Orange, Seminole counties clash over McCulloch Road widening near Econlockhatchee River

Orange County is proposing to widen a one-mile stretch of McCulloch Road between Lockwood Boulevard and North Tanner Road to handle new-home traffic and vehicles attending University of Central Florida events, and Seminole County commissioners have voted to oppose the plan, saying they were not consulted. Seminole Commissioner Bob Dallari told a county commission meeting, “For them to just assume that they are going to be building a road in Seminole County without us even weighing in on it, is kind of preposterous, in my opinion,” and he added, “I don’t think the road needs to be widened. They want us to help pay for it. But it’s not in our plans, and they need to go through the proper channels to do this.”

Orange County officials have signaled they want to continue talks with Seminole County. An Orange County email quoted in local reporting said, “Orange County will continue discussions with Seminole County to better understand the basis of their opposition to the McCulloch Road project and to work toward resolving the differences in order to improve safety.” Orange County maintains the southern half of McCulloch Road; Seminole maintains the northern half of the east-west thoroughfare that stretches from Alafaya Trail to just past North Tanner Road, northeast of the UCF campus.

The dispute includes conflicting public claims about who initiated the widening. One report states, “Seminole County plans to widen McCulloch Road through a sensitive environmental area, prompting backlash from neighboring Orange County officials.” Other local reporting and Seminole officials attribute the plan to Orange County, describing the road as a two-lane route near the environmentally sensitive Econlockhatchee River. Orange County Commissioner Kelly Martinez Semrad, whose district includes McCulloch Road, said the road “doesn’t need to be widened and will likely not support moving forward with the project,” and added that “The community is not in support, and our neighbors are not in support, and our resources are limited.” Semrad also reported constituent fears that widening would be a first step toward “eventually building an extension and bridge over the Econ and into rural Orange and Seminole counties.”

Court and administrative filings complicate the planning picture by linking proposed road improvements to nearby development proposals. An excerpt from a Middle District of Florida filing says “the extension and four-lane widening of McCulloch Road from Old Lockwood Road to County Road 419 is expected to be constructed as part of the Sustany and River Cross developments,” but the same record notes “The Sustany project is not currently an approved or active project in Orange County” and that the River Cross Development Order “does not make any commitments with regard to the developer funding, constructing, or conveying right-of-way for the improvements to McCulloch Road.” The filing adds that an extension crossing the Econ would require compliance with Future Land Use Policy 1.10 and that “the application did not demonstrate the three conditions in the policy had been met.”

Zoning excerpts in court material raise intensity concerns for adjacent rural land. The proposed planned development cited in the record would allow up to 30 dwelling units per acre, 0.6 floor area ratio, and 75-foot building heights, and the filing concluded such a PD is “incompatible with the surrounding Future Land Use and Zoning designations of Rural 5 and A-5 in Seminole County.” The record also criticizes proposed 25-foot and 50-foot buffers as insufficient to separate urban uses from agricultural operations.

Local road connectivity and neighborhood standing are also in play. A 5th District Court of Appeal excerpt describes Chuluota Road and Lake Pickett Road running north to intersect McCulloch Road at the Seminole border and notes Corner Lakes Estates homeowners have argued plan amendments increasing density would affect their rural settlement.

Seminole’s commissioners have acted by voting to send a formal letter to Orange County opposing the widening, and Orange County has said it will continue discussions. Administrative records indicate transportation compliance for any extension cannot be established without additional information, and court excerpts cite a 2016 Orange County commission rejection of the Sustany project. Until county staff produce the formal project filings, funding commitments, and the environmental and land-use analyses referenced in the court records, the dispute over McCulloch Road’s future will remain unresolved and the counties’ next meetings and correspondence will determine whether the matter moves toward formal coordination or legal challenge.