OVIEDO, Fla. — From its century-old buildings to its feral chickens, Oviedo has a small-town charm some residents feel is worth protecting.
Resident Bart Stone is among them. He’s circulating a Change.org petition to cap the number of people who can live in Oviedo to prevent what he calls overdevelopment.
"Smaller is better,” Stone said. “Let’s keep it distinctive. Let’s not lose the charm that it has."
Lou Reeves, who has lived in the city for 17 years, said he feels Oviedo is quickly becoming enveloped in commercial and residential development.
“When people buy homes, they want to buy someplace that's small, not built up,” Reeves said. “Even right now, as small as Oviedo is, the traffic is increasing.”
Reeves’ petition calls for city leaders to cap Oviedo’s population at 45,000. Currently, the city has 37,000 residents with an annual average growth of 1,200 people.
The city’s master plan caps Oviedo’s population at 50,000 people, an official said.
"I think it’s too much development, too fast,” said resident Diana Ciesko. “I don’t know the infrastructure can fully support it."
The petition’s organizers would like the city to plant more trees and to invest more funds into restoring historic buildings and landmarks, many of which are slated to be demolished for road widening projects.
They also seek that vacancies in buildings and strip malls be filled before new land is developed.
Rich Longo, the petition’s architect, said if the petition receives, 3,500 signatures, he’ll present it to city leaders.
Neither Oviedo’s mayor nor its city manager responded to Channel 9’s request for comment as to whether they’ll consider the petition’s propositions.
Link: Oviedo Change.org petition
WFTV
