Gabrielle Russon
Republican Rep. Erika Booth is planning to file a local bill backed by the Orange County legislative delegation to update a 2017 state law governing the Sunbridge Stewardship District.
The Sunbridge master-planned community from Tavistock Development currently is planned for Osceola County and what’s now the city of Orlando, after the city annexed 6,300 acres last year.
“Essentially, the bill would expand the legal description of the District to include the areas that are approved for development in Orange County, now the city of Orlando,” Richard Levy, the District’s Chair, told Orange County lawmakers at a Jan. 9 meeting.
“It does not make any changes to those approvals, any of the entitlements. They all stay the same. Nothing would change. It merely is creating a governance structure for that particular area. It expands the role of wildlife protection, conservation lands protection and other habitat protection for … the District.”
Levy added that the bill “has absolutely no bearing on annexation, one way or the other” after Orange County voters supported giving government officials more control over annexations.
Levy joined representatives of Orange County Utilities and the city of Orlando Friday. No one voiced opposition to the bill and lawmakers unanimously supported it. Lawmakers had discussed the bill earlier this month, but postponed their vote until Friday to give stakeholders more time to analyze the legal nuances.
Some of the proposed changes in the upcoming local bill make it clear that Orange County still has the authority to set water rates and collect revenue for the District’s land in the county. Orange County must also continue to provide water, wastewater and reclaimed water services within its land in the District.
The development involves 7,370 residential units, 5.4 million square feet of office space, 2.9 million square feet of industrial uses and 880,000 square feet of retail, the Orlando Sentinel reported in 2024.
Annexations continue to be a controversial topic in Central Florida.
Orange County voters supported charter amendments in November to limit development on rural lands and give county officials more power to govern annexations, as some residents are worried about Central Florida’s sprawling growth.
Orange County Commissioner Kelly Semrad voiced concerns that the Sunbridge Stewardship District could “undermine” Orange County voters who supported charter amendments.
“Special interests are attempting to preempt local voter mandated county constitutional amendments, and I urge you to protect the integrity of our local democracy by ensuring that the overwhelmingly supported voter mandated county constitutional amendments remained intact,” Semrad wrote in a letter that was read Jan. 9.
But Levy warned that the Sunbridge local bill isn’t tied to annexation and compared the district to a “super HOA.”
“The expansion of this District has no bearing whatsoever on any future annexations,” Levy said Jan. 9. “The charter amendment, in our minds and the District’s minds, settled the issue of future annexations. Will it happen someday? I don’t know. Obviously now, with the charter amendment, it’s going to be up to the Orange County Commission to decide whether the future voluntary annexations occur in unincorporated Orange County. But this bill has absolutely nothing to do with annexation.”
Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani asked Levy if the voters hadn’t approved the charter amendments last year, would the District still be pushing for the same changes in the local bill?
“I personally believe as Chair of the District, it would be identical, it wouldn’t change,” Levy answered.
