The Disney/Reedy Creek "Privilege"
Fox News shared this good summary of how Disney and the Florida state legislature made the deal to create the Reedy Creek Improvement District.
"The special status, known as The Reedy Creek Improvement Act, was signed in 1967 in response to lobbying efforts by the entertainment giant. At the time, Disney proposed building a recreation-oriented development on 25,000 acres of property in a remote area of Central Florida's Orange and Osceola counties, which consisted of 38.5 square miles of largely uninhabited pasture and swampland.
"Orange and Osceola County did not have the services or resources needed to bring the project to life, so the state legislature worked with Disney to establish the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a special taxing district that allows the company to act with the same authority and responsibility as a county government." (
Source)
Some now characterize this deal as a special Disney privilege. While it may not be inappropriate to use that word, it is wrong to suggest there was something illegal, unfair or wrong with the deal. Two parties, both having the legal right to do so, and both with the consent of the governed, openly negotiated a deal that was seen to be beneficial to both parties, the local economy and the state at large.
And they proved to be right. Turning 25,000 acres of pasture and swampland into a Disney theme park has sparked more development, new tax revenue, new jobs, additional businesses that profit from the traffic Disney generates, and has generated more new wealth for Disney, the state, property owners, businesses and employees than perhaps any other deal made in the history of the state.
Originally a solution to the problem that local governments simply could not provide the emergency services and public works needed to support the park Disney wanted to build, Reedy Creek is a deal that was well made, and has continued to function well for over 50 years.
A couple weeks ago, I sat as a citizen at a city council meeting and watched a developer ask the city to waive a financial penalty he was required to pay because he failed to complete construction and open his restaurant in the specified time. The penalty was part of a deal previously negotiated by him and the city. The developer agreed to improve a property and open a business within a certain time. In return for the city making certain improvements themselves and waiving certain other requirements developers are usually required to comply with, the developer agreed to financial penalties if certain performance markers were not hit.
The performance markers were missed and the council declined the developer's request. They took the money the developer was required to pay. They had already given him a previous extension and were in no mood to give him another.
At another council meeting, I watched a church congregation ask for an extension of a deal they previously made with the city. They asked for and received a continuing waiver of the zoning code so they could conduct certain activities on property they were renting that would be otherwise prohibited, and that no other entity in town is permitted to do on property they occupy. That "privilege" was enthusiastically granted by council members who praised the church's positive impacts in its neighborhood.
These kind of deals (or privileges) are common and are granted all the time. Government officials make deals with private entities to cause good things to happen in the community or state. While Reedy Creek is different by virtue of its scope and the big players involved, it no more a privilege than a local church being allowed to hold outdoor services under a canopee, or a restaurateur being granted a zoning waiver and new city sidewalks in return for developing a property.
As you read this, our city is dangling a "privilege" in public now to anyone qualified to accept it. If someone agreed to open a business in a certain area, they would receive a good number of zoning and building code waivers and other incentives from the city. This "privilege" is there for the taking by anyone who wants to snap it up and is qualified to deliver. And they would take it with the blessing of the city, county and state government; and the people who live in the area.
