Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/336863
James Blucher joined the county board in picking Jebco. County commissioners have long expressed a desire to turn the Springs into an international attraction that would drive economic development in North Port, while North Port commissioners have in recent years pushed for a more park-like envi- ronment. The two entities jointly purchased the Springs in 2010 for $5.5 million. Despite the differences between the two boards, some commissioners had been opti- mistic a compromise could be reached. County Commission Vice Chairwoman Christine Robinson last week praised the current process for allowing the boards to pick and choose what they liked about the proposals in order to perhaps stitch together a compromise. But compromise was nowhere to be found Tuesday. Robinson, County Commissioner Nora Patterson and North Port Vice Mayor Rhonda DiFranco all expressed dislike for the portion of the Jebco plan that called for residential development on the land, sug- gesting that section could be excised, but the idea found no favor with the other North Port commissioners, who supported National. Robinson also objected to National's lack of a plan to improve the infrastructure at the Springs. (Jebco planned to connect the property to water and sewer lines as part of its work.) But no North Port board member would support tweaking the National plan to require such improvements. After the stalemate vote, County Commission Chairman Charles Hines summed up the impasse. "We're back to the scenario where we were a year ago. We're just diametrically opposed," he said. "We're in a partnership that's defective." " We ' r e w a s t i n g o u r t i m e , " C o u n t y Commissioner Joe Barbetta added. "There's The members of the North Port City Commission are (from left) Vice Mayor Rhonda DiFranco, Mayor James Blucher and Commissioners Linda Yates, Cheryl Cook and Tom Jones. Photo courtesy City of North Port Sarasota News Leader June 27, 2014 Page 17