Seminole rejects River Cross settlement
Officials shoot down proposed land swap to end lawsuit
For the second time in less than a year, Seminole commissioners rejected an offer by developer and former state legislator Chris Dorworth to settle his federal lawsuit against the county over his controversial River Cross development within the county’s rural boundary.
In the latest offer, Dorworth’s River Cross Land Co. proposed swapping its 669-acre property that sits just east of the environmentally-sensitive Econlockhatchee River and north of the Orange County line with 238 acres owned by Seminole just west of the river and north of the county line.
Commissioners voted 4-to-1 to reject the trade after a closeddoor meeting on Tuesday. Commissioner Lee Constantine, who made the motion to reject the offer, was joined by commissioners Amy Lockhart, Bob Dallari and Jay Zembower in voting to reject it. Commissioner Brenda Carey voted against the rejection.
Commissioners and county staff said they wouldn’t talk about the settlement offer or the River Cross project because of the ongoing federal lawsuit.
“I cannot comment on any of this,” Constantine said.
The county property Dorworth wanted to receive in the swap is known as Seminole’s Econ River Wilderness Area — east of Old Lockwood Road and north of McCulloch Road — that offers visitors about 3 miles of hiking trails that meander through forests and scrubland. There are also benches along the river.
After receiving the county property, River Cross Land Co. would then have to submit a development application with the county.
Contingent on the development being approved, the county then would take possession of the River Cross land, which sits on the other side of the Econ and stretches to County Road 419.
It’s unclear, however, what the county would do with the River Cross land. The former ranchland is made up of six parcels that have long been owned by Hi-Oaks LLC, an organization run by the Clayton family.
The River Cross property sits
within the county’s rural boundary and according to Seminole’s land development regulations, or comprehensive plan, water and sewer services can’t be extended into the rural area as a way of preventing widespread commercial growth.
In contrast, the county’s Econ River Wilderness Area west of the river sits within Seminole’s urban services area and has access to water and sewer connections. That makes the smaller county property much more suitable for commercial and residential development and thereby more valuable.
In 2018, Dorworth and his company submitted its River Cross development plans, which calls for 600 singlefamily homes, 270 townhouses, 500 apartments and 1.5 million square feet of shops, eateries and offices on a portion of those 669 acres.
Commissioners unanimously voted down the project after hundreds of residents — most from east Seminole — blasted the development, saying it would lead to urban sprawl and pointing out that in 2004 Seminole voters approved a ballot measure establishing the rural boundary area mostly east of the Econ, Oviedo and Lake Jesup.
Development densities within that rural boundary are limited to one home per 3 acres or one home per 10 acres.
Dorworth then sued the county in federal court, arguing that the county’s rural boundary violates the Fair Housing Act because it has a “segregative effect and disparate impact on protected minority classes in Seminole County.”
As part of the lawsuit, Dallari and Constantine testified in depositions that they each had dinner with Dorworth in spring 2018 before he submitted his plans to the county.
However, both commissioners testified that they told the developer they couldn’t state a position on the project.
“Mr. Dorworth told me about the project, and I told Mr. Dorworth I really can’t comment on it until [county] staff looks at it,” Dallari testified. “I told him that I really can’t make comments on things that are going to be coming in front of us that we’re going to be voting on….Until after it goes through the approval process.”
Dallari and Constantine also testified that they felt it was important to protect the rural area from sprawl.
Constantine also stated that before the River Cross project was heard by county commissioners, Dorworth and his attorney Tara Tedrow called him several times to urge him to “formulate a consensus and a compromise” and asking him: “Can you work with us on it?”
“And I would say consistently to both Ms. Tedrow and to Mr. Dorworth: ‘I can’t do that,’” Constantine testified.
Constantine also said he told Tedrow and Dorworth: “You’ve got to tell me what you think you could live with, and I will tell you whether I could live with that. That’s all.”
A previous settlement offer by Dorworth also was rejected by commissioners last June. It called for 300 fewer apartments and a 70% reduction in commercial space. However, the offer kept the same number of single-family homes and townhomes at a total of 870.