Growth in Central Florida may have slowed a bit over the past few years. In fact, depending on who you ask, you may hear that it has pretty much grinded to a complete halt - leaving some businesses, small and large, forced to close their doors, construction workers without jobs and families in financial ruin. Some say that Central Florida needs to stop growing and deal with the problems that we’ve created over the years. At first glance, that plan sounds fair, but the fact is that Florida created an economy with very little diversity.

The truth is a majority of our state and local dollars come from growth and property taxes, agriculture and tourism. If one of those legs isn’t doing well, then we have a major funding problem, like we have right now. To create a sustainable economic future, we must pounce on opportunities to change our economic landscape. Right now is the time to diversify.

Luckily for those of us reading this, our future is in our hands - literally in our own backyard in east/southeast Orange County. My husband, David, and I recently rode our bicycles down the not-yet-opened Alafaya Trail extension (Innovation Way), onto Road “E,” and directly into International Corporate Park.  Let me tell you, riding into ICP we literally felt our property values rising.  As home to the future expansion for the Central Florida Research Park, ICP is perfectly positioned between UCF, OIA, Brevard County and the new Medical City to be home to our region’s newest industry - medical simulation.

So, what’s it going to take to make it happen?  Focus needs to stay on realizing the dream of the high tech corridor. Long-range planning needs to take place near the University of Central Florida, at ICP and near the airport. These studies should incorporate long-range transportation networks, preservation of environmentally sensitive lands, development patterns and densities, connectivity to the rest of the region and, most importantly, methods for paying for it all.  Each area needs to be studied and reviewed both holistically and individually as each is an economic activity center with its own pros and cons.

As a candidate for Orange County Commission, I was recently asked to fill out a questionnaire that asked, “Will I prevent future growth and control over-development?” I prefer to think that we will encourage growth in a very controlled environment. If preserving and conserving our environmental landscape is top of mind, then we must plan ahead starting today.

Now is our opportunity for creating a sustainable economic future environment for future generations - literally creating thousands of real wage jobs for our community, right here in our own backyard.

Article by Jennifer Thompson