Florida Un-dissolves the Reedy Creek Improvement District
But there’s a catch.
Yesterday, February 6th, the ongoing saga of the fate of the Reedy Creek Improvement District took a not entirely unexpected turn with the Florida legislature overturning its own law, passed last April, written specifically to dissolve the district.
How did we get here?
In response to the Walt Disney Company’s protest against Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education Law,” more commonly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, the Florida legislature passed legislation to dissolve Reedy Creek, the special district built specifically to allow what was to become the Walt Disney World Resort complex to manage its own zoning and infrastructure.
Quickly it became apparent that this dissolution might unfairly burden the counties — Osceola and Orange — that would suddenly become the stewards of the resort’s public infrastructure — roads, utilities, safety, etc. — as well as having to potentially take on over a billion dollars of the former district’s bond debt. The Florida legislature began formulating a new plan which they revealed yesterday.
What happened yesterday?
The Florida legislature met in a special session yesterday morning intended, originally, to be exclusively about the fate of the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID).
By the end of the session, no legislation pertaining to RCID had been filed leading Jeff Vahle, the president of the Walt Disney World Resort to issue a statement that the company was “monitoring the progression of the draft legislation.”
Quietly, around 2 P.M. the legislation was filed. Disney has not, as yet, responded to the 189-page document.
What does the legislation say?
Primarily it says, “Whoops, didn’t see all that debt you had lying there before we passed the previous law.” It rescinds the dissolution, renames the district to the “Central Florida Tourism Oversight District” and removes all theme park-related individuals from the district’s board to be replaced by five people chosen by Governor DeSantis.
The bill also removes some of the pre-existing, and mostly unused, rights — the ability to build a nuclear power plant, for instance — as well as adding clauses about more stringent oversight of safety and infrastructure codes and more fiscal accountability.
Is this change good or bad for Disney?
As with most things legislative, it depends. While having the district still intact to provide zoning and permitting and public infrastructure repair without having to rely on Orange and Osceola could be good for them, having those decisions completely in hands of DeSantis’ appointees might actually be worse than the district having been dissolved per the original law. If the relationship with the Governor is good — which, at the moment, it is not — things will get done. If it is bad, WDW could be stuck in a bureaucratic quagmire indefinitely.
What is Disney’s recourse if they decide that they are unhappy with the decision?
Disney has several paths here, but they will want to tread very carefully.
Entering into a full-fledged firefight with the state in which your biggest profit center resides is not a good long-term strategy.
They will probably begin by working behind the scenes to see if they can get the bill altered enough to be acceptable. This will need to happen quickly, though, as it is due to very likely pass in a matter of weeks.
Failing this, they will challenge the bill, if turned into law, in court. This turnabout from RCID dissolution to what amounts to an executive branch takeover of RCID puts Florida in quite a bit of legal jeopardy. To remove all representation by either landowners or occupants from a local jurisdiction is the antithesis of a representative government and will prove to be unconstitutional at several levels.
Disney could also challenge this on free speech grounds by saying that they are being politically punished for saying that the company disagreed with a law. This might be a little tougher as states generally have a lot of flexibility over the management of their internal districts.
Finally, Disney could do something radical — and, to be fair, unlikely — by dissolving Reedy Creek itself before the takeover. Even the new legislation admits that a majority plus one of the current board could vote to take itself down. This would alleviate the district of its debt and much of its tax and fiscal infrastructure burden in return for dealing with Orange and Osceola instead of DeSantis appointees. It would be a stunning move, though the wisdom of it is certainly debatable.
It’s your move, Disney.
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Kelly McCubbin is a columnist for Boardwalk Times
