The year 2020 is worth looking back on for only one real reason: to proclaim that “we made it through”.
Osceola County worked as a partner to make sure the sun did eventually rise on 2021. Osceola County partnered with its business community and the St. Cloud and Kissimmee/Osceola Chambers of Commerce with a business recovery plan, and assisted new Valencia College students with a cash grant to get started in classes that 1,400 students took advantage of.
Where the County Commission usually uses its “State of the County Address” to focus on the things it accomplished in the past year, this time around, Wednesday at Osceola Heritage Park, the focus was on the future, and what comes next.
Actually, that’s exactly what’s next.
“What’s Next” is the county’s new forward-looking brand identity, along with a new logo, and it debuted at Wednesday’s event.
“That’s not a question, Osceola County IS what’s next in Central Florida. The message is clear,” said County Commission Chairman Brandon Arrington, a nearly-lifelong county resident. “We all know how special this place is, and that’s why we embrace it as we look to our future.”
The new logo “makes use of a kaleidoscope of color. Some may see a diamond, some may see a compass. It all points to the future,” Arrington said, a future where Osceola County is positioning itself to “Be first to what’s next.”
The “next” is about change, as the area changes. The 2020 Census reported a county population of 390,000, a county that is more Hispanic and that is looking for more jobs and affordable housing.
“Those numbers were outdated the moment the forms were completed,” Arrington said. “More new residents and neighbor arrive here every day. The Census shows about a 45 percent population change from 2010, the most of any county in the state.”
The county did time to reflect on 2020, noting its support for the Health Department and Experience Kissimmee to help a questioning community and tourism sector work through the pandemic. The county, with help from federal dollars, created an Eviction Liaison program to bridge tenant and landlord or mortgage company relief programs to keep people housed. County staff did all this while it kept connected through virtual meetings and workspaces.
The Hoagland Boulevard widening and rerouting project was completed ahead of schedule, and widening Neptune Road, Simpson Road, Boggy Creek Road, Poinciana Boulevard, Partin Settlement Road, and a reworking of the Interstate 4 and County Road 532 are all on the horizon. It’s all part of a plan to spent $2 billion on transportation in the next five years, with assistance from state and regional boards.
“We’ve fought through the peaks and valleys of the pandemic. This virus is tough,” Arrington said. “Spikes and surges continue to threaten our recovery.”
But the message was “What’s Next.”
“NeoCity is poised for great things, SkyWater has given new life to the Center for NeoVation, building the technology capacity so badly needed during a worldwide shortage of semiconductors,” Arrington said. “Significant Korean investment paves the way for a (potential billion-dollar) city center.”
Sunbridge, a 20,000-acre development (larger that the city boundaries of both Kissimmee and St. Cloud), is selling its first neighborhoods near Narcoossee and includes plans for a K-8 school to open in 2024 while connecting to the rest of the county, Lake Nona, Orlando, the Space Coast, UCF, Medical City and NeoCity. And FIFA, the world’s soccer governing body, has visited the Orlando City Soccer training site at OHP as a potential World Cup camp in 2026.
It all may be ahead in the future … but it’s next. And Osceola County’s got next.
