A Seminole County planning board is weighing a request from developer Chris Dorworth to strip 67 acres of the former Pappy's Patch strawberry farm out of the county's protected rural boundary, clearing the way for up to 136 single-family homes. The Planning and Zoning Commission meeting was scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, with county staff already recommending that commissioners reject the removal.
Dorworth, a former state representative, asked the commission through his company to carve the land out of the rural area so he could move forward with the subdivision, according to WKMG. The former Pappy's Patch property operated as a public organic strawberry farm until it closed in 2019 after its owners retired, per a report from the Orlando Sentinel. That same reporting pegs the proposed density at slightly more than two homes per acre, far above the one home per five or 10 acres typically allowed within the rural boundary.
County staff recommended that the planning and zoning commission reject the removal, citing insufficient data and analysis, while Dorworth's application points to population growth as the justification for more housing. Seminole County's rural boundary covers 74,413 acres across the east and northeast sections of the county, land voters first approved protecting in 2004. Dorworth did not respond to a request for comment on his application, per the station's report.
A Familiar Fight Over the Same Farmland
This isn't Dorworth's first run at this particular parcel. He withdrew an earlier request to remove the same 67 acres from the rural boundary in February 2022, pulling it in light of an appeal filed after a circuit court judge ruled against his lawsuit tied to River Cross, the Orlando Sentinel reported at the time. That 669-acre River Cross development had already been unanimously rejected by Seminole County commissioners in August 2018.
Four of the county's five commissioners would have to approve removing the property from the rural boundary before Dorworth's subdivision could proceed, the same outlet notes. That supermajority threshold exists because of a 2024 ballot referendum requiring it — though the margin of approval is disputed: the Orlando Sentinel reported 82% voter approval, while WUSF reported voters reaffirmed the boundary at 74%.
Save Rural Seminole Plans to Push Back
David Bear, president of Save Rural Seminole, plans to attend the planning and zoning commission meeting to oppose the proposal. Bear said the property removal creates multiple problems for the community, arguing it could allow denser development than currently permitted and set a precedent for taking other properties out of the rural boundary. Conservationists have also raised concerns that removing this parcel could affect surrounding properties.
It wouldn't be the first time Seminole County has carved land out of this boundary near the same site. The county previously allowed two adjacent parcels to be removed in 2006 and 2013, enabling the Southern Oaks development with 54 homes and the Preserve at Black Hammock with 73 houses, according to the Orlando Sentinel's reporting.
Part of a Broader Statewide Pressure Campaign
The Pappy's Patch fight is unfolding against a wider statewide push to loosen rural land protections. The Florida Attorney General's Office has said Seminole and Orange counties' rural land restrictions could constitute a regulatory taking under state and federal constitutions and likely violate the Bert Harris Act, WUSF reported in December. Bear told the outlet that six bills in the 2025-26 legislative session aim to preempt local conservation and growth regulations.
Separately, a proposed amendment to Senate Bill 208 sought to classify certain rural boundaries as a taking of a property owner's development rights and establish a process for compensation, according to Oviedo Community News. That amendment was ultimately withdrawn, though backers said it was expected to resurface when the full Senate votes on the bill, and the outlet noted it could potentially extend beyond Seminole and Orange counties to Sarasota and Miami-Dade.
A separate state law that took effect in July made it easier for agricultural parcels surrounded by development or roads to qualify as enclaves, automatically approved if local governments don't rule within 90 days. Since then, at least 17 landowners have submitted 21 such applications covering more than 9,400 acres across five Florida counties, per WUSF's reporting. Only one has been approved so far — a 142-acre development near the Kennedy Space Center on North Merritt Island, which Brevard County commissioners had already rejected through the normal planning process before being forced to approve it under the new law.
Other counties have pushed back: Orange County planning staff recommended denying a separate enclave application after concluding the applicant could not redefine her property boundaries, and St. Johns County commissioners voted 3-2 in September to block an enclave designation for the 4,462-acre Palm Valley development. For now, the planning and zoning commission is expected to issue a recommendation on Dorworth's Pappy's Patch proposal, which will ultimately go before Seminole County commissioners for a vote at a later date.
