Orange County delegation delays vote on Sunbridge Stewardship District bill after utility, annexation concerns

The Orange County legislative delegation on Jan. 9 postponed a final vote on a proposed local bill to expand the Sunbridge Stewardship District into the Orange County portion of the project, citing outstanding questions about utility agreements and neighborhood impacts.

Richard Levy, volunteer chair of the Sunbridge Stewardship District, told the delegation the district was approved by Orange County in 2017 and that the local bill would simply expand the district’s governance to cover parcels already entitled for development in Orange County. Levy said the stewardship district finances infrastructure through assessments on property owners, supports applied environmental research with local universities and funds education programs and a full‑time naturalist. “This is about establishing a local government‑like structure for Sunbridge,” Levy said, adding the district’s mission includes conservation and water‑use research.

The district chair repeatedly said the proposal is not a mechanism for any broader annexation or land‑use change. “This bill has nothing to do with that expansion or that proposed larger annexation,” Levy said, and he pointed to a recent…