In 15 years of covering the Manatee County Commission, I don’t know that I have ever witnessed anything as bizarre as District 1 Commissioner Carol Felts’ performance Tuesday when the board was to vote on an application to rezone nearly 220 acres of Parrish farmland from agricultural to planned residential development.
Pope Ranch is in Felts’ district and surrounded by neighborhoods that endured some of the worst flooding in the county during last year’s hurricane season. Developer Pat Neal’s particularly aggressive ask is not only located in an inauspicious part of the county, but the timing of his request seemed beyond tone deaf.
Commissioners heard more than an hour of public comment from neighboring residents, most of whom are Felts’ constituents, who opposed the application, many of whom had suffered significant losses from hurricanes Helene and/or Milton. Several, including engineer Mark Vanderee, noted the lack of meaningful work that the county had done in implementing a stormwater management plan or assessing the current state of stormwater drainage systems in the area…