Annexation of Betz Farm

We are a week away from what will be one of the biggest land use hearings this county has considered. If I am a betting person, I would bet that we see a hearing that we have never seen before. This will be more than a bunch of people filling the room and speaking for/against it. We have seen that plenty of times... Ozello RV Campground, Pine Ridge, Meadowcrest apartments, to name a few.

No... this will be different. Bravo Land Group has a new attorney that is quite boisterous. He is loud and not afraid to make his presence known. I have a feeling we will see that side several times.

We also have James Dicks starting to stack the speaking deck. He has filed speaker authorizations for two of his companies. This allows people 5 mins to speak as representative of that organization. Last week, I talked about Pine Ridge using the speaker authorization to get 5 mins per person. Since they also can speak individually for themselves, they also get 3 mins. Each person received 8 mins to speak.

That appears to be what will happen at this hearing. Here is what he has filed.

I would make the argument since Bravo is the applicant and gets 30 mins to present, plus do cross examination, rebuttal, etc, that individuals cannot speak for Bravo at the public portion of the meeting. But that decision is up to Commissioner Finegan, so who knows.

Bring a blanket and a pillow.. going to be a long night.

Today, I want to talk about the elephant in the room. Annexation.

You see, Betz Farm is near the city. There has already been talks with the city about the annexation process. The contract Bravo has with the county requires the county to fully cooperate with all development processes, including annexation. They would need to expand the project a bit because in order to annex, all property has to be contiguous to the city. So while Betz is no contiguous, Bravo owns all the land between it and the Cunningham parcel that is in the city.

City council members and the mayor have started to make their opinions known. I wrote on Facebook yesterday that Mayor Joe Meek sent an email to someone saying he was in favor of annexation so the city can control the project.

After writing that, he emailed me reiterating that stance.

"Annexation is the only way for the city to actually have a say on what would, could, or couldnt happen IF the property is sold and owned by a private entity."

At the last city council meeting, councilmember Chris Ensing also appeared to support annexation, mentioning similar things about having control of the project.

Councilmember Mindi Hastings expressed some concern and has come out yesterday with a statement regarding it.

At the meeting, council members Gabrielle Satchell and Robert Holmes appeared to take a similar stance. Holmes stated he would actually go to the commission meeting on October 13th to make his opposition known.

Back to annexation.

This is an interesting conversation because the land is not privately owned. Bravo also has a contract that allows them to close ONLY if they get the approvals they desire, including annexation.

That means, if Dicks gets rejected at the BOCC meeting, he still holds the contract. It does not end that contract, it just denies his proposed project.

That also means he can then turn to the city and begin those annexation conversations. He has already explored that back in the middle of 2024... even going as far as getting numbers from the property appraiser on what it would cost in additional taxes. They have had pre-application meetings with city staff, which Joe said he was not aware of.

So it has already been explored as an option, if the BOCC rejects his project, does he explore that again? What does that mean for the city?

If annexed and the current proposal remains, the city is basically doubling in size. There are roughly 3,600 residents in the city today. Add another 1400+ units to the city PLUS whatever the plans are for the Cunningham parcels and Skipper parcels, and that is close to 2500-3000 people.

Are city residents prepared for that? Can the city handle that? That is more infrastructure they are responsible for (sewer and water)... more road to pave/widen that is the city's responsibility (Citrus Ave). I assume that would also require another fire station to service it at full buildout. Where is all that money coming from?

But the weird thing with all this... they would be taking property owned by 160k or so people collectively, moving it into the city of Crystal River and the decision on what can be done with it would come down to 5 people who represent 3,600 people... despite it still being county property.

This entire thing is crazy, which goes back to that contract addendum in April 2024. You can thank commissioner Jeff Kinnard for that. He is the one that brought it to the board despite the county attorney's opinion that they could not agree to those terms.

Oh well... Commissioners know better, right?

One thing about all this to consider... There is no application for annexation. I do not know the quasi-judicial rules for annexation, if there are any, but since there is no application, city council members can talk to whoever they want about the project and annexation.

The other question is what about the DRI? Does it carry into the city? Is he tied to it at all if annexed? I assume so, but who knows. And does the city have a process for someone to change a DRI? I do not know of any that have come before the city before. That opens up other issues.

I am willing to bet Dicks will know whether he has the votes to do what he wants before he goes down the annexation route. Why would he go through all that work just to get denied again at the City Council? Not going to happen. The cleanest thing would be to just close on the property, take ownership of it, then go the annexation route, knowing the support is there for the project he wants to do.

So city residents... remember that when it comes time to vote for your city council candidate of choice. Who has the same view you do regarding Betz Farm? Whoever gets elected may have a pretty big choice on their hands, aside from everything else going on in the city. Who do you trust with that choice?

All speculation at this point. All I know is next week is one for the books. See you there!