At Tuesday’s Land Commission meeting, Manatee County Commissioners voted to abandon the pursuit of legal fees from TBT publisher Joe McClash related to his challenge of the county’s decision to remove its wetland protection policies from the comprehensive land use plan and defer to state minimums.
In October of last year, Manatee County Commissioners approved the removal of those protections. McClash challenged the action, arguing that the county never attempted to demonstrate an overriding public benefit, which is required when the comprehensive land use plan is amended, and that it also failed to include scientific data and studies from professionals to support the drastic change.
It was the very first comp plan challenge to take place after the Florida Legislature passed a law mandating that if someone challenges a comp plan amendment and does not prevail, the county (and the developer should they join) could seek to hold them liable for the opposing party(s) legal fees.
McClash, who was representing himself, sought a ruling on whether he would be considered a non-prevailing party if the county had to take corrective action to cure such an oversight. The judge ruled that he would, so McClash withdrew the challenge before a single hearing or even a deposition had taken place, understanding that he could face an enormous financial burden.
Still, the county sought to collect a whopping quarter million dollars in outsourced legal work supposedly incurred merely for research in a few motions and some prepping for what might be ahead. At a September meeting, the board voted to reconsider the gutting of the wetland policy, given that a new board majority had been elected in the August primary, all of whom had run against the board's decision.
Commissioner Jason Bearden then motioned that the county not seek to recover those fees since the board was almost certain to change course on the issue. Commissioner Kruse pointed out that the county has its own well-stocked legal department and that when developers previously tried to sue the county over its wetland policies, attorneys with the COA easily defended the status quo themselves. Kruse felt that outsourcing the fees and the enormous amount the county sought to recover was a strategy to discourage citizens from challenging their local government. However, the new board had yet to be seated, and the motion failed.
During the public comment portion of Tuesday’s meeting, McClash noted that the next hearing in the matter had been scheduled and would result in more legal costs, suggesting the board move forward with its previously stated intention not to collect the fees when the new board was seated. With the new board having been seated that morning, Bearden again motioned to do so. His motion passed 6-1 with only board chair Mike Rahn dissenting.
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kmskepton
Great news.
Wednesday, November 20, 2024 Report this
lib224
So we begin to take back our government from the developers and corrupt officials!
Wednesday, November 20, 2024 Report this
Dianna
Thank you, Joe McClash, for filing this on behalf of the community. We appreciate it. The debt incurred was ridiculous to begin with because we have a legal department. Citizens would have continued to step up and donate until the cost were covered. Thankfully, now citizens don’t have to pay twice because of 6 corrupt commissioners' bad decisions.
Wednesday, November 20, 2024 Report this
UteKegel
That is fantastic news. Joe, thanks so much for taking these guys on, standing up for what's right, and encouraging everyone to take the BOCC back from the developers in this election.
Wednesday, November 20, 2024 Report this