Orange County used to be known for Oranges

Orlando traffic

As I read about over development within our State, it seems that residents in Orange County understand Amendment 4 and why it is so important. It hits closer to home for residents there because of it being the fastest and largest growing County in the State. They have lived with agricultural land turning into large developments. They have seen the destruction of open space and natural habitats changed to PUD's. What used to be beautiful virgin country is no more.

Read Jane Healey's article today in the Orlando Sentinel, Will Orange ruin or Save Rural Area?

Back in 1821, there were only two counties that formed Florida: Escambia to the west and St Johns to the east. On one of my earlier trips through the State in the late 1960’s, you could drive through and see endless miles of citrus groves. Citrus was our number one industry. Orange County, at its peak in 1970, had 80,000 acres of citrus. What happened? Why all the growth?

One big reason was Disney. It attracted new home buyers. There has been a large influx of domestic migration and high numbers of international migration. The other reason was that growers had more and more difficulties with the climate. Cold spells wiped out their profits. Even Tropicana left the State after they sold to Pepsi in 1998 and is now headquartered in Chicago. As more and more people wanted to move here, land became more valuable and it has and is being swallowed up by developers. The end product is what we have today—sprawl.

Sprawl started big time around the 1990’s. Development is our number one industry today next to tourism and farmland in Orange County is being developed at an average of 7,800 acres every year. Population there as of 2000 was 896,344 and estimated to grow to 1,797,582 in 20 years. All this growth has been expensive as roads are now outdated and driving is not as pleasant as it once was. Growth has put a financial burden on all those who live there and they are constantly trying to catch up with new infrastructure.

All those homeowners that moved to Orange County now realize that the very reason they moved there, quality of life, has rapidly degenerated thanks to elected officials changing land uses in their Comprehensive Plan.

You can well understand why every builder's group, the Realtor's Association, most politicians and the Florida Chamber of Commerce want to stop Amendment 4. Their paycheck is derived from development. Politicians have received huge campaign contributions from those affiliated with development. The more units developed, the more they make or the bigger the tax base. They don't want sensible growth or residents having a say in what their own city should look like. Orange County is no longer known for its citrus industry but urban sprawl.

On November 2 this year we can finally have a chance to make a difference by voting YES to Amendment 4.