FDLE still reviewing alleged attempts to influence Sarasota officials on development
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has reopened an inquiry into contacts between the developers of a downtown Sarasota high-rise condo and public officials who would vote on the controversial project.
The decision to reopen the investigation came less than a day after FDLE notified Sarasota authorities that its investigators found "no evidence of a crime" involving contact between the development group for One Park Sarasota and a city planning board member and city commissioner.
The decision means the FDLE inquiry into the $500 million One Park Sarasota project in The Quay waterfront development will continue, as both the development group and organized opposition from the condo board of the neighboring Ritz-Carlton Residences cast accusations of "improper influence" and "collusion" in one of the most contested development projects in Sarasota in recent memory.
Previous coverage: Sarasota condo on hold as police investigate report of job offer to planning board member
More: One Park investor denies job offer to Sarasota Planning Board member now under scrutiny
More: Sarasota Planning Board member says meeting with developer 'misrepresented' as FDLE probes
FDLE officials wrote a letter Tuesday to the city's police chief saying its investigators had not found evidence of a crime after looking into contact between the development group and a Sarasota city planning board member and a donation from a partner in the development group to a private foundation created by a city commissioner.
An FDLE spokesperson then confirmed Wednesday that new information led to the agency reopening the investigation.
A law firm representing neighboring residents challenging One Park's development application to the city forwarded several allegations of improper influence surrounding One Park contacts with the public officials who would ultimately determine the fate of the condo project.
The nature of development changes requested by One Park require support from four of the five city commissioners.
The allegations questioned the timing of donations to a foundation created by Commissioner Erik Arroyo, coming days after Sarasota officials had determined the One Park development would need to go before the city's Planning Board and the City Commission for approval. Previously, city officials had indicated the development would only need to be reviewed by the city staff.
"During the process, several apparent attempts by members of the One Park Development team to improperly influence city officials involved in the development approval process have come to light," according to a three-page narrative attached to an email sent last month to an assistant state attorney by Bentley Goodrich Kison attorney Ashley Gaillard.
That email was forwarded to Sarasota Police.
The documents were sent shortly before Deputy City Attorney Michael Connolly canceled all future public hearings for One Park at a Sarasota Planning Board meeting on April 12, when he announced Sarasota Police had opened a "criminal investigation" into the meeting between Jim Bridges, a minority partner in the One Park development, and Sarasota architect Michael Halflants, a member of the Sarasota Planning Board, which advises the City Commission on development decisions. That police investigation was turned over to FDLE after that meeting.
Halflants had sought advice from Connolly regarding the meeting with Bridges that included discussion of the possibility that Bridges could hire Halflants for an unrelated project.
The meeting occurred while One Park's development application was still pending before the Planning Board. Halflants had been critical of the One Park project during a February meeting.
One Park Sarasota, developed by New York-based Property Markets Group, is a planned 18-story, luxury condo building on the Sarasota bayfront that has attracted controversy as it sought to combine two blocks by building over Quay Commons, the main road in the development.
The condo board for the Ritz-Carlton Residences, a completed 18-story luxury tower, has opposed the project, hiring two law firms to challenge the development's approval, Bentley Goodrich Kison and the law office of Robert K. Lincoln.
The Bentley firm sent a three-page memo with additional documentation to Assistant State Attorney Andrew van Sickle on April 11 highlighting the Arroyo-created nonprofit called the Sarasota City Foundation that hosted an event called the Mayor’s Ball.
The document noted a donation that the Bentley attorney said came from the Sarasota-headquartered company MoneyShow, a financial education company founded by Kim Githler, a One Park Sarasota minority partner.
The law firm's document also alleges that a $1 million donation to The Bay Park shows the development group was seeking special treatment in its application, noting a comment from MoneyShow President Aaron West to city commissioners in November.
"Upon completion of the building, some of you may know that we will be donating a million dollars to The Bay," West said in November to the City Commission. "So, that's a tremendous investment in Sarasota and our community. And we would just encourage you all to allow us to keep our DRC (Development Review Committee) dates and go through the process as we had planned."
Githler said there was nothing improper with the $10,000 donation to the Sarasota City Foundation, pointing to her long history of philanthropic donations to numerous Sarasota causes.
"I was told the Mayor's Ball was to pay water bills and electric bills and it was to pay for people that are needy and need a place to stay," she said. "I did attend and I did donate."
What is the Sarasota City Foundation, and what was the Mayor’s Ball?
The nonprofit Sarasota City Foundation was created by Arroyo and a few other local residents to “bridge the gap between public and private resources to meet the immediate needs of the Sarasota Community,” according to its website.
Arroyo said he and other founders knew the city didn’t have money for some of the infrastructure projects the community needed. Some examples of projects that the foundation could fund are a public awareness campaign about homelessness and a competition where local college students come up with ideas for how to enhance the city, the city commissioner said.
