Mormon church seeks to annex 52,450 acres of ranchland to Orlando
The owner of Central Florida’s Deseret Ranches, an undeveloped frontier so vast that its horizons appear to follow the earth’s curve, announced Monday its intentions to partner with the city of Orlando for urban growth across a staggering amount of ranchland in coming decades.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, through its subsidiaries Farmland Reserve and Deseret Ranches, confirmed that it has filed an application with Orlando to voluntarily annex into the city limits 52,450 acres now under the land-use jurisdiction of Orange County government.
That amount of wet and wild ranchland property, for comparison, is eight times as large as the city of Winter Park, and is still virtually untouched by pavement, rooftops or even people. The annexation would increase the footprint of Orlando by nearly 60 percent.
The Deseret announcement blames a history of failed collaboration with Orange County in working toward a development planning framework like the two previous initiatives it has undertaken in Osceola County that now provide a blueprint for growth across nearly half of the ranch’s 300,000 acres.