UPDATE: Governor DeSantis’ Office Releases Statement of Intent to ‘Investigate Disney’s Past Behavior’ Over Reedy Creek Declaration

Shannen Ace

UPDATE: Governor DeSantis’ Office Releases Statement of Intent to ‘Investigate Disney’s Past Behavior’ Over Reedy Creek Declaration

The Executive Office of Governor Ron DeSantis has released a statement regarding yesterday’s Reedy Creek Improvement District news.

With the Florida State Government taking control of the district imminently, a meeting was held yesterday to finalize agreements between the Reedy Creek Improvement District and Disney. Now, the new Central Florida Tourism Oversight board is accusing Disney of “overreach” with the terms that were settled upon and pursuing legal action.

Disney released the following statement yesterday:

“All agreements signed between Disney and the District were appropriate, and were discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums in compliance with Florida Government in the Sunshine law.”

The Executive Office of the Governor reached out to WDWNT with this statement from Communications Director Taryn Fenske:

“The Executive Office of the Governor is aware of Disney’s last-ditch efforts to execute contracts just before ratifying the new law that transfers rights and authorities from the former Reedy Creek Improvement District to Disney. An initial review suggests these agreements may have significant legal infirmities that would render the contracts void as a matter of law. We are pleased the new Governor-appointed board retained multiple financial and legal firms to conduct audits and investigate Disney’s past behavior.”

Special Counsel was hired to challenge agreements Reedy Creek’s old board approved right before the new board took over. The Special Counsel indicated during yesterday’s meeting that the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District should hire more law firms to take on Disney so that everyone has an even chance. They suggested using firms with a “deeper bench,” meaning firms that have a strong team of lawyers.

One of Reedy Creek’s important agreements includes the Declaration of Restrictive Covenants and the Developer’s Agreement — which outlines Disney’s rights over District property for the next 30 years, regardless of what the new board says.

We looked over the Declaration, which includes a clause that would keep the Declaration in effect until 21 years after the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III passes away. The Declaration also states that the board cannot use any of Disney’s “fanciful characters.”

The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District argues that the aforementioned agreements are unlawful and should not have been allowed. Ron Peri, who is one of the new Board Members, argued that the agreements have stripped the board of all of its power and made Disney the government. He asked that the board fight this.

Martin Garcia, the CFTOD Board Chair, discussed how powerful and rich Disney is and how they would need to take an “adversarial position” against the company. He also suggested that they take this case to the Supreme Court in “protected litigation” against Disney.

Stay tuned for future updates as the matter proceeds.

What do you think about the recent developments in the CFTOD fight against Disney? Let us know in the comments below.

Check out more of our articles on the ongoing battle with Reedy Creek here:

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