DeSantis board to void stealth development deal with Disney

A deal that blocked Florida government-appointed board members from overseeing a special tax district surrounding Disney World will be argued null and void Wednesday — potentially ending a heated dispute between Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the entertainment giant.

Attorneys for the board will announce that the agreement their predecessors entered into with Disney ran afoul of Florida law, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

Disney and DeSantis have fought for more than a year over control of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, where the company has had the sole authority to develop around 27,000 acres since 1967.

But a day before lawmakers voted in February to let DeSantis appoint a new board, the incumbent board coordinated with Disney to gut their successors’ ability to oversee zoning and development in the special district.

The tit-for-tat exchange came on the heels of Disney’s war of words with the 44-year-old governor and presumptive 2024 GOP presidential candidate over the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which outlawed the discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in public school classrooms where students from kindergarten through third grade were taught.

The source told The Post that the Disney-controlled board did not lawfully inform property owners about the agreement before it passed, nor did their contract provide legal consideration — making their action null and void.

Under Florida law, new district agreements must be considered in at least two public hearings, and notices about the hearings must be published in a general circulation newspaper.

Districts also must mail out notices of the new agreement to all property owners affected by the decision.

“The mail notice didn’t happen,” the source said. “There were two hearings, notices were published in the newspaper, but they did not send out a mail notice.”

Additionally, the agreement did not provide consideration to the board and delegated core government functions to Disney, a private enterprise.

“Under either of those scenarios, the thing is dead on arrival,” the source added.

“All agreements signed between Disney and the District were appropriate, and were discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums in compliance with Florida’s Government in the Sunshine law,” the company claimed in a statement last month.

DeSantis’ handpicked board replaced five members of the Reedy Creek Improvement District and renamed it the Central Florida Tourism District.

The furtive agreement kept the district from using the name “Disney” or any characters, symbols or intellectual property associated with the resort.

It also gave Disney the ability to build in the district without restrictions and the right to sell developmental rights to other landowners without board approval.

The company can also sue for damages if the new board violates the agreement.

Since the agreement came to light, potential Republican presidential candidates such as former President Donald Trump and ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have mocked DeSantis for being outplayed by Disney CEO Bob Iger.

“That’s not the guy I want sitting across from President Xi and negotiating our next agreement with China, or sitting across from Putin and trying to resolve what’s happening in Ukraine, if you can’t see around a corner that Bob Iger created for you,” Christie said Tuesday at an event hosted by the news outlet Semafor.

“Sometimes in politics, you just have to admit when you screwed up and got taken,” he added. “It happens.”

But DeSantis has sniped back in recent days, saying the state legislature will also declare the board’s agreement void and even entertaining the idea of developing some of the land around Disney World.

“Maybe create a state park, maybe try to do more amusement parks,” he mused at a Monday news conference. “Someone even said, like, ‘Maybe you need another state prison.’”