ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Engineering crews and pink survey ribbons were spotted in and near the Split Oak Forest Wednesday, a sign that a controversial road project broadly rejected by voters was continuing to move forward.
The ribbons marked the future Osceola Parkway Extension project, which the Central Florida Expressway Authority has pushed for – in conjunction with Osceola County – to bring relief to the rapidly growing and traffic-clogged eastern portion of the area.
That community will soon include tens of thousands of homes in the Sunbridge mega-development that crosses the county line.
The road is set to splice through the southern portion of the protected land, which was set aside because of its biodiversity and high concentration of gopher tortoises, which dig burrows that support other species.
In return, CFX and a developer have offered up 1,500 acres for conservation and agreed to donate money to pay for the remediation of the land, which formerly hosted orange groves.
Orange County initially supported the deal, but reversed course amid intense voter opposition. 86% of voters supported a referendum to protect Split Oak.
Commissioner Kelly Semrad (D-5) claimed CFX staff recently told her the road was a “done deal” despite Orange County walking away from the table.
“That it’s over,” she recalled being told at a recent meeting. “That there’s nothing that can be done and that they no longer need Orange County sitting at the table.”
Semrad is calling a discussion between herself and other commissioners to figure out if any levers are still available to halt the road’s development, or if CFX broke any agreements made. She specifically mentioned she hadn’t been told the land swap had been finalized.
She warned moving forward with the road project could lead to mistrust from voters who could soon be asked to support a transportation sales tax.
“I think it’s super important for the county commissioners and the mayor to come to terms with that at some point in time, a bad vote happened,” she said. “If CFX is telling us the case that this is a done deal, Orange County [should] come back to the people with an answer that explains how it happened, why it happened, and why it would never happen again. If they’re going to ask us to increase our sales tax, then we must restore voter confidence.”
When asked about how discussions and planning could happen without one of the forest’s landowners, Osceola County staff cited pending litigation and declined to respond.
CFX leaders said they were working on a response and called the series of questions lobbed their way “very technical.”
FWC leaders also said they were working on a response when asked if they had taken control over the donated land, or knew what date that handover would happen.
“It belongs to all of us. It belongs to your children, and the idea of having it utilized for nothing more than an expressway to a private development interest is an insult to all of us,” Commissioner Nicole Wilson said. “Quite frankly, it’s a manipulation of a multi-jurisdictional agreement.”
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