ORLANDO, Fla. – Measures approved by voters in 2024 to tighten development in rural areas of two Central Florida counties would be banned under a bill currently in the Florida Senate.
State Sen. Stan McClain, R-Ocala, is sponsoring SB 1118, which proposes changes to land use and development regulations.
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Then on Friday, McClain filed a new version of the bill which not only bans local initiatives or referendums regarding land development regulation, but also makes the ban retroactive to June 1, 2011.
That rolls back any voter-approved local referendums made between then and now, including the charter amendment Orange County voters approved in 2024 to set a rural boundary area in east Orange County.
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This is an area where development is tightly controlled and requires majority-plus-one approval from the county commission in order to allow development.
It also rolls back a 2024 voter-approved measure in Seminole County to strengthen the rules regarding developing in the already existing rural boundary area.
That rural boundary, which was set in 2006, would not be affected by the ban.
However, the bill also includes a measure that would allow some developers in “agricultural enclaves” to bypass rural boundary rules and just go through an administrative process to develop there, instead of having to get local government approval, which would require public hearings where residents can give their input.
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That would make it easier to develop in Seminole County’s rural boundary.
It would also make it easier to develop in the Farmland Preservation Area in Marion County, which McClain represents.
News 6 reached out to McClain several times to speak to him about the bill, and he has not responded to our requests.
McClain, a home builder, was elected to the Florida Senate last year, after serving in the Florida House for eight years. Before that, he served on the Marion County Commission.
Even before the amendment was filed Friday, opposition to the bill was growing among area leaders.
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Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek urged Facebook followers to contact members of the Florida Senate to stop the bill in a post on March 6.
“Auto-upzone the ag-zoned land on Mitchell Hammock while also eliminating the Rural Boundary? NO. That’s how we need our state legislators to vote on these bills that would basically obliterate Oviedo’s thoughtfully developed comprehensive plan and also decimate the Rural Boundary,” Sladek said.
She repeated that call in posts on Friday.
State Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, whose district includes Orange County’s rural boundary, said it was a bad bill that got worse.
“This includes the rural boundary amendment passed by 73% of Orange voters in November and by 83% of Seminole voters on a similar issue,” he posted on Facebook.
Seminole County Commissioner Lee Constantine, who served in the Florida Senate from 2000 to 2010, said the bill was almost disrespectful to the citizens.
“I’ve seen a lot of egregious bills in the Florida Legislature, but this is one of the top,” Constantine told News 6 Friday.
“It opens the door for really bad decisions, and it avoids the public. Public hearings, public meetings,” he added.
Constantine said the bills were also opposed by the Florida Association of Counties and the Florida League of Cities.
The bill has its first committee hearing in the Florida Senate Community Affairs Committee on Monday, March 17 at 4 p.m.
A companion version in the Florida House, HB 1209, has not been scheduled for a committee hearing. It does not include the changes McClain made to the Senate bill on Friday.
