Redux: Public Hearing Set for Development Proposed for Robinson Farms

County Commissioner Joe McClash doesn't want to chance politics in Tallahassee when it comes to land use decisions for Manatee County.

So in an attempt to end a dispute over development in a northwest Bradenton neighborhood, McClash suggested that the county commission hold a public hearing and rescind an earlier vote approving the 150-home subdivision before the decision goes to Gov. Rick Scott.

While the County Commission voted 5-2 Thursday to hold a public hearing on the development proposed for Robinson Farms, no one was certain that a new vote would change the process. The governor and his cabinet could ignore the county's decision now that the issue has been sent to the state.

The majority of the commission, which has changed in make-up since the development was approved last October, is concerned about building a neighborhood in a high hazard coastal area that will be one of the first to evacuate in the event of a hurricane. The county's staff had recommended against building in the area last October, but the board voted 4-3 to approve the plan.

An administrative law judge found that decision to be out of compliance with the county's comprehensive plan, and the final decision on the neighborhood development is now supposed to rest with the governor and his cabinet.

County Commissioner Larry Bustle on Thursday questioned how McClash, who was on the losing side of the original vote, could come back and try to overturn the original motion.

Bustle said the county has no business getting involved in the process, which is with the state at this point. And he was angry over the implications that Scott would allow Neal Communities to build the development because the developer, former Sen. Pat Neal, had contributed to the governor's campaign and served on his transition committee. Neal's son, John, has been leading the development project.

Sarah A. Schenk, a deputy county attorney, seemed uncomfortable with the move to rescind the ordinance, saying, "We are being strange in this process."

"This case has gone through a judge already," she said.

But several of the commissioners said that the judge's opinion is exactly why they want to rescind the ordinance.

Judge D.R. Alexander found that the county went against its own comprehensive plan and shouldn't have allowed for the new development. The state’s Department of Community Affairs was supposed to take up the judge's findings and give a final ruling on whether the county’s land use change is in compliance with its comprehensive plan. The landowner and the developer, Neal Communities, are appealing the judge's decision.

Because the legislature dissolved Community Affairs as of July 1, the judge's recommendation now goes to Scott and his cabinet sometime in the fall.

Rather than join the developer and landowner in the appeal or even say nothing, commissioners decided that it would be best to signal that the county would comply with Judge Alexander's decision and repeal the ordinance allowing the proposed development.

"The 2011 session was a game changer," said County Commissioner Michael Gallen. "The whole process has changed."

He suggested that by rescinding the ordinance the county would be "giving strength to local government."

"The judge says a reasonable person can't debate this, it's inconsistent with our own comp plan," Gallen said. "It's all about health and safety. We should just do what the order says. We don't need to leave it to chance with politics."

The major dispute over the development rights came as the county was updating its hurricane evacuation maps. The county staff was set to approve the development until it began analyzing the data it gathered for the new maps. New technology, which offered more precise measurements, offered greater accuracy in determining land elevation, flooding and storm surge, according to John Osbourne, the planning administrator for the county.

The new data showed that all of Robinson Farm was in a storm surge area in the case of a Category 1 hurricane, which means hurricane evacuations would be mandated for the new development as well as for all of the surrounding neighborhoods.

At that point the county’s staff recommended against increasing density from one home per acre to three homes per acre. Still, county commissioners narrowly approved the increased density in a controversial vote that changed at the end of the meeting, when former commissioner Gwen Brown decided to allow the development after voting against it earlier in the meeting.

Since then, two new commissioners have come on the board and on Thursday commissioners voted 5-2 to hold a public hearing on an effort to rescind the approved ordinance so that the county would be in compliance with the comprehensive plan.

County Commissioner Donna Hayes, who approved the development last year, was angry with the board for trying to rescind the order.
"I'm proud of what I did," she said. "I voted for it."

Both she and Bustle voted against rescinding the ordinance and urges their fellow commissioners to stay out of the process.

Carol Whitmore, chairwoman of the county commissioners, said that while the Legislature's move to dissolve the DCA "is a game changer," she is concerned that rescinding the earlier vote could back-fire on the county. Still in the end she voted with the majority to hold a public hearing.