Seminole voters will decide in November if it should be tougher for developers to remove property from the county’s protected rural area and whether to strengthen protections for its natural lands.
“If they pass, they will continue to enhance the natural lands and conservation areas in the county and preserve the rural area that so many residents support,” resident Marilyn Crotty said to county commissioners Tuesday in support of the ballot questions.
Moments later, commissioners voted unanimously and without comment to place the charter referendums on the Nov. 5 ballot.
The first one asks if it should require a supermajority of four votes from the commission to take land out of the rural area — such as for a high-density development. The second asks if it also should require a supermajority vote to remove or change protections on any of Seminole’s designated natural lands.
It currently requires three votes from the five-member board to take land out of Seminole’s rural boundary — which covers nearly a third of the county — or to remove conservation protections from any part of the 7,300 acres of natural lands.
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Conservationists and environmentalists said requiring four votes would strengthen those areas from urban sprawl as pressure from developers to build on large swaths of empty acreage is expected to increase in coming years.
“These lands really need protection,” Cathy Swerdlow, president of the League of Women Voters of Seminole County, said in support of the referendums. “The trade winds of development are so strong that if we want to have some ability to protect what we value, we feel we really need a supermajority (vote).”
In 2004, Seminole voters established the rural boundary where development densities are limited to one home per five acres or one home per 10 acres. The rural boundary covers the area mostly east of the Econlockhatchee River and Lake Jesup.
Since then, residents from the county’s rural and even urban areas have been fiercely protective of the development restrictions.
In 2018, developer and former state Rep. Chris Dorworth proposed removing nearly 700 acres of pastureland — known as High Oaks Ranch — from the rural boundary for a megadevelopment of up to 520 single-family homes, 270 townhouses, 500 apartments and 80 estate homes, in addition to 1.5 million square feet of shops, restaurants and office space.
Commissioners unanimously rejected Dorworth’s proposed River Cross development at an August 2018 meeting attended by scores of Seminole residents opposing it.
Nearly two years later, Dorworth pitched a plan to swap the River Cross land for Seminole’s Econ Wilderness Area. Commissioners also turned down that idea, saying the Econ Wilderness Area is a natural land purchased with tax dollars for conservation.
County residents say supermajority votes are needed to protect the rural area and natural lands from future proposals similar to the River Cross development and the land swap.
The ballot initiatives were proposed by the county’s Charter Review Commission — a temporary board made up of 15 residents.
Every six years, Seminole assembles a commission to review its charter — the county’s constitution — and propose changes. Any proposed revisions must be placed on the ballot by county commissioners and approved by a majority of voters.
In May residents urged the charter commission to propose a third referendum requiring a supermajority vote to change development restrictions within the rural area. Currently, only three votes by Seminole commissioners are needed to change restrictions.
But the proposal fell short of the necessary votes from charter commission members to advance.
“I am disappointed because that leaves a back door open toward reducing some of the protections within our rural boundary,” Swerdlow said.
mcomas@orlandosentinel.com
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