A decision by the Manatee County Commission to cancel scheduled adoption hearings for two comprehensive plan text amendments last week may have temporarily delayed legal challenges to the ordinances under SB 180, or potential punitive action from Tallahassee. However, the cancellations didn’t bring an end to the threat of legal action.
Shortly after Chairman George Kruse announced on Tuesday that he would exercise his right to direct staff to cancel Thursday’s land use meeting, Samuel J. Salario, Jr. of the Lawson Huck Gonzalez law firm, sent commissioners a letter, demanding they go one step further and withdraw the proposed ordinances altogether.
“On behalf of our clients, we respectfully demand that the Commission withdraw the proposed comprehensive plan amendments no later than 14 days from the date of this letter,” Salario warned in the August 21 letter. “If they are not withdrawn within 14 days, our clients will file suit, seek a temporary injunction, and seek recovery of its attorneys’ fees and costs from the County. The better course is for the County to withdraw the proposals before then.”…