Attorney representing D.R. Horton subsidiary talks of effort to ‘refine and substantially redesign our project’

On Nov. 19, 2024, with no members of the Sarasota County Commission offering support for a proposal to take down 14 of 18 Grand Trees on property proposed for rezoning in the county’s Fruitville Initiative area, the spokesman for the project team asked for a continuance of the hearing.
County staff had denied the request to remove those trees; thus, the applicant was appealing the decision to the County Commission while also seeking board approval of other steps necessary to the creation of a new development
On Dec. 18, 2024, the spokesman, attorney Charles D. Bailey III of the Williams Parker firm in Sarasota, made it clear during the new hearing that the project team no longer was seeking an appeal of county staff’s denial of the plans for the Grand Trees.
“We have mercifully withdrawn [it],” Bailey told the commissioners.
“Our having heard loudly and clearly the direct feedback we received on Nov. 19,” he explained, “we have sought to refine and substantially redesign our project … for the sole purpose of preserving Grand Trees.”
DHI Communities, a subsidiary of the Arlington, Texas-based national homebuilder D.R. Horton, was seeking the rezoning so it could construct a residential community within what is known as the Fruitville Initiative in the eastern part of the county.
During the Nov. 19, 2024 hearing, Bailey talked about plans as of that time for 60 townhomes and 330 multi-family apartments. The county staff report for the Dec. 18 hearing noted the same numbers of dwelling units.
“I think I probably would have been more impressed if you were saving 14 and only losing four [of the Grand Trees],” Commissioner Mark Smith told Bailey on Nov. 19.
Smith added that he believed the locations of the trees “would help your development, because they would be between your development and the interstate.”

Brett McQuaid of DHI Communities in Tampa, whose LinkedIn account says he has been the vice president of D.R. Horton’s multifamily division since January 2022, told the commissioners that day, “We worked with staff significantly over months and months and months to design this [community].” He added, “What we wanted to do is create a master plan here” that would fit into the concept of the Fruitville Initiative. “I felt like this fit well with the Fruitville Initiative and the overall area,” he said.
Commissioner Teresa Mast expressed concern especially about the loss of four of the Grand Trees. A county staff report prepared for the hearing showed that No. 12 has a diameter at breast height (DBH) of 57 inches; for No. 14, the DBH is 47 inches; for No. 16, it is 55 inches; and for No. 17, it is 37 inches.)
Yet, Bailey pointed out on Nov. 19 that if the 14 trees were left in place, “They would unreasonably prevent development of the property, as they pre-empt about a third of the overall acreage of the property.”
After then-interim commission Chair Joe Neunder closed the Nov. 19 hearing, Commissioner Smith said, “I don’t consider the appeal to be valid,” because he believed that modifying the heights of the buildings would allow DHI to save more of the trees, “and these trees should be saved.”
Commissioner Mast seconded Smith’s motion to deny the appeal.
During his Dec. 18, 2024 presentation to the board members, Bailey said, “We’ve begun interfacing with your Environmental Protection staff [on saving trees] and are confident that we’re going to come up with a revised plan that will hit all of the elements that were identified by Environmental Protection, to comply with the [county’s] Tree Code.”
All he was seeking that day, Bailey continued, was the rezoning of a 0.71-acre section of the approximately 21.1 acres of what has been designated Sub-Area G of the Fruitville Initiative area in the eastern portion of the county.
“For once, I don’t intend to repeat myself,” Bailey added, referencing the comments about the development that he made during the Nov. 19 hearing.

It took only about 5 minutes for Bailey’s remarks on Dec. 18, although an applicant is accorded 20 minutes to address the commission about a land-use application.
When Commission Chair Neunder asked whether any board member had a question for Bailey, no one responded.
After Neunder closed the hearing, Mast made the motion to approve the rezoning petition. “Thank you for listening,” she told Bailey, referring to her Nov. 19 comments. Thank you for mercifully withdrawing that [appeal]. We look forward to working together on this project so that we can have a premier project for our community,” Mast added.
Commissioner Tom Knight seconded her motion without any remarks.
Then the motion passed 5-0.