Growth Management, Land Protection On The Nov. 5 Ballots In Area

There are no interesting referendums on the Polk County ballot this year but there are in some nearby counties.
Lake County voters are being asked to approve a $50 million bond issue using existing tax revenues to preserve what’s left of its natural lands from the onslaught of development-fueled municipal annexations.
Osceola County voters will be asked to renew authorization for a tax approved 20 years ago to continue to buy and manage environmental lands.
In Orange County the referendums become more interesting and controversial.
One, if approved, would require a supermajority vote to increase intensity or density in designated rural areas. This one plays against the background of what was a proposed annexation by Orlando of the Deseret Ranch property that would have essentially extended Orange County’s urban growth boundary to the Brevard County line. That idea, whose intent may have been a pre-emptive strike against the potential passage of the referendum, has been scrapped for now.
Another referendum asks voters if they agree it should require a supermajority vote of the County Commission to dispose of or to change the approved land use of local conservation lands.
Finally, still another referendum asks voters what they think of the idea of requiring a fiscal sustainability analysis before the County Commission expands the urban growth boundary deeper into rural areas.
These proposed charter amendments were proposed ty Orange’s latest charter review committee.
That is quite a contrast from charter review committees in Polk that are composed of people intent on protecting the status quo, not challenging it.