Orange County Democratic Environmental Caucus

Initiative Petitions:

lowering the threshold for petitions required to add to the ballot for a charter amendment or ordinance.

• Purpose: Amendment lowers petition requirements for charter amendment from 10% of registered voters from each district to 7%; for ordinances from 7% per district to 3% per district; removing signature withdrawal procedures; revising several other requirements ($7,000 savings)
• Impact: This amendment relaxes requirements for future charter amendments and ordinances initiated by citizens of Orange County, thereby making citizen-led initiatives easier to facilitate. 

Commission Districts Expanded

Amendment increasing the number of County Districts from six (6) to eight (8), creating a nine-member board (8 County Commissioners + 1 County Mayor), effective 2026. 

• Impact: 
  • Creates two additional county commission districts and, if passed, would authorize two new elections in the 2026 election cycle. 
  • With the increase in population over the last decade, from 621,000 to nearly 1.5 million, discussions of increasing the Board of County Commissioners was a prescient one. 
  • Arguments for the proposal state that the needs of the increased population would best be served by more commissioners, as one commissioner per 250,000 residents would be seen as an ineffective means of representation. 
  • Arguments against the proposal suggest that with an increase in board members, the county government would be more inefficient in its operations, as it would increase the number of individuals needed in completing government functions, thereby slowing already slow procedures even further.

Establishing the Charter Office of the County Attorney

Amendment establishing an office of the County Attorney under the County Charter, appointed by the County Mayor and confirmed by a majority of the Board; can be removed by either the Mayor or a majority of the Board

• Impact: 
  • Formally establishes the County Attorney as an independent office, rather than as an office under the Mayor of Orange County.
  • Under current statutory provisions, the County Attorney served at the pleasure of the County Mayor (even though they currently do no such thing), rather than at the pleasure of the County. 
  • This amendment, then, clarifies the role of the County Attorney and makes clear that the office serves at the pleasure of the county, rather than the mayor. 

 Requiring the continued existence of an Affordable Housing Trust Fund 

Amendment requires the continued existence of an Affordable Housing Trust Fund used to create and preserve affordable housing. 

• Impact:
  • Codifies the Affordable Housing Trust Fund formally into the County Charter from the Orange County Code. 
  • The AHTF, first established by the Board of County Commissioners in 2019 as apart of Mayor Jerry Demings’ Housing for All Strategy, sets aside a specified amount of funds for projects that expand the housing supply in Orange County. 
  • Affordable Housing Trust Funds have become key pillars in affordable housing strategy frameworks, as they are a key source of funding that does not directly take from a jurisdiction’s general fund or other such outlays. 
  • Affordable Housing is also a prescient issue for Orange County residents, as the population has increased over the past decade by almost 20%, averaging between 1.4% to 2% annually. 
  • The housing market’s collapse that immediatley preceded the Great Recession of 2008, the 2020 COVID pandemic and the inflationary pressures that immediately followed all shocked the county’s housing supply.  

Write-In Candidate effects of timing of Charter  

Amendment that dictates write-in candidates shall not county towrd the number of qualified candidates needed to trigger an election during the August primaryAmendment that clarifies that write in candidates do not count towards the number of qualified candidates necessary to trigger an election in the August primary. 

• Impact: 
  • In the event more than two candidates are placed on the ballot for a nonpartisan race in Orange County, then there will be an election held during the August primary, which leads to a runoff between the candidates with the highest, non-majority votes. 
  • This amendment, then, states explicitly that write-in candidates do not count towards the triggering of this election system, clarifying the conditions necessary for this to take effect.  Clarification allows for a more streamlined electoral process and clarifies what candidate counts toward needing an election during the primary 

County Protected Lands  

Amendment that defines County Protected Lands as County owned operated or maintained public parks and recreation areas, and environmentally sensitive lands acquired for environmental, ecological, or recreational reasons; any change to such lands would require a supermajority of the Board (majority plus one) 

• Impact: 
  • Reclassification of certain lands in Orange County better protects these lands for the purposes for which they were designated and/or acquired for
• This is apart of a broader movement to protect the rural lands .

Requiring the adoption of a fiscal sustainability analysis tool 

Amendment that requires the County adopt a fiscal sustainability analysis tool that allows the County to assess the impacts of proposed expansions to the Urban Service Area [urban core, metro areas] and developments to the Rural Settlements and Rural Service Area on the County’s capacity to efficiently provide and maintain infrastructure and services over the County’s  comprehensive plan’s longest-term planning period

Impact: Allows the County to more easily assess proposed developments and expansions to parts of Orange County for the purpose of infrastructure and service provision. 

Creation of a Transportation Mobility Advisory Commission 

Amendment creating a Transportation Mobility Advisor Commission (TMAC) and authorizing the commission to review proposed and past county outlays on transportation initiatives, hold public meetings and hearings on mobility evolution and enhancements, and make recommendations based on the prior mandates.

• Impact: 
  • The creation of this TMAC would allow the County to better assess the current state of county transportation policy and be provided citizen-developed policy recommendations that would address gaps in current County policy and proactively encourage new transit initiatives. 
  • With Orange County growing at high rates on an annual basis, there has been a need for the county’s comprehensive growth plan to be adjusted to accommodate a new time horizon. Hence, Vision 2050 was created in 2019 under the direction of Mayor Theresa Jacobs and the BCC. Its development is still ongoing. 
  • More broadly, however, there have been popular movements that have called for better mobility in Orlando, and the County more generally, with the implementation of walkable cities, public transportation, and better pedestrian safety measures.
  • Such a movement coincides with the ongoing affordable housing crisis and environmental awareness efforts. 

Establishing the Rural Boundary

Amendment that establishes a rural boundary over land in East Orange County and requires that any proposed developments beyond the Rural Boundary would be reviewed by the Board of County Commissioners and such proposals require a majority plus one vote. 

• Impact: The Rural Boundary amendment would, among other things, limit the development of land designated as “rural” in Orange County, which is especially prescient in the Eastern portions of the county.
  • This would limit developments to the Urban Service Area (ie metropolitan core areas in and immediately around these areas)
  • It could also incentivize the use of “smart growth” (or vertical growth) strategies that utilize mixed use lots and vertical growth to mitigate urban sprawl. 

Annexation Requirements

Associated with the Rural Boundary amendment, the proposed Annexation ordinance requires any voluntary annexation must be reviewed and approved by the BCC by a majority plus one vote. Parties involved in an annexation must provide notice to the County 10 days prior to its first public hearing, should this be approved. This amendment also vests the County with exclusive governance over development regulations in rural areas, even if those areas are annexed into a municipality

Impact: Voluntary annexations are a subtype of annexation where a landowner may directly ask a municipality to annex their land. With the County poised to adopt a new Comprehensive Plan by year’s end (Vision 2050), the possibility of developments skirting the new development regulations by being annexed into neighboring municipalities is distinct, especially given the high profile annexations of Tavistock land and land owned by the Church of the Latter Day Saints.