Map of city limits?

[bsutter2]

I find it very hard to find an accurate map of city limits of different cities in florida, does anybody have a link to a good map of where a city ends and the county begins?

[Florida]

this is going to be tough because of the ever changing nature of city bounaries due to annexations. I doubt you'll be able to find all city limit info on one particular site, but surely they should be located somewhere on each city's Official Government website.

[Aessotariq]

Are you looking for the boundaries for any specific city? You may be able to find them by county, for the larger counties. For the smaller counties, you probably can look on the respective cities' websites.

All of the official boundaries for Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach county municipalities can be found on each of the county governments' websites.

If you have a specific city in mind, I probably have a copy somewhere on my computer of the larger ones... Let me know and I'll pull it for you.

[ironchapman]

Have you tried Google?

[bsutter2]

Tampa, orlando off the top of my head.

[bobliocatt]

I'll post these links, as I find each city. This first PDF shows a municipality map of Polk County's (Lakeland-Winter Haven MSA) 17 cities.

http://www.polkpa.org/pdffiles/municipalities_02_2004_02.pdf

*observation*- the race to gooble up sprawl in definately on.

[Aessotariq]

Orlando

Tampa

[Brickell]

Miami city limits with commission disticts.

http://www.ci.miami.fl.us/City_Officials/I...on_District.gif

[RiversideGator]

Interesting. Those are some funny shaped cities. What is in the middle of the Orlando horseshoe, by the way? And, it's interesting how Miami has a white city council district, a black one and three Cuban ones. I guess that kind of mirrors the demographics of the city at large.

[bic]

Interesting.  Those are some funny shaped cities.  What is in the middle of the Orlando horseshoe, by the way?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Mostly lower income residential, industrial parks, and low density commercial (dealership lots, auto shops, etc.).

[depechecureguyorl]

Interesting.  Those are some funny shaped cities.  What is in the middle of the Orlando horseshoe, by the way?  And, it's interesting how Miami has a white city council district, a black one and three Cuban ones.  I guess that kind of mirrors the demographics of the city at large.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Judging from a local perspective, that map of Orlando seems to be a little out of date, as I know the city annexed more land by the airport and out in west Orlando. I guess the City hasn't found the time to update their website, or because they are annexing land all the time.

To answer your question, though. The middle of the Orlando "horseshoe" predominately includes unincorporated Orange County and the cities of Edgewood, Belle Isle, and Pine Castle.

The reason Orlando's city limits resemble that of a checkerboard is because Orange County vehemently opposes any annexation by Orlando that will take away from the County's tax base. Also, the County will solicit "fear tactics" mail to the citizens of an area of interest by the city of Orlando. Voters recently approved a "Consolidation" study that will ultimately incorporate the services of Orlando/Orange County into one. Whether that means total incorporation like Jax/Duval and Miami/Dade did a while ago is anyone's guess.

[depechecureguyorl]

Another thing to note, in the 1990's the Orlando city council was very "selective" on the land they annexed. This included annexing only "Upper Echelon" areas and land that has yet to be developed. The current City Council seems to be more inclusive in their annexing practices.

If Orlando were to truly square out their city limits to include the surrounding, developed areas of unincorporated Orange county, then I would safely wager that the Orlando City Limit's population would swell from the current 220,000 to over 650,000 or more.

[Aessotariq]

I've always been amused by Orlando's horseshoe shape... It also reminds me of the layout of the airport terminal somewhat... Also I hadn't realized that Orlando had annexed all the way to the Orange/Osceola line either.

[Aessotariq]

Miami-Dade County, 35 municipalities

Broward County, 31 municipalities

Palm Beach County, 35 of 37 municipalities on east coast area shown, excluding Belle Glade and Pahokee

[Brickell]

I recall a big Sentinel expose of Orlando's annexation practices a while ago. Far off cow pastures were being annexed while poorer black neighborhoods minutes from downtown were left with dirt roads and poor fire and police services. I can't find the article online so details are sketchy. Taking a look at the map shows how they work though.

[GRS328]

Broward is really an anomaly in Florida with so little unincorporated land.

[depechecureguyorl]

I recall a big Sentinel expose of Orlando's annexation practices a while ago.  Far off cow pastures were being annexed while poorer black neighborhoods minutes from downtown were left with dirt roads and poor fire and police services.  I can't find the article online so details are sketchy.  Taking a look at the map shows how they work though.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You're right. That article was basically where I drew the conclusion from my earlier posts. It DID expose the (then) Orlando City Council's shady annexation tactics lead by former Mayor Glenda Hood. There are loads of "pockets" in Orlando that are in Unincorporated Orange County that are just 2 to 3 miles away from Downtown Orlando. Yet, Lake Nona, by the Orl Int'l Airport, is incorporated Orlando and that area is over 25 miles from Downtown. All the land you see annexed down to the Osceola County line in mostly undeveloped, thus Orlando's ease of annexing that property.

The Sentinel article also explained the total estimated population of Orlando if it were to square out it's city limits. For the locals, that would mean the city limits would extend to Clarcona/Ocoee Rd in the north, Sand Lake Rd in the south, Chickasaw Trail in the east and Hiawassee Rd in the West. Total estimated population: 650,000+.

[Aessotariq]

Cherry-picking by municipalities and leaving doughnut-holes of unincorporated territory within a city are practices I loathe. Those residents end up with lousy service given the resulting difficulties in reaching them.

Broward is really an anomaly in Florida with so little unincorporated land.

Indeed. The legislature wants all of Broward's remaining pockets of unincorporated areas that are inhabited (~1%) to join existing cities or incorporate their own by the end of this decade. Broward's role as a county has become much more regional in scope as a result.