Disney Outmaneuvers DeSantis – Former District Board Granted Disney Enormous Development Powers Days Before DeSantis Board Took Over
Disney outmaneuvered Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a last-minute move before he signed legislation to curtail the company’s powers. The new Disney Board discovered the old board made multi-year agreements with the company that were significant before they were disbanded.
CNN reported on the news with Disney yesterday.
The new board handpicked by the Republican governor to oversee Disney’s special taxing district said Wednesday it is considering legal action over a multi-decade agreement reached between the entertainment giant and the outgoing board in the days before the state’s hostile takeover last month.
Under the agreement – quietly approved on February 8 as Florida lawmakers met in special session to hand DeSantis control of the Reedy Creek Improvement District – Disney would maintain control over much of its vast footprint in Central Florida for 30 years and, in some cases, the board can’t take significant action without first getting approval from the company.
“This essentially makes Disney the government,” board member Ron Peri said during Wednesday’s meeting, according to video posted by an Orlando television station. “This board loses, for practical purposes, the majority of its ability to do anything beyond maintaining the roads and maintaining basic infrastructure.”
The episode is the latest twist in a yearlong saga between Disney and DeSantis, who has battled the company as he tries to tally conservative victories ahead of a likely bid for the 2024 GOP nomination.
A series of tweets explained the situation with Disney and DeSantis.
The newly-appointed board by DeSantis learned suddenly that the former board made some last-minute changes that were significant. As a result, the new board is considering legal actions to address the agreements between Disney and the old board.
The new Reedy Creek (now CFTOD) board is now considering legal action to address the agreements between Disney and the old board, which were approved weeks before @GovRonDeSantis signed the law altering the special taxing district. 2/ pic.twitter.com/5A4SUfv1Lm
— Mike DeForest (@DeForestNews6) March 29, 2023
The DeSantis team feels like the old board went around the will of the people by getting this new agreement passed before the new board took over.
The office of @GovRonDeSantis just issued this statement in response to Disney’s last-minute agreement with the former Reedy Creek board. 6/ pic.twitter.com/0ADQrnXXCx
— Mike DeForest (@DeForestNews6) March 29, 2023
Mike DeForest reports that there are deeds of land that may be transferred back to Disney as well.
Interestingly, the former Reedy Creek board members who approved the last-minute deals with Disney still own landlocked property near EPCOT (which was required under the original Reedy Creek charter). No word yet when they might transfer the deeds back to Disney. pic.twitter.com/cVTDu34lzf
— Mike DeForest (@DeForestNews6) March 29, 2023
The new agreement was passed and placed online and no one noticed it.
The agreements between Disney and the old Reedy Creek board were recorded with the Orange County Comptroller on Feb 9 – the day before the Florida legislature passed the bill altering the district and 18 days before @GovRonDeSantis signed it. It was all online. Nobody noticed. pic.twitter.com/6xqJ1Urzpl
— Mike DeForest (@DeForestNews6) March 29, 2023
What a mess. This is not good for the people of Florida and was a sinister way to work around Governor DeSantis.
LOL pic.twitter.com/vhyY1M1IoP
— Carlos Guillermo Smith (@CarlosGSmith) March 29, 2023
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