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Article Courtesy of The
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
By Earle Kimel
Published October 24, 2023
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NORTH PORT – A Gran Paradiso resident challenged the West Villages Improvement
District in circuit court over the method the special government district uses
to shift the makeup of its board of supervisors from one picked by developers to
one elected by residents.
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That suit comes on the
heels of a another filed in late September that claims a
proposed special assessment to charge property owners for an
irrigation fee lawsuit was improperly noticed.
The method of transitioning to an elected board from one by
the developer was one of several things discussed at the
Sept. 14 meeting of the West Villages Improvement District
Board of Supervisors meeting. That's when the board voted
4-1 to ask the state Legislature to update its process to
the current system laid out in Florida law called the
Uniform Special District Accountability Act.
The lawsuit contesting a special assessment of nearly $1
million was filed by residents of Gran Paradiso, Island Walk
and Renaissance – three subdivisions in the West Villages
district – asks the judge to preclude the levy.
The suits, brought by separate residents, both question the
intent of the master developer of the West Villages
Improvement District.
Changing method for choosing supervisors
The petition questioning how the West Villages Improvement
District will transition from a mostly appointed five-member
board of supervisors to one with at least a majority of
members elected by residents was filed on behalf of Gran
Paradiso resident David Fernstrum after the Sept. 14
meeting. |
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The Gran Paradiso Property Owners filed suit against
the West Villages Improvement District in circuit court seeking to
block the special district from imposing an assessment on homeowners
to cover its legal fees.
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Attorney Joseph Herbert of
Sarasota-based Hebert & Associates, said that while he didn't attend that
hearing, he sees the suit as insurance the special district board will
follow through on securing the change to the act setting up the West
Villages district and then follow the election process.
When 25% or less of the district is considered urban, then one of the
district's supervisors is elected and the rest appointed. At 26% a second
elected member is added. At 51%, a third supervisor is elected by residents.
The final two thresholds are 71% and 91% respectively.
Herbert points to the appearance that the WVID has switched consultants who
have varied in calculating the percentage of inhabited, urbanized areas as a
reason for residents to remain vigilant.
In 2021, Stantec came up with 20.19%. In 2022 a new consultant, Dewberry &
Dewberry, applied a different method and came up with 6.56%.
In 2023, Dewberry used two separate methodols to come up with 8.17% and then
20.41%.
“We want to make sure they have some guidance, that the West Villages has
some oversight in making sure that they are properly calculating those and
that they are engaging the proper groups to perform those calculations,”
Herbert said.
Even if the Legislature acts before the case is resolved, Herbert does not
feel it would render the case moot, “but it would provide a new framework
that the court would provide its declaratory judgment based on.”
Temporary relief from new assessment
The petition filed on behalf of Gran Paradiso resident Jeffrey O’Sullivan,
Island Walk resident Arthur Adams and Renaissance resident John Coughlin, counts
both the West Villages district and Sarasota County Tax Collector Barbara Ford
Coates as defendants, though the tax collector’s involvement is simply
ministerial, as the office that would collect the assessment.
The petition contends that the West Villages district violated open government
laws in advertising the June meeting for the tentative 2023-24 budget because
the master irrigation utility proposed budget – which was part of that overall
budget – was not posted to the special district’s website until July 6, instead
of no later than June 25.
That budget contained the special assessment imposed to help pay the legal fees
for its battle with the Grand Paradiso Property Owners Association over a
100-year agreement between the district and Lennar Homes in 2018 that was agreed
to just two months before control of the Gran Paradiso association was turned
over to the 1,900 homeowners.
Herbert is seeking a temporary injunction at a Nov. 8 hearing to block the
special district’s ability to charge the assessment. He says the proposed
assessment is to pay for “a mind boggling amount of attorney’s fees and
punitively assess those financial burdens on the people that are standing up for
protecting their rights.” |
