What's key to region's future?

Study: To most Central Floridians, growth is the top issue.

Rich Mckay
Sentinel Staff Writer

October 6, 2005

Do you think life is getting better in Central Florida?

If not, join the club. Sixty-four percent of people questioned in a one-of-a-kind Central Florida study think their quality of life will get worse in five or 10 years.

The culprit? G-R-O-W-T-H.

Seventy percent of people say the region's problems are exclusively or very related to rapid growth in population, which is expected to reach 7.2 million by 2050. Though Central Floridians ranked satisfaction with their lives higher than people in most other parts of the country, they are concerned about the future.

The survey forms the basis of a $175,000 Central Florida Values study sponsored by myregion.org, a seven-county planning group that includes residents, government and business leaders. Myregion.org is charged with fostering a collaborative vision of how the region should grow. The values study is just one of several reports the organization has generated or helped sponsor to get people talking about a blueprint for Central Florida's future.

"If we can't shut the gates [on growth], we have to ask, where are we going to put an extra 4 million people?" said Shelley Lauten, executive director of myregion.org.

The values survey, conducted by Harris Interactive between from March 14 to June 1, combined a telephone poll of 505 people with in-depth interviews of community leaders and citizens in Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole and Volusia counties.

A majority of people from every county, ethnicity, age and length of residence think the region's problems are related to growth and therefore think it should be "managed and limited." When those with the strongest opinions were put into two camps, people who want to slow growth outnumbered those who want to foster growth by a 2-to-1 ratio. About half of the remaining people had less-strong opinions and said they leaned toward one group or the other or were neutral.

Even though most people thought leaders do a poor job of growth planning overall, a majority -- except residents of Osceola County -- thought their own community was headed in the right direction. In Osceola, 55 percent of residents said their community is on the wrong track.

Paul Owen, chairman of the Osceola County Commission, said his residents haven't gotten used to the booming growth that has transformed rural areas into busy communities.

"No one anticipated explosive growth," he said.

Doug Doudney, president of the Orlando-based group Coalition for Property Rights, said the survey seems to advocate for more government controls on private property. "In a nutshell, people who don't own the property are always wanting to tell you what you should do with the property," he said.

The values survey -- and other regional studies -- will play a role in community forums planned next year.

"It may get the right people at the table," Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty predicted.

The poll should be a clear message to some elected leaders that it's time to change, said Beth Hollenbeck, executive director of the environmental group ECO-Action.

"Clearly it reflects the will of the people," Hollenbeck said. "The problem is that developers make a lot of money on sprawl."

Rich McKay can be reached at rmckay@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5470.