Attorney for Sarasota Audubon explains nonprofit’s activities at the Celery Fields
Twelfth Judicial Circuit Judge Hunter W. Carroll has agreed to allow the Sarasota Audubon Society to intervene in a complaint that the Texas-based home construction company D.R. Horton and the Smith family that owns property next to the Celery Fields have filed against Sarasota County, The Sarasota News Leader has learned.
The Sarasota Audubon Society submitted its motion to the court on May 26, records show. Attorney Shai Ozery, of the Pompano Beach law firm Hartsell Ozery, explains in the document that the nonprofit organization “was actively engaged in the [Sarasota County Commission] proceedings pertaining to [the efforts of D.R. Horton, the Cindy L. Smith Revocable Living Trust and Matt and Cindy Smith] to persuade the board members to rezone 50.82 acres of the Smiths’ land — known as Smith Properties — to construct a single-family home community with 126 dwellings.
On May 27, Judge Carroll issued his order granting the Sarasota Audubon Society the right to intervene in the case and called for it to file a response to the D.R. Horton-Smith family complaint by June 15.
As the News Leader has reported, the company and the Smiths contend in their Petition for Writ of Certiorari that the County Commission failed to meet the applicable standards in denying the rezoning application they had submitted for the D.R. Horton project. (See the related article in this issue.)
Ozery points out in his motion, “The Smith Property lies immediately to the south of, and shares its northern boundary with, the southern cell of the Celery Fields Regional Stormwater Facility,” which, he notes, is “a 400-plus-acre County-owned flood mitigation zone, internationally recognized birding destination, and passive recreational park, with Raymond Road running along the western edge of the Smith Property and the eastern boundary of the adjacent southern cell of the Celery Fields.”
He adds that representatives of Sarasota Audubon submitted “written and verbal comment, as well as [a] PowerPoint presentation regarding the environmental and wildlife impacts of the proposed development on the Celery Fields and the Smith Property …”
In one example, as the News Leader reported, Kathryn Young, a member of the board of directors of the Sarasota Audubon Society, provided details demonstrating that construction of an apartment complex near Ackerman Park, which is located in the northern cells of the Celery Fields, had driven away birds. Prior to the start of that development, she said, she used to lead tours for people to observe ducks wintering in the park.
Young used Cornell University eBird data to underscore the decline in the number of species of birds found in Ackerman Park after the construction began in 2020.
In the Sarasota Audubon motion, Ozery explains that the county “has no special process to establish special party status” for such a proceeding as the hearing conducted on Feb. 12, 2025.
Ozery further notes that Sarasota Audubon was an active participant in earlier proceedings leading up to the County Commission hearing in February 2012.
Anticipated effects of the development
Then Ozery points out that Sarasota Audubon maintains the Nature Center located on the county-owned Celery Fields land, at the intersection of Center Road and Raymond Road. “The Nature Center is situated at the southern edge of the northern cell of Celery Fields, across the street from the southern cell of the Celery Fields, which [is] adjacent and directly across Raymond Road from the Smith Property,” he adds.
“Sarasota Audubon has invested over $1 million in the construction and operation of its Nature Center on this County land, and the Nature Center serves as the primary staging and starting point for all Sarasota Audubon activities at the Celery Fields, such as walking, biking, fishing, kayaking, and wildlife viewing, including through the adjacent southern cell,” he continues.
“The proposed residential development at the Smith Property would thus be built directly across Raymond Road from Sarasota Audubon’s Nature Center’s operations and the wildlife habitat, boardwalk, and recreational facilities visited by tens of thousands every year,” Ozery adds.
Moreover, he points out, “In the October 2022 through May 2023 season alone, Sarasota Audubon recorded over 31,000 visitors for bird and wildlife viewing and educational programs. Sarasota Audubon funds transportation and environmental education for over 900 schoolchildren annually, who are brought specifically to the Raymond Road boardwalk, on County land immediately adjacent to the Smith Property.”
Ozery also contends, “The proposed residential development at the Smith Property would generate construction and residential traffic, noise, artificial lighting, and pedestrian congestion directly alongside this boardwalk entrance on Raymond Road, materially interfering with Sarasota Audubon’s daily naturalist programs, its children’s educational activities, and the safety of public access to the boardwalk.”
In regard to whether the nonprofit organization meets judicial standards to intervene in the case, Ozery explains “Beyond the proximity of its facilities, Sarasota Audubon’s standing is independently established by the special injuries it will sustain if the [County Commission’s] denial is quashed and the Smith Property is rezoned and developed.”
As Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute explains, “Standing, or locus standi, is the capacity of a party to bring a lawsuit in court. To have standing, a party must demonstrate a sufficient connection to and harm from the law or action being challenged.”
Referencing his earlier writing about Sarasota Audubon’s activities at the Celery Fields, Ozery adds, “These are not interests shared by the public at large, but rather are institutional interests of a specific organization with a documented physical presence on land immediately adjacent to the subject site and whose operations upon Celery Fields, depends on the protection of the sites natural character.”