Two leaders, Sanford and Oviedo, two of Seminole County’s largest cities, are blowing up proposed state laws to facilitate the development of rural areas in the county.
“They are certainly developer-driven,” Oviedo Mayor Megan Slideck said of the proposed Senate Bill 1118 and Companion House Building 1209.
On Monday, she joined fellow councillors and Sanford commissioners in support of sending in a sharply expressed letter to state legislators, calling for her to reject the bill.
“We want to increase the density of cities where serving is less expensive than rural areas, which is what our members say they want,” Sanford Mayor Art Woodruff said before his city commissioner voted unanimously against the proposed law at another meeting.
David Bear, president of the nonprofit Save Rural Seminole, urged Oviedo and Sanford to serve as a border near the county’s rural border. He called the bill “terrifying.”
The proposed law “does not automatically eliminate seminole lines, but it will make the lines functionally irrelevant through the Tallahassee approval process,” Bear said. The developer said, “You don’t have to come before the Seminole County Commission for a hearing.”
Founded by voters in 2004, the countryside of the Seminoles covers almost a third of the Seminoles. Development density within the boundary is mostly limited to one home per 5 acres or one home per 10 acres.
Last November, Seminole voters overwhelmingly approved amendments to the charter to strengthen the rules, requiring that a large majority of votes by county commissioners (at least four votes on a five-member committee) should be removed and developed property within the boundary.
The Senate bill, introduced by Senator Stan McClain, R-Carla, will wipe out the 2024 referendum.
It introduces the 2004 country boundary of the Seminole, but has undergone significant changes. Under the law, the developer’s demands to develop agricultural enclaves — land adjacent to existing zoning for residential, industrial or commercial development does not require a hearing, Oviedo officials said.
Local governments have long mandated land development regulations (known as comprehensive plans), known as comprehensive plans, according to Oviedo Mayor Brian Cobb.
However, the proposed law says “that’s not a problem. You’ll approve this (development) without justification,” he said.
In Orange County, the proposed Senate bill would revoke two charter amendments approved by voters last year. One creates country boundaries and the other is a limited merger initiated by the developer.
The proposed bill was a priority for the Florida Association of Home Builders and Deseret Ranch, the real estate division of the Latter-day Saints’ Church of Jesus Christ, which covers hundreds of thousands of acres of land in East Orange.
The Senate bill was quickly approved at its first committee hearing last month. However, as of Tuesday, neither bill has scheduled additional committee hearings.
“They want to develop on rural boundaries,” Oviedo Council member Natalie Teuhart said of supporters of the bill. “It ignores voters voting.”
Sanford committee member Claudia Thomas is even more dull.
“Set it all on a cap and a bold face,” she said by recommending Sanford writes in opposition.
Original issue: April 1, 2025, 3:01pm EDT
