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The Real Judges

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THE SUNCOAST NEWS

Published: October 31, 2007

A curious sidelight to the slightly contentious hunt for a successor to Pasco County Attorney Robert Sumner played out Tuesday. By a 4-1 vote, the County Commission determined that developer Joseph Borda has a vested right to build a 351-unit development west of U.S. 19 in the New Port Richey area. The county first approved the development, Gulf Landings, half a century ago, a wild and woolly period in West Pasco history when there were a lot fewer land-use regulations on the books than there are now. The county didn't have zoning until the mid-1970s. The vested rights determination means Gulf Landings can't be blocked by contemporary land-use rules.

As Commissioners Michael Cox and Ann Hildebrand noted, the commission could have gotten itself into a losing lawsuit if it had voted to deny Borda the vested rights determination. In the past, that decision would have been made by the county attorney's office. Two weeks ago the County Commission approved an ordinance shifting vested rights decisions to the five-member commission.

The vested rights decision came on the heels of the commission's decision to drop Timothy Hayes, a Land O' Lakes area attorney, from the field of finalists for the county attorney's job. The knock on Hayes was he is too chummy with developers to be county attorney.

Both state law and various court decisions say that major land-use decisions must be made by the local governing body – county commission or city council or city commission – based on competent testimony presented in what is a quasi-judicial hearing. There isn't much a county attorney disposed to be "tough" with developers could do to get around that.

Regardless, it will be interesting to see how many people will buy a home in Gulf Landings, given Florida's slumping housing market and high property taxes and property insurance rates.

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