CFTOD to pay a law professor $110,000 for a research report on reform in the district that governs Walt Disney World

Aug 23, 2023 in "Reedy Creek Improvement District"

Posted: Wednesday August 23, 2023 8:51am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

The Central Florida Tourism Oversight District will meet again later today, and on its agenda for the board meeting is the consideration and approval of a research project from law professor Donald Kochan.

According to the agenda, Professor Kochan will be paid $110,000 for phase 1 of the project, which will include a 50-page report "identifying whether and what legal and constitutional authority and infirmities and structural strengths and abnormalities exist within the governance of the former Reedy Creek Improvement District (now the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District ("CFTOD")) and associated governance regimes and from the statutory or regulatory privileges granted to specific corporate entities."

CFTOD says the report will make some initial recommendations for reform of the district, but more details will be provided in later phases of the project.

Board chairman Garcia said, "For over 56 years, Disney had their own governmentally controlled kingdom which, while sparking economic growth for central Florida, also produced many negative outcomes for the taxpayers, employees, and citizens of Orange and Osceola Counties."

He continued, "In the past six months, our Board has adopted new policies and practices to fix some of the glaring issues. To discover and solve more latent problems, the Board is turning to Professor Kochan to elucidate some of the economic and legal implications the old structure created and provide recommendations to further reform the District to make it more responsive to the citizens of central Florida."

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MagicHappens19711 day ago

Most likely not. Disney isn't building it because it was a Chapek plan that Iger didn't like, they used the guise of the political issues they were having to justify not building it.

rogerrabbitfan91 day ago

I would imagine that any long term office use plans from that long ago are based on very different assumptions than would be made today.

Goofyernmost1 day ago

I looked at it, when they cancelled that project, it was more of a convenient way of getting out of it. There was a lot of backlash from the Imagineering department about uprooting and heading for the less than liberal thinking area called Florida. They were about to lose a lot of very creative people. They might still attempt to be the developer of that property if they still own it, but they won't be investing more money into it in my opinion.

eddie1041 day ago

I don’t believe they have.

Comped1 day ago

To my knowledge, Disney still hasn't sold off the land?

eddie1041 day ago

I wonder once the dust settles on this will this revive their plans for an East Coast division HQ in Florida?

BrianLo2 days ago

It's nice to get the funding commitment tied up into this. Obviously they've given themselves an out in case of an 'event', much like they have for Disneyland Forward. But an out doesn't mean zero investment. It also sort of again concedes their figures aren't just purely political or Wall Street talking points. Not that I've doubted they are, but the company clearly intends (at this juncture) to still spend this 17 billion over ten years.

BrianLo2 days ago

From what Len posted it would seem to be maybe a two-ish year project finishing mid or late 2027. World Drive being done in 2026.

JoeCamel2 days ago

Or when they spend other people's money

Dr.GrantSeeker2 days ago

Really excited about the widening of Western Way. Is there a timeline on that? It needs to happen sooner than later.

mkt2 days ago

It’s amazing what will get done when the board is forced to act in good faith

Tom P.2 days ago

It's a discussion forum. That's the whole point. Why would you want to be in a discussion on a discussion forum and just say "eh, let's stop talking about this" and expect everyone to just drop it?

GoneViral2 days ago

Agreed!

lazyboy97o2 days ago

No… there are people who genuinely believe that Disney is a bunch of groomers. Just because DeSantis dropped the attacks doesn’t means others have. Disney is hoping people in Florida will run interference if people at the federal level want to target Disney.