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The Orange County Board of County Commissioners unanimously voted earlier this week to create a special district for the 719 acres encompassing Universal Orlando Resort and ongoing expansions. Taxes and fees collected in that area will fund the district. All land is owned by either Universal Orlando or the company which owns the Hilton Orlando adjacent to the park.
The special district will reportedly use $174 million in bonds to fund infrastructure, including a planned rail service station connecting the Orlando airport to an area near the park.
The train is the key part of the deal. Officials are concerned about traffic inflow to the area with the forthcoming expansion of Universal. (Disney, also, is planning to expand its parks.) The new line would also link to the Orange County convention center.
All of the board seats on the special district will be held by Universal employees. That’s much different than the Reedy Creek Improvement District, which oversees Walt Disney World and other Disney theme parks in Florida. The board overseeing that area was taken over by DeSantis allies after the state dissolved Reedy Creek’s special status.
That could add a new twist to the ongoing legal battle between Disney DeSantis. The entertainment giant has alleged the governor’s actions were retaliations against Disney for the company exercising its First Amendment rights in opposing the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.
“A targeted campaign of government retaliation—orchestrated at every step by Governor DeSantis as punishment for Disney’s protected speech—now threatens Disney’s business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights,” Disney claimed.
The company narrowed the suit in September to just a free speech claim, alleging a “weaponization of government”.
