Punta Gorda council moves to undo 2024 land-development rules, schedules public hearing

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — The Punta Gorda City Council voted 4-1 Monday to begin the formal process to repeal land development rules adopted in February 2024 and to schedule the first public hearing on the repeal for June 4.

The council instructed the city attorney to prepare a vested-rights (beneficial-interest) procedure so people who relied on the 2024 rules can request protection. Council members said they wanted a clear, auditable process to handle claims if the repeal affects owners who bought or developed property under the 2024 rules.

The vote followed a lengthy staff and legal briefing from Interim City Attorney Steven Leskovits, who told the council the state statutory changes enacted in 2023 complicate the situation and leave the city at legal risk if it does nothing. Leskovits said the state law contains provisions that will treat some regulatory changes as “null and void ab initio” where they are more restrictive than prior law, and recommended two options: a line‑by‑line review to identify and remove only provisions that are more restrictive, or a full repeal followed by careful, deliberate re-adoption. He cautioned both choices carry exposure and stressed drafting a vested-rights procedure to limit litigation risks.

"Taken as a whole, some of the LDRs that were implemented in February of 2024 may be more restrictive, may be more burdensome," Leskovits said during the briefing. "The attorney general's office declined to give definitive guidance and told you to resolve it locally."

Council members debating the motion said they had campaigned in part on rolling back the LDR changes and that the city needed to stop operating in what Council Member Janine Polk described as "legal limbo." Polk moved to schedule the repeal and to have the attorney draft the vested-rights procedure. Council Member Janice Denton seconded the motion. The motion carried 4-1; Council Member Greg Julian recorded the dissent.

Council members and members of the public repeatedly raised concerns about potential lawsuits under Florida's Bert Harris Act (often invoked in land-use disputes) and other state statutes they cited during public comment and in discussion. The council instructed staff to return materials and the draft vested-rights procedure for review before the second required hearing. The council's action sets the repeal process in motion but does not itself change code; repeal requires two readings/public hearings under state law.

What happens next: Staff and the city attorney will draft the ordinance language to repeal the February 2024 LDRs and deliver a proposed vested-rights/beneficial-interest procedure for council review before the scheduled June 4 hearing. The item will return for a second reading before any ordinance is repealed.