Ron DeSantis' plan to take control of Disney's land backfired spectacularly because of a loophole in the agreement that may reduce his appointees to powerless functionaries

• Gov. Ron DeSantis gained control of Walt Disney World's oversight district board in February.

• The move was an attempt to strip the company's self-governing power that it has enjoyed for decades.

• But a previously signed agreement may have rendered the new governing board powerless.

Gov. Ron DeSantis' move to take over Walt Disney World's governing board in Florida may have backfired due to a prior obscure agreement that new governor-appointed board members say stripped them of their power.

The contentious agreement, approved without fanfare a day before DeSantis assumed more control of Disney's land, is the latest in an apparent feud between the governor and the company.

And in setting the expiration terms of the agreement, Disney invoked an obscure property law known as Rule Against Perpetuities, setting the date for "twenty one (21) years after the death of the last survivor of the descendants of King Charles III, King of England living as of the date of this Declaration."

"This essentially makes Disney the government," Ron Peri, a member of the board, said during a meeting on Wednesday.  "This board loses, for practical purposes, the majority of its ability to do anything beyond maintain the roads and maintain basic infrastructure."

For close to six decades, Disney has operated its expansive theme park and resort in Florida under a specially designated district that lies between two counties. A board, previously known as Reedy Creek Improvement District, oversaw the area and had free reign of development processes, such as zoning and infrastructure, and even control of its own fire department, essentially operating like a separate municipal government. Disney also had the authority to appoint district board members.

This special status came under threat when Disney entered the fray of DeSantis' culture war last year, after the company publicly objected to Florida's proposal to ban the discussion of sexual orientation in K-3 public classrooms.

In a show of political force, DeSantis, who is a likely contender for the 2024 Republican nomination, attempted to dissolve the Reedy Creek district. But the dissolution would have placed the burden of paying for a fire department and road maintenance, among other services, onto taxpayers in Orange and Osceola counties. Residents would also have had to pick up the district's hefty $1 billion debt.

Instead, Florida lawmakers passed a bill in February to end "Disney's self-governing status" and give the governor the authority to appoint new board members to the district. Reedy Creek was renamed to the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, and DeSantis appointed five supervisors, including a parents' rights activist and three Republican donors.

But the new supervisors are now saying that previous board members entered an agreement that effectively stripped them of their powers.

"We're going to have to deal with it and correct it," Brian Aungst, a member of the board, said during a meeting on Wednesday. "It's a subversion of the will of the voters and the Legislature and the governor. It completely circumvents the authority of this board to govern."