DeSantis-picked board seeks new taxes and affordable housing at Disney after the company's 'blatant and hostile' grab for control

• DeSantis' board overseeing Disney is considering new taxes, public transit, and housing.
• They made it clear they were angry about the loophole Disney stealthily created.
• The board met for the first time since Disney's surprise maneuver.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' newly appointed board overseeing Walt Disney World is ready to launch a full-scale attack against one of the state's largest employers, saying "nothing is off the table" as they take on a major overhaul of the area.

In the mix for the district that houses Disney are higher taxes, more regulations, building workforce affordable housing on the 40 square miles of land that borders the resort and theme park, and exploring the sale of utilities the district owns.

The five-member board met Wednesday for the first since Disney stealthily arranged a deal that would allow the theme park and resort to maintain control of its land, virtually in perpetuity. Board chair Martin Garcia called Disney's actions "shameful," and DeSantis has made it clear that he intends for the company to pay for its power grab.

Garcia said he and other board members met with Disney's vice president of external affairs before the board held its first meeting at the end of March. At that time, he said, the company didn't mention the loophole it orchestrated. By the conclusion of the meeting, the board determined that Disney's power grab was void and began writing a resolution to maintain control over the area's land.

"Our board truly wished to work with Disney," Garcia said at Wednesday's meeting. "Instead, the corporation decided that compromise was out of the question. It was Disney's way or the highway."

Much of the meeting made the legal case for the new board moving ahead, despite the maneuver Disney pulled last month. The legislature, comprised of a GOP supermajority, is separately trying to ensure that the new board will have control over Disney's land.

Lawyers representing the DeSantis-aligned board said Wednesday that Disney hadn't followed the proper disclosure laws when it instituted its power grab, such as mailing notice the other property owners in the district. They warned that Disney's maneuver wouldn't withstand a lawsuit.

"The bottom line is that Disney engaged in a caper worthy of Scrooge McDuck to try to evade Florida law," David Thompson, an outside counsel at Cooper & Kirk firm who is helping the new board fight Disney over its power, said at the meeting. "Its efforts are illegal. And they will not stand."

Another counsel, Alan Lawson, called the Disney maneuver a "blatant and hostile attempt to overly thwart the law."

Disney did not immediately respond to Insider's request to comment on the meeting. Company representatives previously said its move to keep control over its land was "discussed and approved in open, noticed public forums."

More actions against Disney are expected. The new board is consulting with four law firms over the matter, and Garcia said Wednesday that the board would have to find a way to raise money to counter the legal expenses.

As the board met, the DeSantis administration expanded the LGBTQ law at the center of the dispute with Disney

The board is attempting to obliterate a decades-long provision that gives Disney special self-governing privileges in Florida ever since the company's executives publicly pledged to work to repeal a DeSantis-backed schools curriculum bill that Democrats have termed "Don't Say Gay."

Unlike rival parks Universal Studios and Sea World, Disney doesn't have to run their plans by zoning commissions or building-inspection departments. This makes their operations run more efficiently, saving them time and money.

The DeSantis-picked board met just as the Florida Department of Education decided to expand the "Don't Say Gay" law to 12th grade, limiting discussions to sex ed classes or those "required by existing state standards."

The initial law, formally known as the Parental Rights in Education Act, banned classroom instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation for up to third grade.

Disney has not backed down from its comments to promise to repeal the schools bill, and on Monday the company publicized its first LGBTQ event that'll be held at Disneyland in California.

The Walt Disney Studios is headquartered in Burbank, California, but the company holds powerful sway in Florida through Walt Disney World, which has roughly 80,000 employees and is the state's biggest tourist attraction. The district housing Disney collects roughly $105 million a year in general revenue, according to CNBC, and paid more than $280 million in property taxes between 2015 and 2020.

During the public comment period, Tyler Heron, a resident of nearby Celebration, Florida, said he was concerned about the idea DeSantis floated on Monday to build a state prison near Disney, or to set up new tolls.

"Residents are concerned we'll become innocent bystanders in these actions," Heron said. "Our town is completely surrounded by district lands. Please consider how it'll impact our town and the people that live there."

But other groups testifying at the meeting were pleased with some of the proposed changes afoot. Firefighters who work for Disney's district said the previous board failed to give them the resources they needed to do their jobs, including new ambulances, even as Disney grew. They praised the new board during a comment period at the start of the meeting.

"Our local first responders were 100% in support of this new board and it's been a breath of fresh air over how fair this board has been to us from the get go," Jeremy Kelly, secretary of the Reedy Creek Firefighters, said.

Garcia maintained that many of the changes would make the area "more equitable and prosperous," saying they'd set up better public transit for people who commute in to work at Disney, and find ways to increase funding for public schools in the area.

It's not clear how or whether the announcement will affect Disney's plan to set aside 80 acres of its land for 1,300 affordable housing units for cast members and the public.