Our priority: Developers, people?

The recent Sarasota Observer editorial by Matt Walsh entitled “Our priority: birds, people?” was frustrating, but not surprising. In his column Mr. Walsh suggests “anti-development forces…” specifically calling out the Audubon Society, “…want government to intervene and stop property owners from having the rightful benefits and use of what they own”.

Matt is referring to the recent decision by the Sarasota County Planning Commission to deny a rezone petition for the 50-acre Smith property that is adjacent to the Celery Fields, a wildlife sanctuary and flood control facility. Most of the Smith property is in an area designated by FEMA to have a high risk of flooding, and during recent storms, the property can clearly be seen underwater.  

The contract purchaser of the Smith property, D.R. Horton, will soon be asking the County Commission to ignore the Planning Commission’s correct determination that rezoning the property is not justified and should be denied. D.R. Horton is requesting the County Commission to approve rezoning the property from an open-use rural district that would permit about 5 homes, to a residential single-family district that would permit 170 homes, a 3,400% increase.  

Photo by Ian Swaby

The argument offered by both Horton and Matt is that since the County’s Comprehensive (Comp) Plan has designated the Smith property as Moderate-Density Residential the rezoning should be a perfunctory approval, and to do otherwise would deprive the property owner’s “rightful benefits.” Hogwash!

The Comp Plan provides a roadmap to future planning decisions such as rezoning and each rezoning petition must be evaluated to determine consistency with hundreds of policies within the plan, not just those selected to favor the property owner.

Many of the plan’s policies protect the public’s health, safety and welfare, such as preserving environmental systems, wildlife sanctuaries, and preventing flooding. To approve Horton’s rezoning petition, the County Commissioners would have to ignore a countless number of these comp plan policies.  

To be fair, Matt is not a lone wolf howling this spurious property rights threat refrain. In a recent Sarasota Herald Tribue article, one of the region’s largest developers was quoted saying, “… we operate under a field of laws and rules and regulations and court cases, and Bert J. Harris (a state private property rights law) and the decisions of the elected officials are circumscribed by the laws." Once again furthering this illegitimate idea of a perfunctory rezoning decision.

Fortunately for us all, the protection of private property rights is enshrined in both the Florida’ and the US Constitutions. This elevates the issue to a parallel with free speech, due process and apple pie. So, it should come as no surprise that elected officials who make growth and land use decisions pledge to protect private property rights as frequently as any other symbolic pledge.

You would think that Sarasota County is suffering from a private property rights takings epidemic! But if so, where’s the evidence? 

One would have had to have just moved here last Tuesday or be observationally impaired to conclude that property rights and new development are being threatened in Sarasota County. The County’s own 2024 citizen survey, by a more than two-to-one margin, ranked “Population growth/new development” as the most important issue facing Sarasota County.

In 1972, recognizing the serious threats of development to Florida’s quality of life, natural environment & economy, state leaders approved Saving Paradise: The Florida Environmental Land & Water Management Act, followed by the 1975 Local Government Comprehensive Planning Act that mandates all local governments to adopt a comprehensive plan, & that all development permits & rezoning be consistent with the plan. 

Comp plans are intended to inform and coordinate planning decisions, not to vest property rights. Property rights are vested with zoning district approval.

For over the last decade, the state legislature and local governments have been passing development industry-sponsored laws designed to reduce or eliminate environmental protection standards, diminish public participation, and all but eliminate the ability to challenge comp plan decisions. As a result, the comp plan planning process itself is now the most serious threat to Florida’s quality of life, natural environment and economy.  

The land use decision process has become rigged with the deck stacked decisively in favor of large developers. 

Almost 30 years ago (September 1, 1995, page 12A), coincidently as chairman of the Audubon Society, I published an op-ed entitled “Property Rights: Problem is the ‘giving,’ not he ‘taking.’” It was a reality then as it is now, only now it’s worse. Currently, the cumulative comp plans approved in Sarasota County provide for enough development to effectively double the county’s existing population.

The Smith property can be legally developed today at its current zoning. Eroding those property rights would be a taking, but not giving away additional rights is not. Sarasota County is infamous for giving away property rights worth hundreds of millions of dollars in developer profits and leaving the citizens on the hook for paying the infrastructure bill, repairing environmental damage, and fixing flooding problems. 

Evidence that we have a property rights “taking” problem is rare, but where it does exist, it should be eliminated. But evidence that we have a property rights “giving” problem is ubiquitous to anyone caring to make an honest assessment.

A more accurate title for Matt’s column should be “Our priority: birds developers, people?"

The Planning Commission got it right, the Smith property rezone petition should be denied by the County Commission, and it has nothing to do with eroding property rights.

Jon Thaxton is a former three-term Sarasota County Commissioner, third-generation Sarasota real estate professional and lifelong growth management and conservation activist.