PUNTA GORDA — Several rural landowners — outraged over what they say was an attempt by a developer to push through a plan that would adversely impact the environment, their property values, and their quality of life — have banded together to stop a proposed landfill from being built on what is currently zoned agricultural property in eastern Charlotte County.

The seven-member board of the Southwest Florida Rural Land­owners Association will hold its first official meeting today in Punta Gorda. The group said it vows to fight the efforts of developer Calusa Green LLC, which last month submitted an application to the county’s Planning and Zoning Board to rezone 554 acres of agricultural land near the Babcock Ranch preserve so it can build a regional landfill that would accept biosolids and garbage from communities possibly as far off as Miami.