ORLANDO, Fla. – After pressure from the public and a conservative law firm, Orange County is no longer considering a moratorium on churches in rural areas.
On Dec. 3, 2024, people filled nearly every seat in the house to attend the Orange County Commission meeting in order to weigh in on the discussion of a proposed “immediate moratorium on the acceptance, processing and approval of church permits or applications in rural areas,” as stated in a memo sent out to commissioners on Nov. 22, 2024.
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However, in the middle of the period of public comment — when those in favor and against this moratorium spoke to the board — Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings clarified the board’s plans.
“There is not an agenda item today in which the board will take any specific action to create a moratorium,” Demings said during the December meeting.
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Rather, the commission’s discussion was geared toward creating an oversight board for church development in rural areas.
At the end of the meeting, the board agreed to continue this conversation on Feb.11, but News 6 learned Tuesday that the moratorium portion of the discussion has been nixed.
“The focus of the conversation shifted to the potential need for broader zoning reforms,” a county spokesperson said in a prepared statement.
News 6 has asked the county for more details on the decision and is awaiting a response.
Some residents who live in rural areas of the county spoke in December in favor of the moratorium.
Patricia Buchanan who lives off Lake Pickett Road said in a public comment that she had lived in the area for 20 years and every development made flooding near her worse.
“A few years ago, when the hurricanes came through, our yards, our pastures were high and dry,” Buchanan said. “But all of that has changed in the last few years, since the developments went down the road our pastures, our homes, and our yards flood worse and worse with every development.”
As previously reported, for more than 10 years residents in the area around Lake Pickett have been fighting developments.
Others say the proposed moratorium on churches in rural areas is unconstitutional.
The Liberty Counsel, an influential conservative law firm which is based in Central Florida, sent an eight-page letter to Orange County claiming the proposal is “blatantly unconstitutional and unlawful.”
The letter states that the moratorium treats religious buildings less favorably than nonreligious buildings and burdens religious worship.
“The Church Moratorium violates the First Amendment Free Exercise Clause, the Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection Clause, and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act,” the letter read.
News 6 reached out to Orange County for a response to the letter, at the time of publication we are still awaiting a response.
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