Orange county commissioner requests to pause ICE detention site approvals

District 1 Commissioner Nicole Wilson sent a letter to Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and other commissioners Monday, Jan. 19, to temporarily pause approvals for non-municipal detention facilities in Orange County like the potential immigration processing facility in a privately owned warehouse near Lake Nona. 

In the request, Wilson said interest in siting non-municipal facilities within commercial and residential zoning districts raised environmental, land use, infrastructure and economic concerns. 

“Once approved, these facilities can result in long-lasting and irreversible impacts that limit the county’s ability to protect community character, ensure infrastructure adequacy and align development with adopted policy goals,” Wilson wrote. 

Her particular concern are the potential effects on the county’s tourism-driven economy. 

“The placement of detention facilities in or near tourism corridors or mixed-use commercial areas risks undermining these critical economic sectors,” she said in the request. 

Wilson also sent a draft ordinance language, in which she mentioned the detention facilities’ incompatibility with many residential and commercial zoning districts due to unique security requirements, operational characteristics and external impacts. 

“Orange County’s economy relies heavily on tourism, hospitality and related service industries, which depend on perceptions of safety, accessibility and community quality, and placement of detention facilities in proximity to tourism corridors, visitor accommodations, entertainment districts or supporting commercial uses may adversely impact these industries,” the draft reads. “Non-municipal detention facilities may generate substantial environmental impacts, including but not limited to increased consumptive water use, significant sewage and wastewater generation, solid and hazardous waste concerns, and potential impacts to water quality, groundwater and downstream treatment infrastructure.” 

The draft language said the county has an obligation to ensure that land-use approvals are consistent with the Orange County comprehensive plan, infrastructure capacity, environmental protection polices and adopted sustainability and conservation goals. 

Wilson asked that this issue be put on the Board of County Commissioners’ meeting agenda as soon as possible to “protect the county’s interests and preserve the board’s full range of policy choices.”