ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — After much heated debate, county leaders are taking steps to stop future flooding in the Reams Road area of West Orange County.

In Tuesday’s workshop, commissioners decided to move toward a temporary moratorium on development projects that could impact the floodplains or wetlands in the area.

Commissioner Nicole Wilson shared from her perspective, this is the best-case scenario to come out of this meeting. Homeowners in the area are also supportive of the move.

Living off Reams Road has everything Ben Elisha could want. The dad of two says he loves his quiet neighborhood right around the corner from Disney.

“When you have kids, you know, they love going to the theme parks,” said Elisha.

He’s lived in the area for the last 21 years and has watched it change.

“You had to drive 20, 30 minutes away to find a grocery store ... to find a hardware store ... and since then, everything is really sprouted up,” said Elisha.

He says he drives Reams every day, which is usually convenient, but that all changed when Hurricane Ian hit.

County reports showed there was nearly 10 inches of flooding, which caused to road to be shut down for 16 days.

“Very inconvenient,” said Elisha. “You had to go all the way around. It might be a 15 minute drive opposed to a two, three-minute drive.”

Instances like that make him concerned about development around him, watching houses sprout up in areas that used to be wetlands.

“Come the summer when it rains, not just hurricanes, when it rains hard, that street can get flooded right along Reams Road or along the side of the road, it can get very wet,” said Elisha, talking about a new development where Reams and Fiquette Road meet. “I’d be concerned about that community because of the water that they might experience the floodwaters.”

Commissioner Wilson raised concerns back in October about flooding at Reams Road, Summerlake Boulevard and Fiquette Road during storm events, pointing to development encroachment.

While county staff is already moving forward on projects set to offer permanent solutions to these roads, such as spending over $80 million to elevate, expand, and add a bridge on Reams, they won’t be finished until 2029, leaving commissioners to discuss interim strategies.

“If you hear desperation in my voice, it is because I feel very desperate,” said Wilson, addressing the board.

While there was no push back on three strategies, which included enhanced maintenance activities, adding additional asphalt to Reams, and more stringent development standards, there was heated discussion about moving forward with a development moratorium over legal issues. But Wilson argued that it’s needed.

“My passion for this isn’t just about the environment. It’s really about the suffering that’s happening because we allow people to develop in areas that should have probably never been developed,” said Wilson in the meeting.

Commissioners eventually decided to move toward the moratorium, which could halt development that causes impacts in the Reedy Creek sub-basin until the Reams Road project is completed or more stringent stormwater code modifications get adopted.

As for Elisha, he’s happy to hear something is being done.

“I think it’s a good idea,” said Elisha. “It can’t hurt. Let’s give everyone some time to settle. Let’s give the land a chance to get back to what it was.”

According to the county, this proposed ordinance will eventually come before the board for a public hearing.

No date has been set yet.