Commissioner Knight only board member to oppose it
On the Jan. 28 Sarasota County Commission agenda, one item near the bottom of the list said, “To provide policy guidance on selling access through County-owned land.”
To some readers, that line may have evoked memories of earlier board discussions with Nicole Rissler, director of the county’s Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Department, about improving public access to natural lands that the county has purchased with revenue derived from a voter-approved ad valorem tax of 0.25 mills.
However, this one involved Planning and Development Services.
By the end of that Jan. 28 discussion, on a 4-1 vote, the commissioners had agreed to the terms of a proposal that would provide a private developer legal access through county-owned land from Bee Ridge Road to the first new residential community planned in the approximately 10,000-acre Hi Hat Ranch property in the eastern part of the county.
Commissioner Tom Knight cast the “No” vote.
The proposal called for the master developer of Hi Hat Ranch — Hit Hat Ranch LLP, whose principals are members of the Turner family of Sarasota — to pay half of the estimated $28-million expense of the design and construction of two extra lanes on Bee Ridge Road from Bent Tree Boulevard to Lorraine Road, a distance of about 1 mile. Second, the master developer would swap approximately 10 acres it owns along Fruitville Road for about 24 acres of county land off Bee Ridge Road that would be necessary for the construction of what county staff refers to as Bee Ridge Road Extension East, or BREE.
Hi Hat would be responsible for constructing the BREE, as well, documents in the Jan. 28 agenda packet indicated. The BREE would run from the widened Bee Ridge Road limits at Lorraine Road to the Phase 1 development, a graphic showed.
However, the master developer agreed to construct just two lanes of the BREE at the outset, with work on the other two lanes to start when traffic volume indicated that that was necessary.
The county might need additional land along Fruitville Road for its widening of that road Matt Osterhoudt, director of the county’s Planning and Development Services Department, explained to the commissioners on Jan. 28. Nonetheless, he said, the agreement called for no more than 24 acres to be provided by Hi Hat Ranch in exchange for the 24 county-owned acres along Bee Ridge Road, making the deal an acre-for-acre swap.
Osterhoudt said that a preliminary staff review showed that Hi Hat might be asked to turn over 12 to 13 acres on Fruitville Road, instead of just 10.
Additionally, the master developer would pay for all of the impacts that the BREE would have on county operations in the 24 acres where the BREE would be built, Osterhoudt noted. Using a graphic, he pointed to red boxes showing the plans of the master developer in that regard, such as the relocation of fences and a sewage lift station.
Further, the master developer would pay 100% of expense of the widening — from two to four lanes — of the roundabout at Bee Ridge Road and Lorraine Road, which would be included as part of the BREE undertaking, Osterhoudt said.
A Dec. 23, 2024 memorandum from Dave Truxton of TLC Land Consulting LLC, which was included in the Jan. 28 agenda packet, explained the details of the proposal.
Documents also made it clear that former two-term county Commissioner Alan Maio of Nokomis had helped facilitate the negotiations between the Turner family and county staff. Since he left the board, Maio has returned to work at the Kimley-Horn consulting firm in Sarasota, with which he long was associated prior to his 2024 election to the County Commission.
After county staff had completed the drafting of the formal agreement with the master developer, Osterhoudt said, the commissioners would be asked to formally vote on the deal.
This week, the commissioners unanimously called for a halt to work on the deal. (See the related article in this issue.)
Delving into the details
Osterhoudt explained to the board members on Jan. 28 that Hi Hat Ranch has legal access to Fruitville and Clark roads, but not to the Bee Ridge Road public right of way.
The $28-million figure for the extra two lanes on Bee Ridge between Bent Tree Boulevard and Lorraine Road, Osterhoudt told the board members, “is a rough order of magnitude” for the cost of the widening project. “It’s a much more refined number than we had for you previously,” he added, referring to a discussion with the commission in October 2024 about the transportation issues involving the development of Hi Hat Ranch.
That fall discussion was prompted by planning for the first phase of residential construction on Hi Hat, which calls for approximately 3,000 residential units on about 2,070 acres, Osterhoudt said, referring to a map showing that section of the property.
