Split Oak Forest was put into conservation in the 1990s by both the Orange and Osceola County Boards of County Commissioners through the original Split Oak agreement.  These leaders had the foresight to know that Central Florida would continue to grow, as would the infrastructure needs  of the region. Eventually, they knew the Osceola Parkway would need to be extended.  As such, language was included in the original agreement to provide for an eventual “horizontal easement,” which might include power transmission lines, water lines, or a road.

The very people who worked on this original agreement (then-Mayor Linda Chapin and Audubon Society’s Charles Lee) are both in favor of the proposed extension eastward of the Osceola Parkway and the addition of lands that come with it.

The approved map above illustrates the eastward extension of the Osceola Parkway , known as the “Preferred Alternative Route,” and was originally the responsibility of the Osceola Expressway Authority.  When the Central Florida Expressway Authority (“CFX”)* was re-formed, the Osceola Expressway Authority was rolled into the CFX and CFX inherited the project.

Split Oak Forest is jointly owned by Orange and Osceola Counties.  The Osceola plan originally had the expressway extending through the middle of the forest and was very controversial.  When CFX inherited the project, leadership directed staff to look at less impactful alternatives as well as ways to offset the impacts by adding other lands to conservation.  As a standard, they also looked at avoiding the taking of any homes.

Staff returned with a report showing the only way to avoid any impacts to the forest would entail the taking of private properties.  Their recommendation was that we “clip the corner” of the forest; that is, the road would have 60 acres of direct impact and there would be 100 acres of indirect impact by isolating the 100 acres south of the roadway.

Additionally, they had conditional agreements from the surrounding property owners that if this preferred alternative was adopted, they would donate 1,550 additional acres to the park, thereby removing already vested heavy industrial entitlements on the southern boundary of the forest. 

Staff also recommended CFX fund the restoration of the additional acreage as well as the maintenance of the additional acreage.  The addition of this land would wrap around the southern boundary of the forest, extend eastward and then north, surrounding Moss Park and the Isle of Pine Preserve (see maps below), thereby creating a large block of land in conservation that would allow for more connected habitat for wildlife.

* CFX is an independent agency of the state that operates and maintains a regional network of expressways for over 3 million residents and an estimated 75 million visitors in Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola and Seminole Counties