ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) on Thursday voted to approve an agreement that allows for an extension of Osceola Parkway through a section of Split Oak Forest.
The CFX board approved a package that was approved by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). The only dissenting vote on the CFX board was made by Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, who said he was siding with the voters of Orange County who want to protect Split Oak.
Last week, FWC voted 6-1 to release protections of 60 acres in Split Oak Forest in exchange for 1,550 acres of abutting conservation land and millions of dollars — in pledges and actuality — to maintain and improve the land.
The vote followed years of organized opposition which seems to have only chipped away at an inevitable CFX project originally expected to impact some 160 acres of the protected land.
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After the vote, FWC Chairman Rodney Barreto said he thought the agreement was the best way forward.
“This is an opportunity for us, as managers, to look at this and to say, ‘Hey, if this is going to happen, let’s make something really good out of this.’ So, what did we do? We got 1,550 more acres available to the public. Now we’re going to manage them, we’re going to rehabilitate them, we’re going to get them open to the public, we have an extra $18 million to buy more land,” he said. “...We feel this is a very big win-win for the public. Now, I know that the folks who are against it don’t view it that way now, but I think in the future, they will.”
With an approval from CFX, the timeline will soon be finalized for transfer of the lands.
“If they vote in favor, then we move forward. We move forward with amending the easement and then work out contracts, get monies, receive the land, come up with a management plan, start rehabilitating the land and getting it open to the public,” Barreto said before the CFX board voted.
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