An Act relating to the establishment, powers and functions of the Reedy Creek Improvement District; changing the name of the Reedy Creek Drainage District created under authority of Chapter 298, Florida Statutes, to the Reedy Creek Improvement District; setting forth new territorial boundaries of the District in Orange and Osceola Counties and excluding certain lands from said boundaries.
The Reedy Creek Improvement Act, otherwise known as House Bill No. 486,
Reedy Creek Improvement District) as its own county governmental authority, which granted it the same authority and responsibilities as a county government.[2][3][4]
The bill, which was sought by and pushed for by
Claude R. Kirk, Jr. on May 12, 1967, allowing Disney to build the infrastructure for the second park.[6] Ground breaking followed on May 30.[7] In Roy O. Disney's last act as the company's CEO in 1968, he officially named the second park Walt Disney World.[8]
The status of the law has been challenged since its passage. In 1968, the
planned city within the property called the ''Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow" (EPCOT), which was intended to serve as a test bed for new city-living innovations. The company however eventually decided to abandon Walt's concepts for the experimental city after his death, primarily only using the district for its own commercial interests.[10]
The Florida Legislature passed a bill that would repeal the Act and abolish the Reedy Creek Improvement District. On April 22, 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law repealing the Reedy Creek Improvement Act; The District dissolved June 2023.[11]
Background
When initially planning the resort back in the 1960s,
planned city that would have also been used as a test bed for new innovations for city living.[10]
In an effort to lobby the Florida legislature to create the district, Walt Disney shot a 25-minute long film on October 27, 1966, two months before his death, in which he explained his plans for Disney World and how the EPCOT city would interrelate with other aspects of the property.[13] In December 1966, a legislative hearing had been held on the law, where advocates for Disney and the company's law firm reportedly testified. Joe Potter, later a manager of the district, pushed for the legislation, as did Herb Gee, a Florida engineer.[5] Walt Disney's EPCOT film was also screened for Florida legislators on February 2, 1967.[13] These efforts were part of the Disney company's petitioning for the creation of the district, with the planned EPCOT city said to be part of this district.[14]
Provisions
The law created a
firefighters and police.[4][15][16][17] The RCID can also impose taxes and run government services from that revenue. The law also created two cities, the municipalities of Lake Buena Vista and Bay Lake which are currently within the boundary of Walt Disney World.[18]
The 92-page law states that the district comprises nearly 25,000 acres in the counties of
Walt Disney World Company. The law further says that the projects oriented toward recreation, economic development, and tourism within the boundaries of the district met a public purpose and would benefit "all properties, persons, and enterprises within the district." The law also states that the RCID will still be subject to Florida state laws that "guide its governance."[15] The only areas where the district had to submit to the county and state would be property taxes and elevator inspections.[10] The law also states that the governing body of the RCID, the board of supervisors, is chosen by the landowners inside the district, with Disney as the largest landowner in the district.[19] According to Aubrey Jewett, a University of Central Florida political science professor, the law essentially gives Disney the "power of self-government" inside the defined district.[20]
Signature into law
On May 12, 1967, Governor
City of Reedy Creek (later renamed as the City of Lake Buena Vista around 1970).[1][21][22] According to a press conference held in Winter Park, Florida on February 2, 1967, by Disney Vice President Donn Tatum, the Improvement District and Cities were created to serve "the needs of those residing there", because the company needed its own government to "clarify the District's authority to [provide services] within the District's limits", and because of the public nature of the planned development. The original city boundaries did not cover the whole Improvement District; they may have been intended as the areas where communities would be built for residential use.[10][14]
Aftermath
Walt Disney died in 1966 before realizing his vision for the planned EPCOT city and the rest of his initial plans for Disney World. With their biggest advocate gone, the Disney Company board eventually decided that it did not want to be in the business of running a city. Most of Walt's ideas for his planned city were eventually abandoned, and thus the residential areas were never built, causing some to cry foul. Most notably, Richard Foglesong argues in his book Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando that Disney has abused its powers by remaining in complete control of the district and using its autonomy solely for commercial interests inside its self-contained resort instead of maintaining an actual city.[10] And although Disney built an actual community, Celebration, Florida, on their property in the 1990s, it was later de-annexed from the District and the company's control.[23]
At the time of the RCID's creation, it was considered "remote and uninhabitable" but it changed over time.
public corporation administered by a five-member Board of Supervisors elected by area landowners.[25] Disney is the primary landowner and controls the remaining land through contractual arrangements. In this way, the company is able to hand-pick the landowning electorate. An Associated Press article notes, "Board members are non-Disney business people from central Florida and must own at least an acre [4,000 m²] in the district."[26] An Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability report explains the contractual arrangement as follows: "Historically, each board member has been deeded approximately five acres [20,000 m²] of land by an affiliate of the Walt Disney World Co. . . . According to RCID officials, a Walt Disney World Co. affiliate has the exclusive option to purchase land back from board members at any time."[15]