The Development Review Committee voted on Sept. 26, 2025 to table consideration of VR012025, an initial determination of vested rights for properties at 297 E. Virginia Avenue and 407 Wood Street, until its Oct. 10 meeting so staff can obtain legal advice and review earlier meeting recordings. Boyd Lawrence, Punta Gorda planning director, said the committee's determination is a recommendation that would move next to the planning commission and ultimately to the city council.

The committee's discussion focused on whether the project meets the four criteria listed in the newly adopted Chapter 27 vested-rights ordinance: substantial good-faith investment, reasonable reliance on preexisting regulations, government-entity action that inordinately burdens the approved development, and whether recognizing vested rights would harm public health, safety or welfare. Staff and at least two representatives of the developer—Mike Olsen, project coordinator with Danby Construction, and Frank Compi, chief of operations for Don B Construction—offered competing views.

Developers said they have spent money on surveys, preliminary designs and replatting work, and presented notarized investor documentation. "We do have proof of investment from our investors," Olsen said while handing documents to committee members. Frank Compi said the teams had advanced preliminary and bid documents, hired engineers and architects, and incurred tens of thousands of dollars in expenses in good faith while coordinating with city staff.

Staff and some committee members said the record lacks critical items the ordinance lists as evidence of vested rights: an approved development order, an approved building permit, or an actual approving decision from urban design. Committee members noted there was no formal development-order application, no recorded plat for the replatting/utility work and no completed utility plans in the file; one staff member said the surveys were dated June 4, 2025. The committee also discussed audio recordings of prior design-studio sessions (June 2024 and a February 2025 meeting) to determine whether any staff comments constituted a de facto approval. Boyd Lawrence recalled that the deed creating the current ownership was dated Aug. 15, 2023 and that the land-development-regulation changes (second reading by the council) occurred Sept. 20, 2023; the committee also recorded that the LDR repeal and a Chapter 27 vested-rights ordinance became effective in July 2025.

Committee members repeatedly said they could not make a confident recommendation without attorney guidance and access to earlier recordings. One member asked whether an application filed before the LDR changes would have preserved rights under the earlier code; staff said that question and others involve legal interpretation. The committee voted to table VR012025 to Oct. 10, 2025 and requested that staff pull design-studio recordings and invite the city attorney to the next meeting to address legal questions.

No final determination on vested rights was made. Staff and the developers agreed to exchange additional documentation; the committee emphasized it is the first vested-rights review under the new ordinance and sought more legal and documentary clarity before forwarding a recommendation.