Hearing to be held in person with Zoom attendance offered, as well
At 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 28, 12th Judicial Circuit Judge Hunter W. Carroll will conduct oral arguments in the case that Texas-based homebuilder D.R. Horton and the owners of the Smith Properties adjacent to the Celery Fields filed in April, to try to overturn the February 2025 unanimous vote of the Sarasota County Commission to deny the rezoning of the land for a 126-dwelling development next to the Celery Fields.
Carroll has set aside 60 minutes for the hearing, the formal notice says. Persons may attend it in person in Courtroom 6-C of the Lynn N. Silvertooth Judicial Center in downtown Sarasota or via Zoom, the notice points out.
In early August, the case was assigned to the new Major Trial Division of the 12thCircuit, another filing in the docket explains.
As The Sarasota News Leader has reported, Sarasota County created the Celery Fields as a regional stormwater project, but the facility has won an international reputation among bird-watchers for the hundreds of migratory species that make the property their home each winter. Numerous speakers testified to that fact during the Feb. 12, 2025 public hearing on the D.R. Horton-Smith family rezoning application…