Despite intense lobbying from a cohort of Winter Park leaders, including its mayor, Orange County\u2019s elected governing board on Tuesday adopted a new map of commission districts that lumps the wealthy and influential city with rural east communities \u2014 where its political power may be diminished.<\/p>\n
But the decision was good news for many in Pine Hills, an unincorporated, low-income, heavily Black and Hispanic area that is split by the county\u2019s existing map and preferred an alternative new district that both united the neighborhood and separated it from Winter Park.<\/p>\n
The board\u2019s 5-2 majority in favor of what was dubbed \u201cMap 7B\u201d included Commissioner Kelly Martinez Semrad, who retains a district similar to her current one with Winter Park and rural east Orange combined. Semrad lives in east Orange, and defeated a former Winter Park mayor last November to gain her seat.<\/p>\n
Commissioners were required to rejigger the boundaries of commission districts after county voters narrowly approved a charter amendment last year to expand the board from six to eight elected seats, a measure intended to add voices to local government decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe foundational role, the primary role of this board is to represent unincorporated Orange County,\u201d said Semrad, admitting she was torn by competing interests. \u201cMunicipalities have their own government\u2026The only layer of government our unincorporated areas have is this board.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her vote aligned with views of Save Orange County, Inc., the grass-roots organization for which she previously served as vice chair and which has vigorously opposed Sustanee and other mega-developments in rural east Orange. The group peppered the board with hundreds of emails over the weekend and Semrad cited many of its arguments while explaining her decision to choose Map 7B.<\/p>\n
Save Orange County\u2019s emails argued that the other \u201cfinalist map,\u201d known as 1A, placed the traditional boundary between urban and rural services, the Econ River, in a new District 8, which the group described as \u201ca high-growth district, thereby opening the door to accelerated development east of the river. Once growth extends beyond the Econ, it becomes exceedingly difficult to contain, effectively nullifying voter intent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Orange County voters overwhelmingly voted last year to set a rural boundary.<\/p>\n