The trial would have begun Monday in Sarasota County Circuit Court.

A two-page document filed Friday in court says that the plaintiffs, led by the environmental group ManaSota-88, were dropping their claims against the county and the developers. The dismissal is “with prejudice,” meaning the opponents waived their right to file another lawsuit with the same claims, which included arguments that the development violated the county’s long-range growth management plan.

An attorney for the developers, Scott McLaren of Tampa, said the dismissal came after the parties reached the confidential settlement agreement.

“The case is resolved; the case is dismissed,” McLaren said, “and my clients are happy to get on with the business of developing the property, which they had a right to do from the get-go.”

The plaintiffs’ attorney, Ralf Brookes of Cape Coral, declined to comment. But one of the plaintiffs, Gerry Swormstedt, said she is disappointed.

“We ended up having to settle, and, of course, we’re under a gag rule,” Swormstedt said. “Part of it was just financial. We’re not happy, but our feeling is we did go a long way to raising public awareness of how important small wetlands are.”

The Herald-Tribune requested a copy of the settlement agreement, which Citizens for Sunshine paralegal Michael Barfield said should be a public record because it involves a government body. But county spokesman Jason Bartolone said there is no settlement document — only the dismissal, which points out that each party agrees to pay its own attorneys’ fees and costs. The dismissal says nothing about confidentiality.

Bartolone said the county had no comment on the settlement because it doesn’t talk about litigation, even after it’s resolved.

The developers had asked the court to award them attorneys’ costs and fees if they won the case. They also threatened to seek sanctions, including attorneys’ fees from the plaintiffs if they didn’t produce the names of every ManaSota-88 member and contributor as part of the pre-trial process. ManaSota-88 had objected to providing such a list, saying it violated the rights of an estimated 1,000 people affiliated with the group.

The court denied ManaSota-88’s objection and told the group to hand over the list.

It is unclear from the court records whether that happened or whether it contributed to the plaintiffs’ decision to settle.

Debate over preservation

The lawsuit, filed in February, stemmed from a Jan. 26th decision by the Sarasota County Commission to allow the destruction of 4.5 acres of forested wetlands for the development of a commercial center anchored by Whole Foods Market.

The critics said that decision violated the county’s comprehensive plan, which calls for the preservation of wetlands.

The wetland sits at the northwest corner of Honore Avenue and University Parkway, in the middle of the site where developers want to place their commercial shopping center. The center will feature the grocery store, restaurants and a Wawa gas station/convenience store.

To mitigate the loss of wetlands, the developers bought a 41-acre parcel in Manatee County’s Rye Preserve that’s prone to frequent flooding and unlikely to have faced development.

Although the parcel totals 41 acres, the mitigation site involves half of it, and only about one quarter of that — 5.9 acres — contains wetlands.

Opponents noted in their legal complaint that the county twice designated the wetland at the Whole Foods site as a preserve area and had previously denied a prior owner’s rezoning petition to develop and mitigate the site.

They also cited the county’s comprehensive plan, which says “wetlands shall be preserved except in cases where they are no longer capable of performing defined environmental functions and values, or where no other reasonable alternative exists.”

A comprehensive plan is a document that guides a community’s growth and sets criteria for commercial and residential development, transportation, parks and environmental protection. Amendments to the plan generally involve the county attorney’s office.

“The comprehensive plan said they’re supposed to preserve that land, and they ignored it,” Swormstedt said in a previous interview with the newspaper.

She and other plaintiffs worry the county will continue chipping away at environmentally sensitive lands in favor of developers. They said it was time to put a stop to it.

“This is a very small lawsuit,” plaintiff Andy Mele said in February. “But it’s part of a larger battle over the heart and soul of America.”

Although not named in the lawsuit, developers and others joined the case as interested parties. They include three limited-liability companies managed by two landowners — Brightwork Real Estate and local businessman John Daniel Lemp — and a fourth LLC managed by the head of the project’s development firm, SJ Collins.

In a court document, the group denied the critics’ claims that the proposed development violates the county growth plan and said they exceeded the legal environmental protection requirements.

“We are pleased that the challenge against the county regarding development of University Station has been dismissed and we are excited to move forward,” SJ Collins spokeswoman Candice McElyea said.

Whole Foods said its new grocery store would adhere to the same eco-friendly ethos that has earned the company praise from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a “green retailer.”

Development of the Honore-University property had stalled after plaintiffs filed the suit, and the site has sat largely untouched. There has been no word yet on when developers will break ground.

Whole Foods originally was set to open in the summer of 2017. It is unclear if the company still plans to meet that projection.

In a statement, Whole Foods spokeswoman Briana Madrid said simply that the company is “glad that development can resume on the University Station site now that the challenge is dismissed. This is the outcome we expected, and are thrilled to have a clear path forward to serving more Sarasotans.”