Glades County neighbors blindsided at Ortona RV resort vote

ORTONA, Fla. (WINK)—A controversial proposal to bring a 73-acre RV resort to rural Ortona moved one step closer to approval after a tense planning and zoning meeting.

Neighbors packed the Glades County Planning and Zoning meeting, expecting another chance to speak against the project. Instead, the board said public comment had already closed and moved straight into deliberations.

Frustrated residents walked out feeling blindsided.

"How can their attorney put something into the minutes that was never in the minutes to begin with?" Lorraine Hartman said.

Hartman and other Glades County neighbors who oppose the RV resort showed up expecting to speak out against the project. They watched the board move directly into deliberations with no public comment.

"This is criminal and not right," Hartman said.

County officials said the meeting was only for board discussion because public comment had already concluded during the previous hearing last month.

"They didn't give us enough time from the other meeting to get our legal part ready," Hartman said. "Now we have it ready, and they know it, and they wouldn't let us speak."

Board members emphasized they were only considering a comprehensive plan amendment, not whether to approve the RV resort itself. They said the land use change is separate from any future rezoning request.

But neighbors argue that doesn't change what's at stake.

"They told us to come back and then told us they could not proceed," Brett Turner said. "That's the coward's way of it, and the brave person would have said this is not right."

Despite those objections, the Planning and Zoning Board voted to recommend approval of the comprehensive plan amendment, sending the proposal to the Glades County Board of County Commissioners. The planning and zoning board's vote is only a recommendation.

The final decision now rests with the Glades County Board of County Commissioners, where neighbors say they plan to continue fighting the proposal and hope they'll once again have the opportunity to make their voices heard.