The Orange County Commission voted Tuesday to draft a charter amendment designating a rural area and boundary.
The amendment would require a majority-plus-one vote of the commission to change its comprehensive plan to increase the density and intensity of development allowed in certain areas where growth is not already planned.
The commission has set workshop meetings on the issue for June 18 and July 9. A possible public hearing is planned for July 30.
If the commission approves the measure, the so-called Rural Boundary Amendment would appear on the November ballot.
The county's Charter Review Commission proposed it. But a last-minute change to a state bill, SB 1420, would strip the CRC of its own authority to put it on the ballot. The bill is still awaiting the governor's signature
More than 45 residents spoke in support of the proposed amendment, to protect rural lands, the environment and local autonomy.
"Well, this morning, when I got up," said Beverly Russell of Christmas, "all the animals in my yard, the wildlife, came to me, asking me to come here and please ask you to vote for the rural boundary and give the citizens the right to make that decision."
Several residents of Christmas, an unincorporated community in far eastern Orange County, spoke in favor of the rural boundary.
Commissioner Emily Bonilla, who urged the commission to take up the CRC's proposal, said it's a matter of justice.
"This battle is between the developers and the people," she said. "Let the people have a fair and just opportunity to fight back. Let them battle it out on the ballot."
Under the CRC proposal, the Rural Area is in unincorporated Orange County only. It is defined by excluding certain areas where growth is intended. Those are listed as: the county's "Urban Service Area, municipal joint planning areas, Growth Centers, Innovation Way Overlay, and Horizon West Villages."
A second version of the CRC's proposed amendment — called Exhibit B — would authorize county ordinances preserving the rural area that would "prevail over conflicting municipal ordinances."
But after the county attorney raised concerns, the commission is pursuing a simpler, less legally fraught version of the ballot measure.
