What began as a controversial land deal in The Meadows has escalated into a wider fight over governance, communication and control of the community’s future.

Weeks after a controversial decision to lease its golf courses to Benderson Development Co., The Meadows is still grappling with the fallout.

Experts said that dynamic can make conflict inevitable, especially when decisions reshape the character or value of a community.

“When you start impacting people’s homes, which are typically people’s largest asset, it’s easy for folks to get quite animated and concerned about changes that are proposed,” said Douglas Christy, a Sarasota attorney who represents condo and homeowners associations across the Suncoast.

In The Meadows, friction centers on a proposal to lease roughly 500 acres of golf courses and green space to a subsidiary of Benderson Development, which owns the nearby Mall at University Town Center. The proposal followed years of financial struggles that pushed the country club into bankruptcy and forced the community’s three golf courses to close. One has since reopened.

Even before the HOA board voted 6-3 last month to approve the deal — a decision that prompted an ongoing lawsuit — the proposal had divided residents. Some said negotiations lacked transparency and feared the agreement gives the developer too much control over land long seen as the heart of the community. Others argued the lease would stabilize finances and ensure the long-term viability of its amenities.

At its core, the divide reflects two competing views of what went wrong.

Supporters of the deal said opposition has turned personal, with criticism of the lease giving way to attacks on board members’ motives and character. Some worry the tone of the debate — in meetings, on social media and in community forums — has grown hostile.

They pointed to incidents they said crossed a line. In mid-January, three residents went to the home of Meadows Community Association president Chris Perone after a board meeting was scheduled with 48 hours’ notice to discuss the Benderson lease. After being told to leave, they went to another board member’s home, where a confrontation lasted more than an hour as a community security officer looked on.

Jan Lazar, the association’s treasurer, said the confrontation followed a Facebook post that included a meme of Arnold Schwarzenegger with the caption “bring your ammo,” which she said raised concerns about safety.

Supporters have also pointed to campaign-style messaging they said distorts the facts. One mailer shared with Suncoast Searchlight depicted parts of the community swamped by floodwaters, highlighting a lease provision that opponents fear would let Benderson transform open space into wetlands — a characterization supporters said is misleading.

“This community cannot continue like this,” Perone told Suncoast Searchlight this month. “It has to stop.”

Control of information emerges as new front in conflict

For attorneys who work in community association law, those tensions are not unusual. Christy, the HOA attorney, said disputes can escalate when residents feel they have not had a fair opportunity to be heard.

“The easiest way to nip those things in the bud are to share information, be transparent, explain what options there are and, ideally, have documents in place that support some process that’s reasonable and fair and consistent with the law,” he said.

Christy also said Florida sets a three-minute minimum standard for public comment, but boards have discretion to allow more time.

“I can certainly imagine a situation where you might want to be a little bit more flexible or (be) less stringent in your rules,” he said. “You can allow everybody to speak and be heard and respond to get information out that is accurate.”

The divisions have also taken shape in who controls the community’s main channels of communication — and, with them, the ability to shape how the Benderson deal is understood and how each side is portrayed.

Board members who supported the Benderson deal, including Perone and Lazar, communicate with residents through The Meadoword, a monthly print publication distributed communitywide. They also have access to the community’s email distribution list, giving incumbents a direct line into thousands of homes, a reach opponents said they cannot match, particularly in the midst of the board election.

Opponents, including the current board member who brought the lawsuit, Donald Breece, said they have no comparable platform. Instead, they have turned to their own channels, including a resident-run website and blog, to publish documents, commentary and criticism of the deal and the board’s actions.

Some critics also said the imbalance allows board leaders to use official communications to frame the debate and, at times, cast opponents in a negative light.

Perone disputed that characterization, saying his communications are intended to respond to criticism, not inflame it.

“It’s never pointed,” he said. “It’s to clear up the misinformation. I speak up and say what has to be said. It sometimes feels like being thrown to the wolves.”
 

Election fight and canceled forum deepen divisions

The conflict has intensified in the lead-up to the community’s annual meeting and amid the ongoing board election, where six candidates, including Perone, are vying for three seats. That election is scheduled to end March 31.

A planned candidate forum was canceled ahead of the vote, with board members citing safety and security concerns. Reform candidates organized their own forum instead, sitting next to empty chairs reserved for incumbents and candidates who did not attend.

The Meadows is largely a retirement community, with many residents living on fixed incomes, heightening tension around decisions that could affect property values and long-term costs. Similar disputes are playing out in communities across Florida.

This year, a Miami legislator proposed a bill to let residents dissolve some homeowner associations if enough of them voted to do so. The bill ultimately died.

Elizbeth Ceuvas-Neunder, a Sarasota County resident who’s pushed for HOA reform in Tallahassee and had supported the bill, said disputes like the ones in The Meadows often stem from residents failing to pay attention to major issues until it’s too late.

“They have to be aware,” she said, warning that “homeowners end up paying the consequences of a bad board.”
 

The election will determine who leads the association next. Whether it resolves those divisions is less certain.