ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orange County Charter Review Commission voted Tuesday to move forward with a proposed amendment that would expand the number of Orange County Commission districts from six to eight. 

This comes as Orange County continues to grow, with new developments popping up in nearly every corner.

Orange County Charter Review commissioners will vote later this month to determine whether to add it to the ballot.

That means residents could eventually see a nine-member commission. The reason for this proposed change, the county says, lies in the research officials have done. 

The county has seen extensive population growth since 1988. The number of residents has jumped from 621,000 people to 1.5 million.

Adding more commissioners and districts, the county said, would reduce the average per district population to 187,000. 

Patricia Rumph, who lives in Pine Hills, spoke at the meeting about the growth she has seen. She believes to keep up with that growth, there needs to be added representation.

“There’s about 80,000 residents in the Pine Hills area. Pine Hills as a city, we would be the second-largest city in Orange County outside the city of Orlando. With that number of residents in the Pine Hills community, we need a specific dedicated representative to represent our Pine Hills community,” Rumph said. 

Mark Bender, an Orlando resident, disagrees. He said he believes there are issues that need to be taken care of now.  

“I think road construction and transportation is very important, but having more commissioners isn’t going to change that. The current commission that we have along with the mayor, along with the city commissions, along with their municipalities can certainly monitor transportation,” Bender said. 

On April 29, there will be a second public hearing and vote to see if the commission wants to place this question on the ballot. 

If all goes according to plan, there would be eight county commission districts in time for the 2026 general election. 

Residents would see a redistricting plan no later than Nov. 1 2025. The term limits for sitting county commissioners would still apply.

The price tag for adding two new commission districts would also be expensive. 

The $2,400,000 price tag would include elections costs, redistricting advisory committee costs and adding two new commissioners' offices. 

Of that total, $1,200,000 would be spent annually for personnel, operating costs and public works funding.