Boundary segregates races in Seminole, River Cross developer’s lawsuit claims
Former state legislator Chris Dorworth, whose company proposed building 600 single-family homes and 500 apartments in rural east Seminole County, has sued the county in federal court, saying its voter-approved rural boundary and county commissioners’ refusal to rezone 670 acres for the River Cross mega-development violate the Fair Housing Act.
The lawsuit claims the boundary has “a clear and negative disparate impact on racial minorities...denying them their rights to housing.”
“Seminole County’s actions perpetuate a history of residential racial segregation in Seminole County...” by limiting development, according to the lawsuit, which asks U.S. District Judge Anne C. Conway to order the county to get rid of the rural boundary, established in 2004 through a vote of residents. The lawsuit also wants the county to pay unspecified punitive damages and the cost of attorney fees for River Cross Land Company.
State records list Dorworth as the company’s manager.
Commissioner Lee Constantine, who called the proposed development “unnecessary” during the Aug. 14 rezoning hearing, declined to address the charges in the lawsuit, instead referring questions to Seminole County Attorney A. Bryant Applegate. The lawyer said it would be inappropriate to comment on the company’s arguments while the matter is pending.
The county has not yet filed an answer to the lawsuit.
Seminole’s rural area covers nearly a third of the county and stretches mostly east of the Econlockhatchee River, Oviedo and Lake Jesup.
As far as back as 1977, Seminole planned its eastern region as a rural and agricultural area with homes sitting on large lots.
A recent staff report noted the county has “not anticipated nor budgeted to provide urban services” to the area. Most homes get water from wells and have septic tanks.
The lawsuit notes blacks make up just 2.9 percent of the population in rural east Seminole County and Hispanics just 6 percent of the population in the area.
Blacks comprise 10.6 percent of Seminole’s population west of the boundary, Hispanics 17.4 percent.
“Although Seminole County touts the rural boundary as a means to maintain the rural character, lifestyle and agricultural potential of the rural areas of Seminole County. the boundary line has a segregative effect and disparate impact on protected minority classes in Seminole County,” according to the lawsuit filed by Orlando lawyers Rebecca Rhoden and Michael Piccolo.
The suit points out Seminole County was under order from 1970 to 2006 to desegregate its schools. It also noted that River Cross developers had “guaranteed” at least 15 percent of the residential real estate would be designated as affordable housing, a label that suggests rent-restricted apartments and homes for families with low or very low incomes.
The lawyers termed commissioners’ refusal to rezone the property or amend the county’s comprehensive land-use plan as “arbitrary,” saying developers spent “extensive amounts of time and money seeking Seminole County’s approval...”
Hundreds of Seminole residents, many clad in lime green shirts that read “Keep Seminole Rural” filled the commission chambers for the August hearing.
Many spoke against the project, calling it urban sprawl and saying it would put too many houses and townhouses in an area zoned for one home per 5 acres.
River Cross proposed to build 600 single-family homes, 270 townhouses, 500 apartments and 1.5 million square feet for shops, eateries and offices — in towers up to nearly eight stories high — on 291 acres west of County Road 491 and north of the Orange County line.