The Charter Review Commission

kills a plan that would protect rural areas in east Orange County.

Slow-growth advocates in east Orange County lost a fight Thursday that they had dubbed “The Battle of the Big Econ.”

The Charter Review Commission unanimously rejected a proposed charter change that would have made it harder to develop the county’s shrinking rural communities, including thousands of acres of ranches, pastures, and pine and palmetto forests east of the Econlockhatchee River.

The serpentine river has served for a quarter-century as the unofficial eastern boundary between urban growth and what remains of rural life.

The CRC decided against putting the measure before the voters.

If it had been given a spot on the November ballot and approved, the charter change would have required a unanimous vote by county commissioners to alter zoning rules, amend land-use policies or rework other regulations to increase the number of homes that could be built in rural areas.

A simple majority of the seven-member commission can make a switch under existing rules.

The idea was championed by an outspoken community group in east Orange, incensed last summer when county commissioners dismissed their pleas and backed a development called The Grow.

Also known as Lake Pickett South, The Grow could bring thousands of new homes to the rural east side.

More than three dozen people lobbied the CRC, a group appointed by county commissioners to consider rule changes to the document that serves as the county’s governing document or constitution. It has authority to put proposed changes on the ballot for voters to consider.

Proponents of the measure wore red T-shirts bearing the slogan “Save Our County.”

Many foes were represented by lawyers.

Vivian Monaco, a land-use lawyer with the Orlando firm of Burr & Forman and a representative of the Greater Orlando Builders Association, pointed out that more than 20,000 people already live east of the river, an area feeling development pressure as the nearby University of Central Florida expands.

David Axel, a real-estate broker, said he bought 40 acres on Chuluota Road in 1998 when his son was born, “hopefully to pay for his college.”

If the rural-protection proposal was enacted, Axel said he would have been “precluded from doing much of anything” with the property, though his land is in an area where Cypress Lakes and other suburban-type residential communities have popped up in the past 10 years.

Other opponents insisted commissioners don’t need unanimous votes to raise taxes or decide other important issues.

They argued unanimous votes allow a contrarian commission to wield too much power.

Elizabeth Hester, whose family lives on 10 acres near Lake Pickett Road, disputed that, citing the commission’s vote on The Grow.

“I would say the voice of the people was heard then ignored by the board of county commissioners,” she said.