The Church of Latter-Day Saints has filed a proposal to voluntarily annex 52,450 acres of land from their desert ranch property to Orlando, expanding it by 60%.
Farmland Reserve is the Church’s real estate investment company that deals with their agricultural assets. They want to annex this land so they can solidify their future as a growing region and turn the land into a unified planning area. “Property under a single municipal government will avoid the piecemeal planning of the past,” stated Doug Rose, the president of Farmland Reserve.
This annexation is occuring at the same time as a new initiative on the November ballot that would allow county leaders to veto voluntary annexations. This is forcing officials to make the decision on the possible annexation before the ballot. “We would prefer not to have these decisions made in such compressed time frames, but given the circumstances imposed by the County and our obligation to protect the best interest of our taxpayers and residents, we must review these applications and make a decision on them before a County charter amendment might go into effect,” stated City Hall spokeswoman Ashley Papagni.
Some critics see giving up this land full of natural resources to a big city as a detriment to the ecosystems already existing there. Many express concern that if successful it “would place some of Central Florida’s most important wildlife habitat, open spaces and water resources… under the oversight of a government entity that has relatively limited experience in those areas, the city of Orlando,” said the Orlando Sentinel.
If the annexation is approved, Farmland Reserve plans to keep it agricultural for years while they communicate with Orlando on how to build upon it. “With conserving natural resources always as the first consideration in our planning,” stated Rose.
