North Port City Commission reaffirms denial of petition to contract city limits

NORTH PORT – The North Port City Commission on Thursday denied a citizen petition calling for the contraction of the city’s boundaries to exclude land west of the Myakka River.

The unanimous decision comes after 12th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Hunter W. Carroll quashed that ruling in November because he found it relied on conclusions as competent and substantial evidence and not facts.

The city fought that ruling – first asking Carroll for a rehearing and when he refused, by asking the 2nd District Court of Appeals to step in and quash Carroll’s decision.

Only after the appeals court ruled against the city earlier this month did the North Port City Commission schedule new deliberations.

What happened: Appeals court rules against North Port in contraction case

Related: North Port commission denies residents push to contract the city limits

Members of the West Villagers for Responsible Government – which is mostly made up of residents of Wellen Park – want North to Port de-annex more than 13,900 acres of the city west of the Myakka River because they were unhappy with the way the city was being run.

While Carroll’s ruling gave the city the option to reopen the public hearing, the commission opted against that.

City Attorney Amber Slayton noted that means the commission should pick up “as if no vote was taken on April 29.”

That also meant that the text of Carroll’s two rulings against the city was not included as well.

In fact, commissioners listed reviewing those rulings as part of ex-parte communications related to the quasi-judicial process – along with any emails or discussions they may have had in the interim period of roughly 18 months as well as the 90-minutes of public comments made on Thursday morning.

John Meisel, chairman of the board of directors for the West Villagers for Responsible Government, voiced his displeasure at that omission during public comment.

“It is my opinion that they did nothing more than a disservice and deliver another miscarriage of justice,” he said.

Residents to file more legal challenges

Both Meisel and West Villagers for Responsible Government attorney Luke C. Lirot said there would be further legal filings in response to the latest denial.

“We’re going to file every pleading we can to vindicate our rights for this denial of what the statutes say my clients have a right to do,” Lirot said, then with respect to Carroll’s original order quashing the April 29, 2021 decision.

At the very least Lirot will file a new writ of certiorari asking that Carroll quash Thursday’s decision.

He can also file a new writ of mandamus asking for Carroll to compel North Port to process a petition submitted following the April 29 decision, calling for a referendum on a contraction of the city’s boundaries.

While Carroll dismissed the old writ last November, he did so without prejudice, so it can be filed again.

Lirot was especially troubled by the fact that the city commission did not take in new testimony.

“I’ve never seen a remand go back with no reopening of an evidentiary hearing,” Lirot said. “To me, that’s the essence of due process, you take it from the top.”

Carefully crafted motion

City Commissioner Debbie McDowell came prepared with a flash drive that contained her motion – which was several pages long – and read it into the record while the clerk also put the text up on the big screen.

Missing from that motion was an overt reference to "feasibility," a concept that had been heavily used in the city's initial denial. When Carroll quashed that denial, he establish a broad definition of that word, while the city chose a narrow one.

McDowell said after the meeting that since she had made the initial motion to deny the residents’ petition, she figured she was the logical person to make the motion Thursday.

“I have been working on this motion for days, it has been all-consuming for me because I wanted to make sure it was perfect,” said McDowell.

The three main requirements for annexation, according to Statute 171.043(1) are that they are contiguous, compact, and not be located in another municipality.

McDowell cited the city charter requirement that the five commission districts be contiguous and compact as the initial basis to deem the annexed land contiguous and compact because it’s part of North Port’s 5th Commission District.

She also cited testimony from the April 29, 2021, hearing from Hank Fishkind, president of Fishkind & Associates; and Scott Steady, a former attorney with both the city of Tampa and Pinellas County to establish those two factors.

The motion went on to detail how much of the annexed land was developed for urban purposes or scheduled to be developed as urban either by residential density or land use.

The motion also cited State Statute 171.051(1) and 171.051(9) which require a contraction ordinance that had an effective date – something that the West Villagers had not offered.

Both Vice Mayor Barbara Langdon and City Commissioner Jill Luke offered amendments to add more details.

Luke also cited that since Sarasota County has nothing to correspond to the West Villages Pattern Book that has become the blueprint for development in the West Villages Improvement District, there’s no path to easily transfer oversight to the land from the city to the county.

From the city of North Port’s standpoint, the next step is for Slayton to write up a denial order that will be sent to the West Villagers and filed with the city clerk.

Lirot, who had a court reporter at Thursday’s deliberations, said transcripts have been ordered and will be studied as he crafts a full response.

“We’re going to look at all our options,” Lirot said.

Earle Kimel primarily covers south Sarasota County for the Herald-Tribune and can be reached at earle.kimel@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism with a digital subscription to the Herald-Tribune.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: North Port commission again denies West Villagers contraction effort