Kelly collectively sued the County with other citizens for urban sprawl and won in court. The case was based on the Lake Pickett Text Amendment (North & South) that the County approved. Kelly and the team won in court due to the County violating our land use plan by promoting urban sprawl developments but a decade later she and her community are still fighting the same fight.

Kelly is the initiator and leader of the 2024 Rural Boundary Charter Amendment. She filed the constitutional amendment in July 2023 after more than a decade of trying to protect the natural lands and rural communities of the East. Voters will decide how they will like to grow in November 2024. The CRC voted to put the Boundary on our November ballots. However, the state preempted the effort after developers lobbied a non-local Senator to block the effort with a one-sentence amendment to a non-partisan bill. As a result, the CRC could not advance the boundary to our ballots. On July 30th, 2024 the Board of County Commissioners voted to move the boundary forward to our November ballots to prevent lobbyists from undermining citizens’ rights to amend our County Constitution.

Kelly has a proven track record of standing up for people and our environment over special interests. She has helped lead efforts for adaptive reuse zoning to assist our homeless population and helped defeat a mega puppy mill in East Orange County. She was appointed by the Board of County Commissioners to serve on the Redistricting Committee to help ensure the district boundaries were equitably impactful for voters. Her dedication has led to invitations to join various boards and committees tackling significant community issues.