River Club HOA sues Manatee County

The River Club Homeowners Association has filed a lawsuit against Manatee County to dissuade it from creating a special taxing district for River Club and Braden Woods property owners.

On March 20, Manatee County commissioners are slated to vote on whether they will create a Municipal Services Taxing Unit to fund the $3 million purchase of a 32-acre property at the western end of Clubhouse Drive and save it from development. Plans for a 32-home gated-community there already are under review by the county.

Although property owners within the MSTU would pay for the land in question, it would become a public preserve, accessible to the public at large.

The River Club Homeowners' Association's complaint seeks declaratory judgement on the issue, alleging that using an MSTU to create a preserve is "unauthorized and unlawful, sets arbitrarily-drawn boundaries and fails to follow Manatee County's own established procedures."

"This puts them on notice of the consequences," said Larry Levin, an HOA board member. "We wanted to make this filing to let the county know were were serious about this."