The Sarasota City Foundation isn’t the only nonprofit in the Sarasota area to provide the public sector with financial support. Arroyo mentioned the Sarasota Police Foundation, which gives money to the police department.
On Oct. 15, 2022, the City Foundation held a fundraiser called the Mayor’s Ball. (Arroyo was the city’s ceremonial mayor at the time of the event.) Tickets were $200 a person, and the event included a silent auction for trips to destinations like Ireland and Tuscany, according to the foundation’s website.
A photo gallery in a Sarasota Observer article shows that several prominent community members attended, including Githler and businessman Jeff Koffman.
Arroyo said the foundation has paid for most expenses related to the event, but it hasn’t spent the rest of the money it raised, which was over $60,000. He said he would like a committee or board to decide which projects will get foundation funding.
MoneyShow’s donation
On Oct. 13, Aaron West, the president of MoneyShow, sent an email to one of the Mayor's Ball organizers saying that some of MoneyShow’s partners wanted to donate to the ball.
That email came three days after the city of Sarasota’s development services general manager sent a letter to one of One Park’s attorneys saying their proposal would need to come before the City Commission for approval.
Githler said she did not know of the change in who would be approving the project because the majority partner — Property Markets Group — is taking the lead on the development application.
MoneyShow donated $10,000 to Sarasota City Foundation in November, Arroyo said. He said he doesn’t see the donation as a conflict of interest and noted the foundation isn’t his own. He said he represents a group of people who wanted to start a foundation, and he added that he doesn’t benefit from the nonprofit or get paid by it.
Arroyo said the donation isn’t going to affect the decision he makes on One Park as a commissioner.
“The case is going to be decided on its merits, not on an underhanded pressure campaign, which this is shaping up to be,” he said.
Arroyo said he has connections to people on both sides of the One Park disagreement, including to individuals on the Ritz-Carlton Residences' condo board.
“Until this comes to the commission, I’m not getting dragged into debates between multi-millionaires arguing about whose building is bigger,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that some individuals would resort to scrutinizing a nonprofit that exists for the benefit of the general public, for an attempt at getting headlines.”
The Sarasota City Foundation received other large donations in the months following the Mayor’s Ball, including $10,000 from Lido Beach Resort, $10,000 from Sandcastle Resort at Lido Beach and $10,000 from Holiday Inn Sarasota-Lido Beach at The Beach, Arroyo said.
Githler noted her company donated $100,000 last year to charities and that she personally helped raise money for 40 Carrots Family Foundation and the Moffitt Cancer Center.
"It's what I do in this town," she said. "I have been doing it for years. My mother and I are big philanthropists."
She called it "disgusting" that her donation to a charity created by Arroyo has been used to keep One Park from being developed.
Githler said she's also reviewed 155 emails about One Park's development application from Robert Lincoln, one of the Sarasota lawyers hired to represent the Ritz condo board, that she has obtained in her own public records request.
She said 26 emails from Lincoln to the city's attorneys show "collusion" to prevent the One Park project from being developed.
She also noted the project already has $320 million in sold units and the development group will buy the land for the planned development even if the city denies the current configuration of the proposed building. She points to development rights on the property that would allow far greater density.
Morgan Bentley, another lawyer hired by the Ritz-Carlton Residences, denies any collusion in their efforts to make sure that One Park follows the land development regulations in place in Sarasota.
Attorneys from both sides communicate frequently with city officials, Bentley said, responding to Githler's comments on the volume of emails she obtained. He noted the lengthy window from when One Park first submitted to the city in the fall of 2021, saying that it's not surprising that many emails have been generated, given the complicated development project.
He pushed back against the claim that his law firm or that Lincoln's acted improperly by forwarding their concerns to investigators.
"That kind of stuff doesn't happen in Sarasota," Bentley said. "You better believe we were looking into it. It was outrageous and really disheartening."
City attorney weighs in on the Sarasota City Foundation
Sarasota’s city attorney, Robert Fournier, said he doesn’t have enough information on the Sarasota City Foundation to draw a conclusion on the matter. He said he’s not in a position to be the final decisionmaker on whether MoneyShow’s donation is appropriate.
“It has to be clear that whatever donations were given were not given with the expectation of anything in exchange, but on the part of any elected official, really,” Fournier said.
Florida ethics laws say that an elected official can’t accept anything of value to them – like a gift or favor – based on an understanding that it will influence a vote or action they take.
He said that if Arroyo had consulted him before accepting the donation, he would have advised him to turn away donations from anyone who has applications pending before the city. He said that these individuals can always donate to the foundation after the pending matters have been resolved.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: One Park Sarasota still being probed amid claims of improper influence
