ORLANDO-With a decaying Downtown and a shrinking tax base, elected officials in tiny Groveland, FL (Pop. 3,100) have decided the time is right to grow the 120-year-old citrus-growing town by annexing a total 1,574 unincorporated acres and allowing residential, retail and commercial development to begin.

But city council members, who voted 4-1 for the annexation in early September, await a mid-October clash with environmentalists and local residential activist groups who oppose the municipality's plans to double the population by adding 3,000 homes in an historically rustic area, 25 miles west of Downtown Orlando.

The city has to agree on the annexation at two more public sessions before sending the measure to the Florida Department of Community Affairs, the final arbiter on area growth plans in the state.