The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church, is a significant landowner in Florida, particularly through its subsidiary, Farmland Reserve, Inc.. They own a large ranch, Deseret Ranches, spanning three central Florida counties. Recently, they proposed annexing over 52,000 acres of this ranchland into the city of Orlando. This proposal is partly driven by a desire to streamline planning and avoid potential issues with a November ballot initiative that could make annexations more difficult according to The Salt Lake Tribune. Now new records show a lobbyist for the Mormon Church wrote a bill to make it easier to develop a vast swath of ranchlands it owns east of Orlando.
The largest private landowner in Florida is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Better known as the Mormon Church, it owns more than 600,000 acres around the state. About half of its land holdings are cattle ranchlands east of Orlando, where the church has long-term plans to build the equivalent of a new city of 500,000 people. However, voters in Orlando recently approved new rules meant to slow suburban sprawl on rural land. So, the Mormon Church turned to Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature to step in. And the church had help.
Show notes
The bills discussed in this show:
Senate Bill 1118 — Land Use and Development Regulations
Senate Bill 180 — Emergencies
Time is a flat circle:
The top 10 landowners in Florida:
Reach more about the Mormon Church’s long-term development plans in central Florida (stories from the August 2017 issue of Florida Trend magazine):
Ranchland to rooftops in central Florida
Rural Florida’s players and their projects
Tavistock’s Role in Developing Rural Florida
Duda`s agribusiness development reach
This is the second episode to come out of public records we obtained after the end of the Florida Legislature’s 2025 session. Here’s the first episode:
Florida Passed Bills for Pigeon Shooters?! (YouTube)
And here’s the podcast mentioned in this show about the erosion of home rule happening Florida and other Republican-controlled states:
Your Town, Their Rules: How States Are Stealing Local Power (YouTube)
Your town, their rules (audio)
Questions or comments? Send them to Garcia.JasonR@gmail.com
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Photo: Aerial view of LDS-owned ranchland in Florida. Source: deseretranches.com
See also:
‘Mormon Land’: Why is the LDS Church worried about its tax-exempt status? Should it be? (podcast)
The Mormon Church wants to annex 52,450 acres into the city of Orlando
Annexation of Mormon Church property gets first approval in Orlando
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and politics in the United States
Churches and Political Lobbying Activities
Church wants Orlando to annex over 52000 acres
Activists fight annexation request from Mormon Church that could expand Orlando
| Themes |
| • Environment (Sustainable) • Financing • Land rights • Local • National • Public policies • Religious • Rural planning • Urban planning |
