Commissioners reject new River Cross proposal
Following a closed-door meeting, Seminole County commissioners on Wednesday unanimously agreed to reject a proposal from Chris Dorworth, the developer of the controversial River Cross project, to settle a pair of lawsuits he filed against the county in October 2018 after his development application was denied.
Dorworth had offered to drop the lawsuits if Seminole agreed to carve the 669 acres proposed for his River Cross development out of the county’s rural boundary.
Dorworth and his River Cross Land Co. could have then submitted new development plans for the old pasture land just north of the Orange County line and east of the Econolockhatchee River.
“Obviously disappointed,” Dorworth said in a text message to the Sentinel. “Today the commission rejected an offer that would have ended this just by removing one parcel on the county line from the boundary.”
County commissioners set a private meeting to discuss the April 1 offer. After less than an hour behind closed doors, commissioners opened their meeting to the public, and Commissioner Bob Dallari made a motion to reject the settlement. Commissioners did not comment on their discussions.
Commissioner Jay Zembower, however, pointed out the costs to the county in defending Dorworth’s lawsuits.
“I would just like to make sure that the public is aware the county has spent $531,000 worth of costs, both in court and legal, on both of these suits,” he said.
Dorworth said he was puzzled that the county continues to defend the lawsuits despite the costs mentioned by Zembower.
“Why the whole county has to pay to fight over one piece of land is a mystery to me, an embarrassment to the commission,” he said.
The rejection is the latest blow for Dorworth, a former state lawmaker who recently stepped down from his post at the Tallahassee lobbying firm Ballard Partners. That came after the New York Times reported federal authorities investigating Dorworth’s friend, disgraced former Seminole tax collector Joel Greenberg, had learned of a conversation in which Dorworth and U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz discussed putting up a thirdparty candidate to help their friend win a state Senate seat.
Dorworth denied wrongdoing and said he left the firm to avoid becoming a distraction.
The proposed River Cross development has drawn strong public opposition since plans were first filed with Seminole in early 2018.
Those original plans called for 1,370 residential units — 600 single-family homes, 270 townhouses, 500 apartments and 1.5 million square feet of commercial space — on the land just east of the Econlockhatchee River and north of the Orange County line.
Under Dorworth’s latest proposal, River Cross would be a mixed-use development with an average density of no more than two homes per acre — or up to 1,338 residential units — and 200,000 square feet of space for offices, stores and restaurants.
The development would eat into Seminole’s voter-approved rural boundary, which limits residential densities to an average of one home per five acres or one home per 10 acres.
Seminole commissioners in August 2018 unanimously voted down plans for River Cross after scores of residents voiced opposition to the project, saying it would destroy the rural character of the surrounding area.
Two months later, Dorworth sued Seminole in federal court arguing that the rural boundary and commissioners’ rejection of his application violates the federal Fair Housing Act because it has a “segregative effect” and restricts the construction of affordable housing.
Last May, Dorworth filed a lawsuit in state court arguing that Seminole’s rural boundary is “vague” and “arbitrary” because the county can simply refuse to hear or reject a development application or a request to have it removed from the boundary without any specific guidelines.
Florida’s Sunshine Law allows public officials to meet privately to discuss litigation strategy. Still, minutes of those meetings are required to be kept, and any decisions or actions must be made at a public meeting.