ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Thursday presented an update on the proposed mitigation package for the partial release of easements in Split Oak Forest.
Residents from both Orange and Osceola Counties, and multiple coalitions to save Split Oak were in attendance.
The Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) proposed the construction of the Osceola Parkway Extension, which would be a tollway beginning near the intersection of State Road 417 and Boggy Creek Road in Orange County, ending South of Cyrils Drive in Osceola County.
“This preferred configuration would cross 1.3 miles of Split Oak Forest or WEA,” Director of the Office of Conservation Planning Services Jason Hight said during the presentation.
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The CFX board proposed donating 1550 acres of adjacent land and funds for restoration and management of those lands to offset impacts.
Hight said FWC proposed that bridging and underpasses are placed where the tollway will sit for wildlife, people and equipment.
Also, the FWC would like Road Signage for prescribed fire management.
After the presentation, meeting attendees were split up into breakout sessions.
“The focus of these groups will be to record your answer, essentially your answer to the question, what did we miss in the package,” Hight said.
Emily Stewart, a member of the Split Oak Coalition, and the majority of the crowd agreed, but they were still separated into six different groups.
News 6 reporter Treasure Roberts followed Stewart into her session to hear what she and the group had to say.
“We cannot continue to trade beautiful land that nourishes us for more growth,” Stewart said.
Attendees listed issues like displaced wildlife, noise pollution and the loss of understudied species.
“What does that look like to be in a relationship with a land so deep that you can tell those species are dwindling,” Johanna Munoz of Osceola County said.
The session lasted for about two hours. Facilitators listened to each person and the recorders took notes of each comment.
The session leaders said the comments will be brought back to the commission.
“FWC keeps saying, ‘What did we miss?’ What you missed are the voices of the people who actually use this land everyday,” Stewart said.
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