RENDERING VA SR534.COM
The fight over Split Oak Forest has moved into court. The Central Florida Expressway Authority has filed an eminent domain claim against Orange County, seeking access to about 24 acres of county-owned conservation land it says is needed to build State Road 534 through the area. A hearing is set for June 3.
As we reported in January, Orange County commissioners voted to reject CFX’s $2.3 million purchase offer for the land and to challenge the eminent domain claim in court rather than negotiate. The eminent domain filing is the agency’s formal next step after that rejection.
CFX seeks to own outright just under three acres of land, which has been identified as environmentally sensitive, within Eagles Roost, a protected Green PLACE property in south-central Orange County that is also home to the Back to Nature Wildlife Refuge (Website).
The agency’s governing board voted 7-3 last summer to declare the land necessary for building SR 534, with Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and Commissioner Christine Moore, along with Brevard County Commissioner Katie Delaney, voting against the declaration.
CFX has argued its proposal is a net conservation gain, pointing to 1,550 acres of nearby land it has secured for a trade, along with $24 million committed for restoration and maintenance of that land and $1.2 million for Split Oak itself. Environmentalists have pushed back on that framing, arguing the donated land is of lower quality and that weakening “perpetual” conservation protections on Split Oak sets a dangerous precedent for protected lands elsewhere.
The county’s own senior assistant county attorney said publicly at the January commission meeting that Orange County’s odds of defeating the eminent domain claim in court are very low, citing CFX’s status as a superior governmental entity. That statement frustrated several commissioners, including District 5 Commissioner Kelly Martinez Semrad, who has been pushing for the county to bring in outside legal counsel.
According to a February memo from Mayor Demings, the county does plan to retain outside legal representation for the case. Demings, who also sits on CFX’s governing board and voted in January in favor of negotiating with the agency rather than fighting it in court, defended the commission’s decision to challenge CFX at a February board meeting, saying government works best when it listens to the people.
Split Oak Forest is a nearly 1,700-acre nature preserve in Orange and Osceola counties that was set aside in the 1990s for perpetual conservation. It is home to at least eight rare plant species and eleven species of wildlife listed as threatened or endangered, and was originally established as a mitigation park to protect gopher tortoise habitat. Orange County voters also approved a charter amendment in 2024 requiring a supermajority commission vote to dispose of or change the use of any county-protected lands.
