Oviedo unveils restrictive covenant to preserve Twin Rivers, bar residential development

City staff presented a draft declaration of restrictive covenants for Twin Rivers Golf Club to the Oviedo City Council on March 2, proposing to make conservation, golf operations and stormwater management the primary allowed uses for the property bounded by the Econ River and Little Econ River. The draft, described by OviedoCommunityNews and TheLocalLens, would run with the land and apply to future owners.

The draft text, as staff explained, would impose limits on impervious surfaces, establish no-build zones and explicitly prohibit residential and transient-accommodation development on Twin Rivers, according to TheLocalLens and OviedoCommunityNews. City Attorney Wade Vose warned of the difficulty of changing the restriction, saying, "What we have built into this draft … is kind of the screws turned up to 11 on what it will take to remove this covenant from the property."

Under the mechanism outlined in the presentation, the declaration would be bound to the land and could be modified or terminated only after the Oviedo City Council unanimously approved placing a referendum on the ballot and a majority of voters approved that referendum. Staff emphasized that the draft is at the discussion stage; the council did not adopt a permanent development ban at the March meeting and agreed to continue deliberations, reported the Orlando Sentinel.

Mayor Megan Sladek, who requested consideration of a conservation easement on Jan. 5, has hosted public conversations and said she wants to "take the building rights officially off of that land." "The intention was to preserve it forever," Sladek told ClickOrlando as she solicited resident input on Jan. 23. Sladek also framed the audits and procurement oversight as part of the process, saying, "We want to have periodic audits to make sure we’re following the contract," and that "the city wants to make sure that any vendors that we subcontract to are completely transparent."

Councilmember Keith Britton urged support for the course’s viability, saying, "I think we’ve got to do what we can to make this golf course successful now and into the future." The Twin Rivers operating management company, Down To Earth/SSS Twin Rivers Opco LLC, is in the initial phase of a city-funded audit amid allegations of mismanagement of personnel and operating expenses, according to OviedoCommunityNews and ClickOrlando.

Oviedo purchased Twin Rivers in early 2017 to prevent private development, and city budget documents cited by the Orlando Sentinel state the city intends to continue operating the course, but that "if the operation is not financially feasible, the city may convert it to park land and open space." TheLocalLens noted the proposed covenant could also preserve the property’s environmental value and help maintain its contribution to the community’s flood insurance discounts.

Stormwater work dovetailed with the Twin Rivers discussion: at a March 3 meeting staff presented a map of citywide stormwater improvement projects and provided updates on completed and in-progress work financed after a February 2025 utility-rate increase that produced millions of dollars in bonds for stormwater improvements. Local precedents bolster Oviedo’s options: Seminole County bought Rolling Hills Golf Club in 2017 and is converting roughly 100 acres into a public park, and Casselberry purchased its municipal course in 2015 for $2.2 million. Council members will continue public discussions and staff review before any formal adoption of the restrictive covenant.