Proposed law could impact resident effort to separate from North Port

NORTH PORT – Significant parts of the law for how municipalities expand and contract will be affected by a bill awaiting Gov. Ron DeSantis' signature. That law may also undercut the effort by a group of North Port residents who want to separate from the city.

Similar legislation failed in 2022 but this year a version of SB 718 passed state Senate 35-4 and the House 91-26.

Related: Proposed changes to Florida's annexation law may imperil North Port contraction effort

The West Villagers for Responsible Government started the movement to separate from the city in 2020, saying members were unhappy with the way North Port was being run.

Now, those residents fear the legislation, which would become law July 1 if signed by DeSantis, could hamper that effort.

What the bill says

One major change gives a say on de-annexation to owners of undeveloped land in an area proposed for contraction.

Currently, the decision rests with registered voters living in the impacted area. In the case of the effort to separate Wellen Park and other land west of the Myakka River from North Port, the West Villagers for Responsible Government – a resident group that collected signatures for a petition calling for contraction – had the only say in that process.

Under the proposed law, when more than 70% of the acreage targeted for contraction is owned by entities that are not registered voters, the majority of those landowners must approve of the move to separate from a city.

Without the buy-in of a majority of those the landowners – who may or may not be potential developers – the contraction effort could not go forward. In this case, the landowner would be Mattamy Homes, the master developer of Wellen Park.

The legislation also makes the contraction process legislative, not a court-like proceeding.

Among other things, the government would no longer need to provide specific findings when choosing to reject a petition for contraction. Also the definition of a “feasibility study” for a proposed contraction has been specified to include a requirement for an outside consultant or qualified in-house staff to analyze the economic market, financial or management feasibility of a proposed annexation or contraction.

This strikes at the heart of an argument made by North Port de-annexation attorney Luke Lirot.

What that means for North Port

The West Villagers for Responsible Government submitted a petition for contraction but, in part because of related court cases, have not submitted a petition for a referendum on the issue.

John Meisel, chairman of the board of directors for the citizens group, calls it bad legislation.

“It disenfranchises voters and removes the ability to challenge an annexation that was improper to begin with,” said Meisel, who argues that the city’s annexation of the Myakka State Forest – a key connector to annexation of the onetime Taylor Ranch and now site of Wellen Park – was improper.

There is still an active case in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court, in which the citizens group is seeking to overturn the city’s December 2022 reaffirmation of its initial April 2021 rejection of the petition for contraction.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Residents' bid to shrink North Port could be stymied by legislation