Orange County Getting Surprise $10M Gift to Buy Conservation Land

ORLANDO-Orange County has a potential war chest today of $15 million to spend on buying prime lakefront and other land in sensitive environmental areas which would be preserved and off-limits permanently to new commercial construction.

Henry Dean, South Florida Water Management District Director, is offering $10 million on top of the $5 million Orange County chairman Rich Crotty is planning to request for the conservation project.

Dean, a former district director of the St. Johns Water Management District, is challenging that sister agency to contribute as well. But St. Johns Water officials tell county commissioners at a public hearing Dean’s campaign is news to them and that the agency’s strategy on conservation follows a different path.