ORLANDO, Fla. – An amendment to make it harder to build developments in parts of Orange County will be on the November ballot after a judge rejected a developer’s request to remove it.
This summer, county commissioners approved two charter amendments for the November ballot: one would establish a rural boundary, requiring a majority-plus-one vote on the commission to approve more urban development on property located in those areas. The other amendment would require a majority-plus-one vote from commission members in order to allow city governments to annex unincorporated property into their boundaries.
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Developer Lake Pickett North LLC sued to stop the charter amendments though, saying the county failed to publish a business impact statement in a timely manner prior to their approval, according to Florida law.
However, the judge said the complaint was moot because the state law only applied to the enactment of “ordinances.” The commission approved the two amendments as “resolutions.”
The judge also said that many of the arguments the developer argued were inapplicable because they relied on laws pertaining to city governments, not county governments. The judge also rejected arguments that putting the charter amendments up for a vote would lead to “irreparable harm” to the developer.
Lake Pickett North has been trying to build a large-scale development in east Orange County for years. County commissioners have denied the project again and again because of intense criticism from residents already in the area who are trying to preserve its rural character. Lake Pickett North is suing the county over that denial.
“The public interest is not served by preventing the right of the people of Orange County to express their opinion on the proposed amendments to the County Charter, especially when no constitutional issues exist and the ballot language is not alleged to be misleading,” the judge wrote in their ruling.
The election is Nov. 5.
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