Board members agree to property owners’ request for earlier dedication of right of way for Bee Ridge Road East Extension
In early April, only three of the five Sarasota County commissioners approved the draft terms of an agreement with representatives of Hi Hat Ranch in regard to access to the land from Bee Ridge Road in Sarasota.
This week, all five commissioners approved the resulting agreement, even though — as Matt Osterhoudt, director of the county’s Planning and Development Services Department noted — “one unresolved item” had arisen, necessitating board direction.
As Assistant County Attorney Stephen Shaw explained, that issue involved the timing of the establishment of the right of way for what staff has dubbed the BREE — the Bee Ridge Road East Extension, which will run east from of the roundabout at the intersection of Bee Ridge Road and Lorraine Road to the Hi Hat property.
Over the past year, Shaw told the commissioners on July 9, as negotiations were underway with Hi Hat representatives, “It has been staff’s understanding that, once we hit ‘Go,’ first a temporary construction easement would be put in place over BREE to allow for the construction of the site-access improvements.”
Following the completion of that construction, Shaw continued, “BREE would be established as a right of way.”
Below is the language that staff had proposed for the agreement, as noted in a memo for the commissioners that was included in the July 9 agenda packet:
However, Shaw told the board members, Hi Hat representatives had explained that that plan would not work for them, as they need to sell the property for the first Village community on the ranch — constructed under the guidelines of the county’s 2050 Plan — to be able to pay for the site access improvements, as well as 50% of the expense of the county’s widening of 1 mile of Bee Ridge Road from two to four lanes from Bent Tree Boulevard to the Lorraine Road roundabout. They need the BREE right of way to be established first, Shaw added.
(In discussions in January and April, county staff indicated that the overall cost of that project would be about $28 million. Regardless of the final amount, the deal will require Hi Hat Ranch to pay for a full 50% of the expense.)
Along with paying for the first two lanes of the four-lane BREE at the outset of its construction, staff explained to the commissioners earlier this year, Hi Hat Ranch would pay to relocate county facilities and make any other adjustments necessary to protect county property within the right of way before the work on the BREE can begin.
Shaw further explained on July 9, “Once BREE is established as right of way, it is essentially pulled out of the agreement [even though that] can only really be done through the statutory street vacation process.”
“Didn’t want to make the decision [about that] in a vacuum,” Shaw noted, referencing the need for board guidance on how to proceed with the deal.
Jim Turner, an attorney with the Sarasota firm Williams Parker and a member of the family that owns Hi Hat Ranch, stressed to the commissioners that after the BREE public right of way has been dedicated, “We’ll be closing a sale with Lennar and Pulte” — two nationally known home development companies — for the land that will have to be rezoned for the new communities. “They can’t get access to [that property] until the BREE improvements are constructed,” he added.
“Just wanted to reassure the board publicly as to our commitment, not just verbally, but contractually and practically,” he added, in regard to the terms of the deal overall.
‘It makes sense’
Commissioner Mark Smith was the first board member to respond: “I don’t quite understand why we can’t just establish the right of way, right away.”
“We can definitely do that,” Assistant County Attorney Shaw told him.
“Construction-wise,” Smith added, [establishing the right of way] sets the limits. … To me, it makes sense to have it in place [before construction of the improvements begins].”
Yet, Smith acknowledged, “I understand [the right of way is] there forever and ever, amen,” until such time that the board members would approve a formal street vacation of it.
“I don’t anticipate that being an issue, quite honestly,” Smith said of the Hi Hat Ranch request. “I believe, fairly confidently,” he continued, “that this project’s going to go through and everything’s going to be built.”
“I agree with Commissioner Smith,” Commissioner Ron Cutsinger added. “I can understand the need to establish the right of way,” so sales of the Hi Hat property can take place, Cutsinger continued. Those sales, he said, will provide the Turner family the tens of millions of dollars it will need for the widening of the two-lane segment of Bee Ridge Road, the relocations of county assets from the BREE right of way, and the construction of the first two lanes of the BREE.
Cutsinger also emphasized that Hi Hat Ranch will give the county a deed for 24 acres of right of way to make the widening of Fruitville Road from two to four lanes possible on the boundary of the ranch. Further, he noted that the family members will put up a performance bond linked to the widening of the segment of Bee Ridge Road west of the Lorraine Road roundabout.
“There’s no reason to complicate this any further,” Cutsinger pointed out.
He is aware, he continued, that Hi Hat Ranch representatives have submitted to county staff the application for the rezoning of the land where the first Village will be created. That had been held up, he noted, while the roadwork negotiations were underway.
Then Commissioner Teresa Mast expressed her appreciation to Assistant County Attorney Shaw for the “due diligence” that the Office of the County Attorney has pursued in the matter.
Nonetheless, she said she wanted to offer an example of how she observed the situation with the right of way: “Let’s not put on our shoe and then our sock over it.”
The Hi Hat Ranch request about the right of way, Mast said, “is not only reasonable, but necessary.”
Moreover, she pointed out, the Hi Hat representatives had committed to the public — “especially [the residents who live] out east” — that the first access to the Hi Hat developments would be from Bee Ridge Road, not Fruitville Road. “I want to help them keep their word to the community.”
As Smith had pointed out earlier, Mast also noted that having the right of way established will mark “clear boundaries at the very beginning …”
She also told Shaw, “Respectfully, I really don’t want to see this again in front of us.”
Chair Joe Neunder thanked Shaw for his presentation and efforts on behalf of the county, adding that he agreed with Smith, Cutsinger and Mast.
Commissioner Tom Knight, who had voted against the proposed terms of the Hi Hat agreement in April, did not offer any comments during the July 9 discussion.
Cutsinger ended up making the motion to approve the details of the agreement, with the right-of-way issue outlined as the Hi Hat representatives had sought. Smith seconded it.
Cutsinger again stressed that the deal will give the county the 24 acres along Fruitville Road, as the widening of that route has been a commission focus especially over the past couple of years, as the two-lane road had become more and more congested. County residents have complained about that issue during several public hearings related to construction in the eastern part of the county.
Neunder told Shaw, “You did a great job of protecting the county.”
The motion then passed unanimously.