a steady barrage of concerns from residents over the impact<\/a> of the proposed developments, fearing the county would not be able to build infrastructure fast enough to keep up. <\/p>\nBut County Attorney Joshua Moye warned of an \u201cuphill battle\u201d in court when the board unanimously voted to halt the Live Local projects on April 7. <\/p>\n
Following that meeting, Commissioner Teresa Mast moved for the county to seek outside legal opinions, including a request for the Attorney General\u2019s Office to provide guidance.<\/p>\n
Developers have since seized on Moye\u2019s warning in their lawsuits. An attorney for the Live Local developers pointed to Moye\u2019s interpretation, accusing commissioners of \u201cknowingly weaponizing governmental power\u201d with the \u201cstated intent to intimidate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commissioners themselves were initially named as defendants, but a judge last week dismissed them from most counts, removing their potential personal liability. The judge left open a window for the other side to present more evidence of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
All six court cases are still proceeding, with trials expected by August 2027.<\/p>\n
Sarasota\u2019s transparency questioned<\/p>\n
The Attorney General\u2019s letter does not resolve the lawsuits, and opponents of the Live Local projects question how much legal significance it should carry.<\/p>\n
Critics note that the Sept. 16 letter is not an official opinion because it is not numbered as such or published with the other official opinions on the Attorney General\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
But they still worry the letter will now soften the county\u2019s stance, potentially prompting commissioners to backpedal or settle the pending lawsuits altogether.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe county has some very strong arguments that support its policy position that have been well briefed before the court,\u201d said Susan Schoettle, a former deputy county attorney and a legal adviser to the Audubon Society, which has intervened in a Live Local case. \u201cThe impacts to the county would be devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Robinson, the CEO of the Argus Foundation, questioned the county\u2019s transparency through the process.<\/p>\n
She criticized current county leadership, noting that neither commissioners nor staff brought up the recent letter from the Attorney General\u2019s Office or the two latest lawsuits filed against the county during a Live Local update at Tuesday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n
She also noted that taxpayers could be on the hook for legal fees now standing at $1.5 million should the county lose.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody up on that dais knew about this,\u201d she said, \u201cand they just did not talk about it.\u201d <\/p>\n
Others argue the letter should never have been issued in the first place.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unusual for attorneys general to opine on pending litigation, according to the National Association of Attorneys General. It\u2019s also a longstanding policy in Florida.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn order not to intrude upon the constitutional prerogative of the judicial branch, opinions generally are not rendered on questions pending before the courts,\u201d one 2009 Attorney General Opinion stated.<\/p>\n
In this case, however, the county had asked for an opinion before the lawsuits were filed about one month later. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it was the AG\u2019s job to throw out an opinion on a pending lawsuit,\u201d said Matt Procaccini, a Tatum Ridge resident who\u2019s organized opposition to a nearby project. He called the opinion \u201cinappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Procaccini noted that the issue comes down to neighborhoods defending against overreach by large developers. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m standing here trying to defend something that\u2019s a clear property rights issue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
This story was produced by Suncoast Searchlight, a nonprofit newsroom of the Community News Collaborative serving Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties. Learn more at suncoastsearchlight.org<\/a>.<\/p>\nCopyright 2026 WWSB. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) – Sarasota County has spent months arguing that Florida\u2019s Live Local Act does not allow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410709,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,13743,162916,413,7910],"class_list":["post-410708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-live","tag-loval","tag-sarasota","tag-uthmeier"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"This](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ENPOHJIX6BDP7CWJNPRZZG7OJE.jpg\")
This aerial photo was taken on April 16, 2026, of the Tatum Ridge Golf Links. Neighbors of the golf course have been fighting against development proposals after the property was sold in December 2020 for $2.9 million.(Michael Barfield, Florida Trident)<\/p>\n