Orlando Council to weigh in on huge land annexation request

Orlando City Council is slated to hear on Monday a first reading of an ordinance that, if granted, would grow the boundaries of the city proper by 52,454 acres.

That's more than 68% of the city's land area according to the city's growth management plan . Since then, the Orlando City Council has approved annexations of additional land from unincorporated Orange County: like earlier this year, when the county fought City Council's unanimous decision to annex more than 6,000 acres along State Road 528.

This annexation request for more than 52,000 acres comes from Farmland Reserve, Inc., a Mormon Church affiliate based in Utah, which owns Central Florida's Deseret Ranches . A spokesperson for Farmland Reserve declined to comment on the pending request until after Monday's first reading of the ordinance.

The group Save Orange County scheduled a rally immediately ahead of Monday's Council meeting to voice opposition to the request. Vice Chair Kelly Semrad, who is also running for District 5 Commissioner in Orange County, described the pending request as "the living case of study of how you don't develop."

Semrad cited growing concerns that different forms of regional infrastructure — like roads, schools and water management systems — are being pushed beyond capacity, as more people flock to Central Florida.

"Every time that you talk about extending your city limits to grab new land, you're creating more demand on the systems that are needed that are already failing," Semrad said. "It's like they're talking about building for the future while they're not even sustaining the current."

Semrad said the annexation request goes against Orlando's growth management plan , which states it is built on a philosophy that "promotes a compact, interconnected, mixed use environment, thereby creating opportunities for responsible growth and ensuring a high quality of life."

This November, county voters will get to weigh in on two amendments on the ballot that, together, would establish a rural boundary, which Semrad said would help end urban sprawl. The land Farmland Reserve wants to annex intersects with that would-be rural boundary, Semrad said.

"It's part of what [would] be considered the rural boundary," Semrad said. "So it's the last of the natural land that we actually have available in Orange County."

Orlando Council must hear the ordinance for the requested annexation twice before approving it.