Court sides with county in appeal by Windermere Country Club developer

The saga of the defunct Windermere Country Club Golf Course is a long one, but it seems the end is near for what has been a years-long fight for the development rights to the property.

On Feb. 20, a circuit court judge ruled in favor of Orange County in a case involving the owner of the Windermere Country Club course, Bryan DeCunha.

DeCunha purchased the 155-acre golf course for $2.17 million in April 2011. He closed down the golf course in April 2016, after the club’s membership declined, and proposed to build 95 homes on 50 acres of the property.

But to redevelop the property, DeCunha required the development rights, which were dedicated to the county per a 1986 agreement with the course’s original developer. He made a request to the county, but Orange County commissioners denied it in October 2016 and then upheld their decision in January 2017 following his appeal.

In response, DeCunha filed a lawsuit against Orange County alleging the denial was not based on competent substantial evidence and that he had been denied due process. But the court disagreed with arguments presented by DeCunha’s attorneys.

“The court said three things — the first of which was that the County Commission did not deny him procedural process,” said Kurt Ardaman, the attorney representing the residents who opposed DeCunha’s development plans. The developer said they were denied due process, but the court disagreed. 

“Number two: the developer argued that the County Commission had departed from what is called the essential requirements of law,” he said. “But then the court cited some cases that we had provided and determined that the commission had not departed from the essential requirements of law and had very carefully followed the law. And their third argument the developer made was that there was no competent substantial evidence that we, and the county’s staff, had presented to the county commission when the commission first denied the developer’s request.”

Ardaman believed the judge’s order denying DeCunha’s petition for Writ of Cert was “powerful and well-written.”  He also appreciated how the court agreed the county holds the development rights in trust for the public and that the dedication of development rights to the county in trust to the public was “permanent an irrevocable.”

“It was a very good ruling, and we’re very pleased,” Ardaman said. “It would be very tough now for the developer to succeed, but he still has some additional appellate rights that he can pursue.”

Leigh-Ann Dyal, the Windermere Country Club HOA president, said the court’s decision was happily received.

“We’ve been waiting for a decision for over a year now,” Dyal said. “We’ve been waiting in limbo for the court to decide whether or not to keep with the Orange County Board of County Commissioners decision in 2017 to not build houses behind us. We were all there when they made that decision. But then he appealed and lost the appeal. But he can go to the fifth district appellate court. He has 35 days to do that, but we’re hoping he doesn’t. We’re hoping, at this point, he just cuts his losses, moves on and sells the property to someone who wants to make it into a viable golf course again.”

DeCunha did not respond to calls seeking comment by press time Tuesday.