ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Orange County leaders early Wednesday rejected a controversial proposed development that would have transformed a rural area near Lake Pickett.
The vote was 4-3 to deny the 1,300-acre Sustanee development from moving forward.
Orlando-based Canin Associates had planned to bring nearly 1,800 homes to ranchland currently zoned as rural just north of State Road 50 and west of Chuluota Road, between Lake Pickett and the University of Central Florida.
Neighbors said that the development would impact their quality of life and that there was no road capacity, much less general infrastructure, for that many homes.
The commission meeting lasted longer than 10 hours, reaching into early Wednesday after more than 100 people took to the podium expressing their concerns.
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“I want you to know that I intentionally purchased my home in rural east Orange County because (of) the county’s promise to me and all of us in east Orange County, east of the Econ River. The promise is to not cross the river and drive increased density,” a resident said.
Commissioner Emily Bonilla, who was against the proposal, presented for more than an hour on her own, addressing a need for road improvements and how much they would cost in the long term if Sustanee was actually built.
The length of Bonilla’s presentation appeared to irk some of her peers. After an hour, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings intervened and urged Bonilla to wrap up, after which she continued for another eight minutes.
Commissioner Christine Moore commented that she didn’t believe in surprises and would have appreciated a chance to review Bonilla’s material beforehand, cutting down Bonilla’s immediate response by saying, “I listened to you for an hour and 10 minutes. Could I speak?”
A vote was finally called after Bonilla motioned to deny the project. Demings was among the three “No” votes, records show.
Per the vote, the area will remain zoned as rural/agricultural and cannot be expanded to allow more than one home per 10 acres.
It was a sigh of relief for homeowner Kelly Semrad who spoke at the meeting.
“I’m so thankful the community showed up,” she said. “Twelve hours of sitting and waiting to try and publicly speak out and support your community is a really big endeavor to be successful at, and they were, and they have been for a decade.”
“So, we’re super excited about that but also frustrated that we have to fight so hard,” she said. “Why do citizens have to fight so hard to protect where they live when the county promised it would stay a rural community?”
Semrad said she was surprised by Demings’ vote in favor of moving the development forward.
“We’re disappointed in Mayor Demings,” Semrad said. “He’s the first mayor to vote for urban sprawl across the Econ River.”
It’s still unclear whether the developer will rework the project. If they do, they’d have to wait another two years to resubmit the plans.
“If it comes back up again, and we expect that it will, we will be there and we will keep showing up,” Semrad said. “We will keep fighting for the promise the county made to the residents east of the Econ to protect our area, to keep it rural, and to make sure we have the necessary resources to support the quality of life that people who live in the rural area have just as much a right to as the people who live in the urban area.”
The vote was celebrated Wednesday morning on the Facebook group “Save Orange County,” marked in a post stating, “We WIN when we show up!”
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