Officials passed an overhaul of building codes that seeks to control sprawl and promote dense, urban development, even as the state government is poised to invalidate the changes.
On June 3, Orange County commissioners voted 6-1 to adopt Vision 2050 and the Orange Codes, a set of documents that comprise the first new comprehensive plan for Central Florida’s most populous county since 1991 — and the first change to codes since 1957. The vote came at the end of a 10-hour public meeting that capped an eight-year process of brainstorming and revision.
“Tuesday was … transformative for the county,” said Alberto Vargas, manager of the county’s planning division.
The new standards will replace traditional zoning with form-based codes that focus on the physical appearance of developments rather than how they are used. Instead of classic commercial and industrial zones, for example, the Orange Codes use a system that mixes commercial and residential uses across various neighborhood types, from rural centers to suburban corridors to urban cores.
Author and planning consultant Bruce Stephenson said the goal of form-based planning is efficient land use. “Instead of planning for a zone, you’re planning for form,” he said. “It’s three-dimensional versus two-dimensional.”
The practice is particularly associated with mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods, something Stephenson said is likely to be welcome in traffic-heavy Central Florida.
Part of the impetus behind the revamp was to control rapid growth in the region from overwhelming urban services and degrading critical natural lands. Orange County’s population grew by more than 71% between 2000 and 2024, from under 900,000 to 1.53 million, according to the Census Bureau.
That growth has turned explosive since the COVID-19 pandemic. Florida received 24.7% of the country’s domestic migration between July 2020 and July 2024, with 41.5% settling in Central Florida, according to research by Placer.ai. Orange County has added more than 100,000 residents since 2020, census data shows.
Codes will expand density limits
The new plan expands density limits in some cases and highlights opportunities for infill housing, even as it restricts development in outer rural areas. Infill housing refers to the development of new units on vacant or underutilized land within existing urban areas that are already largely developed.
Vargas said Orange County will be the largest-scale implementation of a transect system in the nation, though cities and other municipalities have adopted similar measures in whole or in part. In a transect system, you have types of neighborhoods with different forms (again, as opposed to uses), so you might have a rural designation, a suburban and then an urban. Each would have its own density and form requirements. Transect neighborhoods don't have to be separated like zones do, and each type can contain residential and commercial properties.
“Orange County as an organization is taking the well-calculated risk of being the first in the nation to create place types [that include] future uses for more than one use,” Vargas said.
One city that has implemented form-based codes is Miami, home of urban planners Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zberk and the firm they founded, DPZ CoDesign. The couple is credited with founding the practice in the modern era. Orange County consulted with DPZ and planners from Kimley-Horn & Associates and North Carolina-based Urban3.
Bill on governor's desk may upend efforts
The new codes will not go unchallenged. A bill on Gov. Ron DeSantis’ desk would make it illegal for any municipality to make its codes more “burdensome” than they were in August 2024, ostensibly to prevent counties from making building standards too strict for residents to build back after hurricanes. If passed, municipalities could not make code changes until 2027.
Vargas said he is aware of the bill but won’t know how it will play out until someone issues a challenge in court.
“Everybody is watching this,” he said of the bill.
But it's the residents who have the final opinion, and that's what matters, he said. “Time will test it. There will be a learning curve. We’re changing the game.”