A circuit judge has ruled in favor of Orange County and Eastwood homeowners, closing the book on a years-long legal battle over plans to build 200 homes on the community's former golf course. The decision upholds the county's 2020 denial of the project and caps a dispute that stretched from a packed community meeting to a five-day trial this month.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, Circuit Judge Michael Deen issued a final judgment siding with Orange County and the Eastwood Community Association, finding that the county's denial of the housing proposal was consistent with its comprehensive plan and with the community's established development pattern. The ruling closes out a case brought by Benge Corp. and Eastwood Golf Club LLC, which had sought approval to build on the shuttered course near Orlando. Eastwood Golf Club LLC owns the 72.5-acre application area, while Benge holds the development rights, according to GrowthSpotter.
The application area covers parts of the former golf course, clubhouse and practice range, situated east of Alafaya Trail and north of Stoneybrook Parkway in Eastwood. The golf course closed on August 31, 2020, less than three months before county commissioners rejected the housing plan outright, per the same GrowthSpotter account.
A Years-Long Fight Over Density and Character
The legal dispute traces back to Orange County's original 1993 land-use plan, which allowed a maximum of 2,320 homes in Eastwood, though only 2,016 were ultimately built, the Orlando Sentinel reported in a separate 2021 story. Developers tried to assign the remaining 304 units to a new residential phase on the golf-related land without increasing Eastwood's overall housing allowance, but the approved development plan had assigned no residential units to that parcel, and the land carried a low-density residential designation with a permitted density range beginning at zero homes per acre.
At a November 17, 2020 hearing, developers scaled back their request to 200 homes and removed the narrowest part of the proposed development area, after their own planning expert identified that section as most sensitive for compatibility with surrounding homes. Commissioners denied the request anyway, by a 4-3 vote, even though the Orange County Development Review Committee, an advisory panel, had unanimously recommended approval with conditions — including matching lot widths beside existing homes and eliminating previously approved 40-foot lots, which developers had accepted.
Residents had opposed new development on the site even before the course closed, citing flooding, school crowding and additional traffic. That opposition was loud and sustained: a community meeting in February 2020 drew about 1,000 people from Eastwood, many of them against the plans, GrowthSpotter reported at the time. By November 2021, more than 175 community members turned out for a rally, and more than 100 residents rode a chartered bus to the county commission meeting, according to the Orlando Sentinel's coverage of that period.
Developers' Legal Claims Rejected
After commissioners denied the project, developers pursued claims of vested development rights, reliance on county representations, and compensation under Florida's Bert J. Harris Jr. Private Property Rights Protection Act — a state law that recognizes certain government regulations can inordinately burden private property rights without amounting to a constitutional taking, according to the Florida Senate. Orange County commissioners unanimously upheld their denial in 2021 after developers sought compensation, even as attorney Hal Kantor warned the county faced about $20 million in potential liability tied to claimed loss in property value and interest, per GrowthSpotter's reporting. A separate Orlando Sentinel account from that period put the developers' compensation claim at $17 million, a figure calculated by real-estate appraisers.
During the five-day trial, which concluded on October 2, Judge Deen dismissed three of the developers' claims, while the comprehensive-plan claim remained undecided. In the October 23 final judgment, he ruled for the county and homeowners, finding the denial consistent with Eastwood's established development pattern. Developers' attorneys had argued commissioners disregarded professional review and relied on generalized neighborhood opposition instead.
County Commissioner, Residents React
Both sides filed their final written arguments on October 20.
The Eastwood Community Association was represented by Theriaque Law and Spain Law in the litigation. Representatives for the association, the county and Benge Corp. could not be reached for comment before publication. Judge Deen issued his ruling on October 23, upholding the county's denial of the housing proposal.
