Orange County wants to mark $100 million to buy environmentally sensitive land while it can

 Orange County wants to mark $100 million to buy environmentally sensitive land while it can - Orlando Sentinel

It’s been 11 years since Orange County bought an acre of environmentally sensitive land under its decades-old Green PLACE initiative.

The program’s advisory committee, created to evaluate and prioritize potential land buys, hasn’t met since 2012.

“In a growing county and state, it becomes increasingly more important to have a preservation plan in place,” Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said after the environmental protection division unveiled a reboot of the program earlier this year. “God is not making any more land.”

Outlined in detail Tuesday, the goal is to double the county’s inventory of environmentally sensitive land to 46,000 acres or more by 2030