottsdale, AZ, The Waikoloa Beach Resort in Waikoloa, HI, The Westin La Paloma in Tucson, AZ and The Legacy Golf Club in Sarasota, FL. Keith is a Florida-licensed real estate broker and community association manager, a Class A PGA golf professional and a licensed private pilot. Keith volunteers his time by rescuing animals from kill shelters all over our country as part of the Pilots ‘N’ Paws Program.”
A Dec. 12, 2025 Icard Merrill letter to county staff explains that the approximately 206.5 acres is located in a Residential Estate 1 (RE-1) zoning district, which has access from three public driveways: Tatum Road, Duke Drive and Duchess Drive. “However,” the letter continues, “three full access points on Blue Lake Road may be proposed at the option of the Applicant” in addition to those three.
The land “presents an ideal location for a multifamily housing infill project such as the one proposed because of its adjacency to the Sarasota International Trade Center, a large, existing development” designated by the county as a Major Employment Center (MEC), the letter points out.
“The Applicant intends to develop a total of 2,250 units (approximately 10.9 units per acre)” on the site, the letter explains. The plans call for 390 townhomes, villas or “building-to-rent units” in structures with a maximum height of 55.4 feet, the letter continues. The other 1,860 units also would be constructed in buildings at that maximum height, the letter notes.
In accord with the Live Local Act, the letter says, 40% of the units — 900 — would be rented to households at or below 120% of the AMI for the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton Metropolitan Statistical Area. Those units would remain affordable for 30 years, it adds.
The letter further notes that, during the preliminary pre-application conference held on Sept. 30, 2025 with several representatives of the Planning and Development Services staff, plus two attorney Merrill and N. Macaire King of Icard Merrill — who also signed the letter sent to Planning and Development — and Assistant County Attorney Stephen Shaw, county staff confirmed that “the Tatum Ridge Property qualifies for Live Local development …”
In accord with provisions of the state law, the letter points out, the developer would be entitled to a total of 2,684 units on the site. Thus, the planned 2,250 figure “is well below the maximum number of units permitted on the [land].”
Further, the letter refers to prior County Commission approval of two Special Exceptions for the site. One allowed for a golf course and country club there, while the other was for cluster housing “on the neighboring Tatum Ridge Subdivision property,” called the Legends Subdivision. The Live Local Act proposal would leave sufficient acreage for the 162 units planned in that subdivision, the letter adds.
If the Pope Holdco application is approved, the letter says, “the Golf Course and Country Club use … will terminate …”
Objections to the Tatum Road plans
The News Leader learned through a review of recent emails to the board members, as shown on the county website, that a leader of an organization opposing the Tatum Road plans had written to them to express displeasure with the Live Local Act application.
On Jan. 9, Duane N. Henderson, a resident of the Legends at Tatum Ridge subdivision, wrote Commissioner Tom Knight, explaining that an organization called stayTru is “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 …”
Henderson added, “The County’s assessment of the eligibility of the land under Live Local carries significant weight. We ask that the County follow the amended Live Local Act and dismiss the application as ineligible.”
Knight sent the email to County Attorney Joshua Moye, as he noted in forwarding it.
The email had the following attachment, which was a letter from Matt Procaccini, president of stayTru:
During the Open to the Public comment period at the start of the Jan. 13 commission meeting, John Davis, a resident of the Legends Subdivision and a member of stayTru, addressed the commissioners.
Davis pointed out that stayTru has more than 1,000 members in the area where the development has been proposed.
“The Tatum Ridge Golf Course concepts do not qualify for development under the Live Local Act,” Davis maintained. “We believe county policy should prevent ineligible applications from moving forward,” he continued, noting that each local government has its own process for dealing with Live Local Act proposals.
stayTru, Davis said, is encouraging county leaders to ensure that a checklist be created, which each applicant would have to fill out as a first step, in an effort to prove that a specific proposal would qualify under the state law. “This would allow staff time to identify deficiencies before the process begins.”
Next, he continued, the county should require that an applicant provide a notice to community associations representing nearby homeowners and other neighbors “when an applicant starts any step of the Live Local review process. Notice to neighbors and associations will help with eliminating some of the blindsidedness that we feel,” Davis pointed out.
Without such notice, he continued, “Neighborhoods may not learn about a project until it’s too late to raise legitimate concerns about major changes.”
Requiring that notice, he pointed out, does not violate the Live Local Act provisions.