Fla. House bill that would strip rural protections draws rebuke
Central Florida politicians are joining environmentalists and residents in opposing a fast-changing bill working its way through the Legislature that would do away with rural protections on land within three miles of a state university, including University of Central Florida.
That means most land in Seminole County east of the environmentally-sensitive Econlockhatchee River — which has been mostly protected from high-density development after a countywide referendum — would be open to thousands of new rooftops, according to the latest amendments tacked onto the bill Tuesday.
“It’s going to affect the Econ,” said Seminole County Commissioner Lee Constantine, who opposes the potential move. “It’s going to af-
fect traffic. It’s going to affect quality of life. … It would have a devastating effect on our rural boundary.”
Constantine said former state Rep. Chris Dorworth, now a real-estate investor from Lake Mary, told him he has a contract to purchase nearly 700 acres of farmland in Seminole’s rural protection area and bordered by the Econ River, County Road 419, the Orange County line and Riverwoods Trail. He said he suspects Dorworth is pushing for the bill’s amendments. Dorworth did not respond to requests for comment.
UCF’s campus is in Orange County, and earlier amendments to House Bill 883 would have affected rural areas in eastern portions of the county.
However, a change made Tuesday would exclude rural boundaries established before October 1985. State Rep. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, whose district includes eastern Seminole, said that language exempts Orange County.
“First and foremost, I understand that Orange County has been removed from consideration,” Brodeur wrote in an email. Orange had rural designations east of the Econ before 1985.
But the modification apparently doesn’t apply to Seminole, where residents voted in 2004 to keep roughly a third of the eastern part of the county beyond Oviedo and Lake Jesup as mostly rural, limiting densities to between one home per three acres and one per 10 acres.
Brodeur said the amendment “isn’t perfect,” but he intends to support it.
“First, I understand that Florida’s universities are economic development drivers, so I believe there is real value to directing adequate and proper planning around the universities,” he said.
According to the bill, state universities are constrained “by inadequate supplies of affordable residential housing and commercial facilities necessary to house and support growing populations of students and employees.”
Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs called several state legislators to voice her opposition to the original amendment that would have erased rural protections in east Orange, county spokeswoman Doreen Overstreet said.
“She feels that land use is best addressed at the local level,” Overstreet said.
Seminole officials and environmentalists, meanwhile, were scrambling to figure out a way to keep the county’s 14-year-old protections against dense development in rural areas.
“We can’t keep paving over everything,” County Commissioner Bob Dallari said in support of the rural boundary.
Deborah Schafer, a Chuluota resident, also blasted the amendment.
“The people of Seminole County voted to protect themselves from growth for numerous reasons, whether it is for wildlife, water, or quality of life, recreational or open space,” Schafer said.
The earlier amendments to the bill also would have affected undeveloped land in east Orange County near the Econ River, which has long faced pressure from development.
In 2016, Orange County commissioners voted on two 2,000-home developments in a rural area zoned at one home per 10 acres, approving The Grow but later rejecting Sustany.
After environmentalists and resident activists from the area east of the Econ challenged The Grow decision, an administrative law judge in August 2017 ruled that the county had violated its growth rules by approving urban development in a designated rural area.
Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet are scheduled to consider the judge’s ruling today.
The Grow and Sustany developments fall within the 3-mile radius addressed in the HB 883 amendment.
State Rep. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, sponsored HB 883, and state Rep. Matt Caldwell, RLehigh Acres, submitted the amendments.
Charles Lee, director of advocacy for Audubon of Florida, criticized the amendment as being a detriment to environmentallysensitive lands protected by rural boundaries established by local governments.
“It’s a very devastating amendment that turns state university campuses into poison pills for the environment,” Lee said.
Katrina Shadix, 49, a longtime east Seminole County resident, also blasted the amendments.
“People move out here for the rural lifestyle,” Shadix said. “But now you’re having state legislators are messing with our home rule and our quality of life. It’s snubbing their noses to democracy.”