Charter changes for clean water, Split Oak pass

Voters overwhelmingly approved two changes to the Orange County charter Tuesday that are intended to add protection to county waterways and to Split Oak Forest.

The landslide margins of victory for each amendment should send a clear message to state legislators and local leaders who opposed the conservation-based measures, said Eric Rollings, head of the not-for-profit campaign Committee to Save Split Oak Forest.

“You better keep your promises or you’re next,” Rollings said. “We are serious about preserving our green spaces…”

Ballot Question 1, which was titled “Prohibiting Pollution of the Wekiva River, Econlockhatchee River and all other waters of Orange County” but dubbed the “clean-water” amendment by its supporters, earned nearly 90% of the votes cast.

Question 2, which aimed to prevent Orange County commissioners from altering rules protecting Split Oak Forest from development, won 86% of the vote, according to unofficial figures posted Tuesday night on the Election Supervisor’s website.

But both measures face challenges which could thwart the election results.

Republican maneuvering at the end of the Legislature’s spring session was intended to block local governments from enacting measures like the clean-water amendment, which creates natural rights for lakes, rivers and other waterways similar to those of people.

Under current Florida law, people can sue over environmental degradation, but must show they are personally harmed.

“The Florida Legislature needs to revisit their preemption,” said Chuck O’Neal, head of the Right to Clean Water committee which helped draft the amendment. “For the Legislature to just throw out the will of the people is completely turning their backs on voters.”

An ongoing legal challenge filed on behalf of Osceola County commissioners could interfere with the Split Oak amendment, which aimed to prevent Orange County commissioners from altering rules protecting the public forest from development.

The counties partnered with each other and the state to buy Split Oak for $8.6 million in taxpayer money in 1994.

Supporters of the Split Oak measure say it forces Orange County to keep its promise to hold the nearly 1,700-acre property as conservation land near the city-sized Lake Nona development. Rollings said current written protections strong enough.

But Todd Norman, a lawyer representing Osceola County, argued that the amendment is an unconstitutional attempt to reverse a “science-driven decision” the counties made to let the Central Florida Expressway Authority build a segment of a toll road through a section of forest.

Voters also approved Tuesday a third amendment proposed by the Charter Review Commission, a citizen’s panel appointed by the mayor and county commissioners to suggest changes to the county’s governing document. The amendment tweaks rules for changing the charter through a petition initiative, a process requiring backers to gather thousands of signatures in support.

About 56% of voters agreed to tweak the rules.

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