Although county staff believes that the county has in hand all of the rights of way along Bee Ridge Road for the construction of the extra lanes, the proposed agreement said that if a later determination found that additional right of way would be necessary, the master developer would split the cost of that expense 50-50 with the county.
Further, the agreement would not include any “not-to-exceed” language regarding the project, Osterhoudt said. “It behooves all of us then to make sure our costs are low,” he added.
As for the timing: Osterhoudt explained that, within six months after the land swap had been completed and all of the permits for both the widening of Bee Ridge Road from Bent Tree to Lorraine and the BREE initiative had been obtained, the master developer would start the roadway construction, which it would be managing. Two years has been determined to be the reasonable timeline for completion, the Truxton memorandum said, given the likelihood of “reasonable delays.”
Osterhoudt noted that a hurricane strike, for example, could create the need for a delay in the work.
For the land deal to be considered complete, Osterhoudt also pointed out, the County Commission must have approved the rezoning of the property for the first Hi Hat residential community.
The very first question for Osterhoudt came from Commissioner Mark Smith, who indicated that constituents had asked him whether the master developer should be asked to pay for 100% of the road projects to ensure the fiscal neutrality of the development on Hi Hat Ranch, as fiscal neutrality is one of the facets of the county’s 2050 Plan for development east of Interstate 75.
(Commissioner Knight noted that he also had been asked that question.)
The Hi Hat residential phases will be constructed in accord with the 2050 Plan.
Osterhoudt explained that as each phase of the Hi Hat communities is proposed, a staff determination is made about the fiscal neutrality of the plans.
In response to another question from Knight, Osterhoudt emphasized that the county would be swapping land, not selling it, as part of the roadway improvements deal.
Further, Osterhoudt pointed out, “the driving nexus for the widening of Bee Ridge Road” is the plan for construction of the first phase of Hi Hat Ranch.
When Knight asked how much money in county mobility impact fees would be used for the county’s share of the estimated $28-million expense, Osterhoudt replied that that was a policy question for the board. Staff has estimated that the first phase “would generate approximately $14 million in mobility fees.” However, that money would not come to the county until the initial 3,000 homes were finished, he added.
Knight also asked whether the Hi Hat mobility fee revenue would be needed for other North County transportation projects.
Osterhoudt replied that the county’s $14-million share of the deal did not have to come solely from the county “pot” containing impact fee revenue.
When Commissioner Teresa Mast sought clarification that about $80 million in infrastructure improvements will be made at the developer’s expense, not at taxpayers’ expense, Osterhoudt told her he was not certain about the figure she had cited.
When she suggested using the term “those dollars,” in lieu of an exact figure, in regard to her question, Osterhoudt responded that all of the improvements to Bee Ridge Road will be of benefit to the public in general, not just Hi Hat Ranch residents.
“Let’s be clear here,” Commissioner Ron Cutsinger said: “The cost of all those improvements are being borne by the developer,” including the expense of the BREE.
“That is correct,” Osterhoudt told Cutsinger.
Further, Cutsinger emphasized the county’s need for the acreage that the Turner family owns along Fruitville Road, as staff works on plans for future widening of that road.
When Cutsinger suggested that it would take about 20 years for the full build-out of Hi Hat Ranch to be completed — all 13,000 homes — Osterhoudt replied, “That’s a good round number.”
“I know that this has been a long process,” Cutsinger added, “and staff has worked really well to get the county, I think, a fair deal …”
Cutsinger ended up making the motion to approve the terms of the deal as Osterhoudt had outlined them, and Mast seconded it.
Cutsinger stressed the county’s need for the Fruitville Road right of way, as well as the residential growth spurring the need to widen Bee Ridge Road.
“I think that this was a very arduous process,” Mast added. County staff and the landowners worked diligently, she said, “on an agreement that will ultimately benefit our community as a whole.”
Commissioner Knight concurred with Cutsinger and Mast about the hard work of staff on the proposal. However, he questioned whether the master developer would be providing its fair share in the deal.