Seminole residents fear ongoing land fight
Controversial River Cross development looks to grab 669 acres
East Seminole residents thought their long battle against the controversial River Cross mega-development was, at last, nearing an end after county commissioners rejected a controversial land swap last month.
But that solace was short lived. Developer Chris Dorworth is now asking Seminole to carve out the 669-acre River Cross property – also known as the Hi-Oaks Ranch – from the county’s protected rural area. If approved, the land east of the Econlockhatchee River could be annexed into neighboring Oviedo, or remain in the county, and more easily be approved into a large development.
That’s brought residents who fought against River Cross for more than two years to the realization that there may never be an end to their quest to keep east Seminole rural. Even if Dorworth’s latest request is turned down, more developers in the coming years are certain to go after the large swaths of open land east of Oviedo that are dotted with wild pastures, cypress swamps, mini ranchettes and horse farms.
“There will be no rest for us,” said Richard Creedon, a Geneva resident for more than a quarter of a century and a strong proponent of keeping east Seminole rural. “There’s a lot of land out here that is not developed, and for developers it’s like kids having visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads. But for them, the sugar plums is the money.”
Mary Jo Martin, chairwoman of the Museum of Geneva history, said Dorworth will have “quite a fight ahead of him” with residents who want to protect Seminole’s last pastures from intense development if he moves forward with his new plans.
“There’s always going to be continual pressure to develop in this area,” said Martin, who has lived in east Seminole since 1985. “But people are not going to give up fighting. They bought out here because it’s rural. And if you carve out one little chunk. Then there’s the next chunk, and the next chunk. And then there’s a precedent. And pretty soon it’s gone.”
In a May 1 letter to Seminole County, Dorworth’s attorney Tara Tedrow asks for an amendment to the county’s rural boundary line
that would remove the four parcels that make up the River Cross property.
In effect, the land — just north of the Orange County line — could then be annexed into the city of Oviedo, which would extend its urban services, such as water and sewer lines, and approve a development at higher densities than currently allowed within the county.
But Dorworth called the River Cross land a prime spot for a mixeduse development — filled with homes, apartments, offices, shops and industrial — because of its close location to the fast-growing University of Central Florida campus and Research Park. He said River Cross could be a “huge economic driver” for Seminole County.
“In real estate, it’s location, location, location,” Dorworth said Wednesday. “And that location is impeccable. It’s 1.6 miles [as the crow flies] from UCF, the second largest university in the country.”
Dorworth agreed that developers will increasingly be lured to either the River Cross property or other land within Seminole’s rural boundary. And he added that many await to see what happens with his River Cross property.
“If I die tomorrow, there are going to be other people wanting to do it,” he said. “There is a mega demand for that area because the schools are great. The land is great. The neighborhoods are great.”
County officials would not comment or did not return calls on Dorworth’s latest request.
In a May 7 email to Tedrow, assistant County Attorney Paul Chipok said that county staff is reviewing the request and it likely will be presented before county commissioners June 9, when they will decide how “to process the request.”
In 2018, commissioners unanimously rejected Dorworth’s original plans for River Cross that called for 600 single-family homes, 270 townhouses, 500 apartments and 1.5 million square feet of shops, eateries and restaurants.
Commissioners said the development was too intense for Seminole’s rural boundary, an area covering nearly one third of the county and approved by voters in 2004 limiting development densities to one home to five acres or one home to 10 acres.
Dorworth, a former state legislator and now lobbyist, then filed a federal lawsuit, claiming the county’s rural boundary violates the federal Fair Housing Act.
As a settlement offer, Dorworth in January pitched trading the River Cross land for the publicly owned, 240-acre Econ River Wilderness Area, off Old Lockwood Road and west of the Econ river. But commissioners on April 28 rejected that proposed swap in a 4-1 vote.
Dorworth said that in 2018 he requested the River Cross property be taken out of the rural boundary in his initial plans. But he was rebuffed by county staff.
Commissioners, with a 3-to-2 majority vote, can either carve out a property from the rural zone or approve higher densities, according to the rural boundary charter amendment.
“We were expressly told that that was a complete non-starter,” he said. “It’s all political.”
Charles Lee, director of advocacy for the Florida Audubon Society, said that there will be growing pressure in the coming years to develop within Seminole’s rural boundary. But there is already more than enough available land, including near the UCF campus, to develop into housing rather than venturing into Seminole’s rural area.
“I think that within that portion of Seminole County there are ample opportunities that will provide for more housing and commercial growth without crossing over into the rural boundary,” Lee said.
Lee said the same development pressures exist in South Florida, where developers are increasingly wanting to venture into the environmentally sensitive Everglades.
“The pressure comes from that traditional way in Florida: That you get rich by snookering the local officials that they need a development that we really don’t need,” he said.
Paul Owens, president of 1000 Friends of Florida, a nonprofit that advocates for mixed-use developments and infill projects near urban areas rather than new construction in outlying or isolated areas, said carving the River Cross property out of Seminole’s rural boundary could open the door to similar requests.
“It would certainly be harder for the commission to turn down other developers if they went ahead and approved this,” he said. “And [for residents] the fight will be a lot more difficult if this is approved and a precedent is set.”
Owens added that infill development in urban areas is not only better for the environment, but also better for taxpayers because services – such as water, sewer, police and fire protection, and schools – are already available.
“When you have to stretch public services into rural areas, it makes those services a lot more expensive,” he said. “So, it raises everyone’s taxes as a result.”
But Dorworth argued that his River Cross development is not urban sprawl because it sits close to areas already developed.
“This property is not far away from development,” he said. “Urban sprawl would be if someone is creeping [development] toward Geneva. Then they have a point. That would be urban sprawl.”
But Dave Bear, a Winter Springs resident, said Seminole’s strict rural boundary line is what protects the area from urban sprawl.
“That’s why it’s so important that the rural boundary line doesn’t get moved,” he said. “These request from developers will go on in perpetuity … If they move the line this time, then they will continue moving it. They will be hard pressed to not keep doing something.”
Creedon and others said that is why it’s important to elect commissioners who want to keep east Seminole rural.
“As long as we have life and breath, we are going to fight for the rural area, because we feel it’s worth preserving,” he said. “And it’s not only for the people in the rural area, but it’s for people in the entire county and region.”