VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — Residents may soon get the chance to change the name of their central Florida city.
On Tuesday evening, the Orange City Council will consider a proposal to change the city's name to Blue Springs. The name original townspeople chose back in 1876 was Blue Spring. The current proposal would make "Spring" plural.
But the postmaster in 1876 decided his choice -- Orange City -- would draw more attention. He put Orange City on the paperwork.
Eyewitness News learned Councilman Michael Wright first raised the name change idea in June. He believes naming the city after its most valued asset -- Blue Spring State Park -- will attract more eco-tourists.
The name change would require a vote by residents and that likely wouldn't take place until at least the second half of 2014.
Orange City Memorial Park could be Blue Springs Memorial Park.
Guests checking into the Orange City Motel could soon have to write their checks out to Blue Springs Motel. Drivers could soon be inching past a Blue Springs collision not an Orange City collision.
"Blue Springs. There is something about it, I don't know," Orange City resident Dwight Shofner said.
The move was first proposed over the summer, mentioned in a meeting by Wright, who moved that staff bring forward an agenda item renaming the city Blue Spring seconded by Councilman Gary Blair.
The move could take a lot of time before residents would even be able to vote on the change.
"Anything that takes a little time and costs a little, sometimes, in the future, sometimes pays off," Shofner said.
The proposed name change has some business like Orange City Paint feeling a little blue.
"When they change the name of the city they are going to change -- I got to spend a lot to change everything," Jeevan Sallapudi of Orange City Paint said.
Wright, however, said when people come to Blue Springs, they do not even know that Orange City exists.
"We need the name for the small business to continue the same old Orange City name," Sallapudi said.
WFTV
