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Guest column

Funny fumes waft from meetings with developer

By JIM NICOLL
Published October 5, 2005

Bob Barker bellowed, "Let's make a deal." Donald Trump announced "The art of the deal." And now, courtesy of RealtiCorp, comes a subtle new fragrance: The scent of a deal.

RealtiCorp owns a huge chunk of wetlands-riddled acreage on U.S. 19 south of Crystal River, for which massive commercial and residential development plans were announced several years ago.

But the county balked. Too many violations of county restrictions, staffers said. For openers, there are 70 acres of wetlands that we insist remain wet.

So, perhaps sensing a path of less environmental resistance to the north, RealtiCorp enticed Crystal River to annex its property by dangling the carrot of a higher tax base. How could the city refuse?

Citizen groups protested loudly, as did the Board of County Commissioners and legal staff, but the argument was futile. It was, as The Donald would say, a done deal.

In true Crystal River fashion, however, the deal was bungled from A to Z. Worm-ridden with legal problems, the annexation was stomped flat by the courts, and the acreage swiftly returned to county jurisdiction.

Chagrined, RealtiCorp retraced footsteps over a still-smoldering bridge to face the same county staff, the same stiff regulations, and a now-aroused public to boot. This mountain would be no easy climb. And then a funny thing happened.

Suddenly, it's reported that RealtiCorp representatives are in meetings with no less than County Administrator Richard Wesch. And while there are no specific laws against it, the faint scent of something sulfurous hangs in the air.

Low-level meetings between developers and Development Services staff are par for the course. It's only fair that developers know where they stand before running the gantlet of planning board and County Commission workshops and review.

But this upper-level stuff indicates negotiations, and negotiations suggest agreements, and agreements imply deals. Perhaps the public's right to sunshine is getting compromised.

It is, after all, the Florida Sunshine Law that protects the honesty and objectivity of the approval process wherein county commissioners ultimately vote. For this reason, commissioners are legally proscribed from privately meeting with developers, staff members and especially each other.

However, commissioners can, and do, meet with the county administrator, especially before board meetings. Perhaps the Sunshine lawmakers exempted the administrator because they never imagined this person attending developer meetings. Why would he want to?

I am not, for the record, making accusations of impropriety. Yet, neither can I imagine circumstances more apt to give the appearances of the same.

Meanwhile, it will be fascinating to see what agreements, if any, emerge as the RealtiCorp saga continues to unfold. Just as with the Halls River Retreat fiasco, we'll have answers by the time the first planning board workshop in Lecanto is announced. Tell your friends and neighbors.

And as Bob Barker would say, "Come on down."

Jim Nicoll is a resident of Homosassa. Guest columnists write their own views on subjects they choose, which do no necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.

[Last modified October 6, 2005, 18:14:01]