Allegations of Backroom Dealing Roil Hi Hat Ranch, Former Commissioner, and high-level County Staff

This article encompasses collusion, a secret planning session, lies to the County Commission and much more. In brief, here's great deal of what has gone wrong with Sarasota County's relationship to developers over the past 13 years or so:



Behind Closed Doors: Sarasota County’s contentious negotiations with a developer


Hi Hat Ranch, Sarasota County’s largest development project that will add over 13,000 homes east of I-75, recently moved forward with a controversial plan allowing developers to build a road across 24 acres of county land. Despite a 2021 ordinance requiring the developer to cover the full cost, taxpayers are now responsible for half of the Bee Ridge Road extension to the private development’s entrance.

The Hi Hat deal could become one of Sarasota County’s most contentious land-use decisions because it is also the largest development project in the county’s history.

Adding to the controversy, former County Commissioner Al Maio played a key role in drafting the terms of the land deal on behalf of the developer during a private meeting with county staff in December 2024. Shortly after, staff reversed course, recommending terms that conflicted with the clear direction commissioners had given at a public meeting just six weeks earlier.

Maio, a longtime ally of developers, left the commission in November 2022. Records show he was copied on more than 160 emails about Hi Hat Ranch starting in March 2023 and attended multiple meetings with county staff.

Read the whole story by Michael Barfield here.


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