Orlando-area city leaders blast proposed county growth controls

Mayors or attorneys representing most Orange County cities and towns declared their opposition Thursday to a pair of proposed ballot measures imposing new restrictions on development, drawing battle lines with county leaders over how the region should grow.

Their objections took the form of a sharply-worded letter to Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, signed by local officials including Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Apopka Mayor Bryan Nelson. Also onboard are representatives of Belle Isle, Eatonville, Edgewood, Maitland, Oakland, Winter Garden, Ocoee and Windermere.

One of the measures would erect higher hurdles to development in rural areas, while the other could grant the county veto power over cities’ efforts to annex land outside their limits, which are often a precursor to denser development.

But the cities contend the efforts – set to be discussed in a county workshop planned for Tuesday – impede their “Home Rule” authorities, granted by Florida’s Constitution.

“We must object to proposals that may invade the constitutional and statutory prerogatives of municipal home rule for these and other reasons of advancing responsible growth and governance,” the letter reads. “We must also carefully safeguard the rights of our taxpayers and residents.”

For more than a year, Orange County’s Charter Review Commission, a citizens panel, has worked on the proposal to create a development boundary between urban and rural Orange County, making it more difficult to approve urban-style development on rural lands. A similar line was drawn in Seminole County two decades ago, and voters in that county will be asked to strengthen those rural boundaries — which have proven popular — in November.

More recently, Orange County Commissioners have been weighing another, separate measure, which would give them veto power over developer-initiated annexations of county land. That amendment to the county charter would also require mandatory public hearings at county meetings, as well as an appeals process. Approving an annexation would require a supermajority vote of the commission.

The deadline for county leaders to put both amendments on the Nov. 5 ballot is Aug. 27.

Cities often expand their boundaries by incorporating land previously in the county’s jurisdiction, typically without pushback.

However, earlier this year Orlando annexed a swath of about 11,600 acres in southeast Orange County, extending the city’s boundaries to the Osceola County line. The land included the city’s Stanton Energy Plant, as well as a portion Tavistock’s massive planned Sunbridge Development. The total acreage is roughly the size of Lake Nona, which the city also annexed in 1994.

That move drew the wrath of county leaders, who contended it was an effort to circumvent their stricter wetlands rules. City leaders responded that the county was simply trying to hang onto a tax revenue-generating development that would fit more naturally within Orlando.

Tavistock and Orlando officials agreed not to change the county’s planned development program, which calls for 7,370 homes, 5.4 million square feet of office space, 2.9 million square feet of industrial uses and 880,000 square feet of retail.

Still, three months later, county leaders began publicly discussing the veto plan.

Orange County Commissioner Emily Bonilla acknowledged in a workshop earlier this month that the annexation amendment would give the county more control, GrowthSpotter reported.

“If a developer is unhappy with our environmental requirements, they’re just hopping over to a city and that’s just not right. This [Charter Amendment] gives us a little bit more control and makes sure that we have good comprehensive planning and environmental protection of our county,” she said.

Since the county first discussed the issue, a Canadian developer applied to annex another 1,000 acres west of Sunbridge Parkway into Orlando – which could spark a trend ahead of the potential charter amendment, a prominent land-use attorney told GrowthSpotter.

The city mayors contend the measures won’t have the intended result, and instead would encourage suburban sprawl.

“Driving growth away from the Central Florida urban core and impacting the efforts of each of our municipalities would ultimately undermine statewide conservation goals and further aggravate the serious undersupply of housing and other needs in our region,” they wrote.

They called for senior county staff to meet with each of the cities ahead of the scheduled Tuesday workshop to “avoid unnecessary adversarial proceedings and embrace our region’s hallmark spirit of partnership and collaboration.”

rygillespie@orlandosentinel, shudak@orlandosentinel.com