Golf deal fallout deepens divisions in The Meadows

Weeks after a controversial decision to lease its golf courses to Benderson Development Co., The Meadows is still grappling with the fallout.

The dispute inside one of Sarasota County’s oldest and largest planned communities has grown beyond the deal itself, spilling into board meetings, neighborhood interactions and competing efforts to influence residents ahead of an ongoing election.

An HOA candidate forum was abruptly canceled. Security was called to a confrontation involving residents and board members. And dueling messages — one from the board, another from a resident-run blog — each accused the other of misleading neighbors.

The conflict in The Meadows is a case study in how homeowner associations can struggle under the weight of high-stakes decisions, turning disagreements among neighbors into broader fights over control, trust and the future of their community.

Florida is one of the most HOA-governed states in the country, with millions of residents living in deed-restricted communities run by elected boards. These associations function as private governments, often wielding authority over finances, land use and daily life — but with less civic participation than their public counterparts.

Experts said that dynamic can make conflict inevitable, especially when decisions reshape the character or value of a community.

“When you start impacting people’s homes, which are typically people’s largest asset, it’s easy for folks to get quite animated and concerned about changes that are proposed,” said Douglas Christy, a Sarasota attorney who represents condo and homeowner associations across the Suncoast.

In The Meadows, friction centers on a proposal to lease roughly 500 acres of golf courses and green space to a subsidiary of Benderson Development, which owns the nearby Mall at University Town Center. The proposal followed years of financial struggles that pushed the country club into bankruptcy and forced the community’s three golf courses to close. One has since reopened.

Even before the HOA board voted 6-3 last month to approve the deal — a decision that prompted an ongoing lawsuit — the proposal had divided residents. Some said negotiations lacked transparency and feared the agreement gives the developer too much control over land long seen as the heart of the community. Others argued the lease would stabilize finances and ensure the long-term viability of its amenities.

At its core, the divide reflects two competing views of what went wrong.

Supporters of the deal said opposition has turned personal, with criticism of the lease giving way to attacks on board members’ motives and character. Some worry the tone of the debate — in meetings, on social media and in community forums — has grown hostile.

They pointed to incidents they said crossed a line. In mid-January, three residents went to the home of Meadows Community Association President Chris Perone after a board meeting was scheduled with 48 hours’ notice to discuss the Benderson lease. After being told to leave, they went to another board member’s home, where a confrontation lasted more than an hour as a community security officer looked on.

Jan Lazar, the association’s treasurer, said the confrontation followed a Facebook post that included a meme of Arnold Schwarzenegger with the caption “bring your ammo,” which she said raised concerns about safety.

Supporters have also pointed to campaign-style messaging they said distorts the facts. One mailer shared with Suncoast Searchlight depicted parts of the community swamped by floodwaters, highlighting a lease provision that opponents fear would let Benderson transform open space into wetlands — a characterization supporters said is misleading.

“This community cannot continue like this,” Perone told Suncoast Searchlight earlier this month. “It has to stop.”

Opponents said the breakdown stems from how the decision was handled. They argued board members did not give residents sufficient time or opportunity to understand and weigh in on the proposal, pointing to hastily scheduled meetings and limits on public comment — including three-minute speaking caps — that they said curtailed meaningful discussion of a complex deal. 

Opponents said those constraints made it difficult for residents to raise concerns or ask follow-up questions about the proposal.

They also offered a different view of the same events. Susan Chapman, a former city commissioner and current board member who voted against the lease, said the Facebook post was intended as a joke and described the confrontation differently.

“We had a nice conversation and then they left,” Chapman said. She said the residents were seeking answers about why the meeting was called over a holiday weekend with little information provided in the notice.

Others said criticism has been dismissed rather than addressed.

“This is their problem,” said Richard Sommerfeld, one of the most outspoken voices against the lease. “They blindly label what they disagree with as misinformation.”

For attorneys who work in community association law, those tensions are not unusual. Christy, the HOA attorney, said disputes can escalate when residents feel they have not had a fair opportunity to be heard.

“The easiest way to nip those things in the bud are to share information, be transparent, explain what options there are and, ideally, have documents in place that support some process that’s reasonable and fair and consistent with the law,” he said.

Christy also said Florida law sets a three-minute minimum standard for public comment, but boards have discretion to allow more time.

“I can certainly imagine a situation where you might want to be a little bit more flexible or (be) less stringent in your rules,” he said. “You can allow everybody to speak and be heard and respond to get information out that is accurate.” 

Control of information emerges as a new front in the conflict

The divisions have also taken shape in who controls the community’s main channels of communication — and, with them, the ability to shape how the Benderson deal is understood and how each side is portrayed.

Board members who supported the Benderson deal, including Perone and Lazar, communicate with residents through The Meadoword, a monthly print publication distributed communitywide. They also have access to the community’s email distribution list, giving incumbents a direct line into thousands of homes, a reach opponents said they cannot match, particularly in the midst of the board election.

Opponents, including the current board member who brought the lawsuit, Donald Breece, said they have no comparable platform. Instead, they have turned to their own channels, including a resident-run website and blog, to publish documents, commentary and criticism of the deal and the board’s actions.

Some critics also said the imbalance allows board leaders to use official communications to frame the debate and, at times, cast opponents in a negative light.

Perone disputed that characterization, saying his communications are intended to respond to criticism, not inflame it.

“It’s never pointed,” he said. “It’s to clear up the misinformation. I speak up and say what has to be said. It sometimes feels like being thrown to the wolves.”

The conflict has intensified in the lead-up to the community’s annual meeting and amid the ongoing board election, where six candidates, including Perone, are vying for three seats. That election is scheduled to end March 31.

A planned candidate forum was canceled ahead of the vote, with board members citing safety and security concerns. Reform candidates organized their own forum instead, sitting next to empty chairs reserved for incumbents and candidates who did not attend.

The Meadows is largely a retirement community, with many residents living on fixed incomes, heightening tension around decisions that could affect property values and long-term costs. Similar disputes are playing out in communities across Florida.

This year, a Miami legislator proposed a bill to let residents dissolve some homeowner associations if enough of them voted to do so. The bill ultimately died.

Elizbeth Ceuvas-Neunder, a Sarasota County resident who’s pushed for HOA reform in Tallahassee and had supported the bill, said disputes like the ones in The Meadows often stem from residents failing to pay attention to major issues until it’s too late.

“They have to be aware,” she said, warning that “homeowners end up paying the consequences of a bad board.”

Dan Lobeck, a Sarasota attorney who has handled HOA disputes for more than four decades, said conflicts like this have long been part of life in deed-restricted communities.

“I would be shocked if there wasn’t intense controversy at The Meadows over the Benderson proposal considering the size of the acreage,” he said. “Big issues promote big passions.”

Lobeck recalled a case in Palmer Ranch where tensions escalated to the point that someone placed a snake in a board president’s mailbox.

“It leaped out at him, and we had a very strong suspicion — but no evidence — as to who put it there,” Lobeck said. “I’ve seen tires slashed and certainly outrageously libelous Facebook (posts).”

Lobeck said one way to bring down tempers in conflicts like what’s happening at The Meadows is to make sure all sides feel respected and listened to. He said there’s techniques that help, including stashing problem makers on committees where “they can’t do any real harm.”

The election will determine who leads the association next. Whether it resolves those divisions is less certain.

Derek Gilliam is a watchdog/investigative reporter for Suncoast Searchlight. Email him at derek@suncoastsearchlight.org.

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