Annexation as Governance Tool: Two cities, two procedural shapes, one underlying instrument — and what the cross-city contrast tells us about Lake County's regulatory motion

Two Lake County cities have built parallel annexation strategies on the same statutory base — F.S. § 171.044 voluntary annexation — but with different procedural shapes and different surfaces of disclosure. Clermont runs annexation as a parcel-by-parcel commercial consolidation play with explicit cascade strategy disclosed at the dais; the Kohl's annexation on April 7, 2026 paired Ordinance 2026-016 and Ordinance 2026-017 at 7-0 with Development Liaison Zane Ertel naming the leverage strategy on record. Groveland runs annexation as a three-ordinance procedural template that absorbs industrial and residential edge land in single agenda blocks with zero public comment; Gadson Street, Brighthill Phase 2, and Langley Industrial Park executed the template three times across a six-month window with parcel sizes spanning 1.9 to 147.47 acres. Same statutory tool. Two governance shapes. Both cities are using annexation to transfer jurisdictional authority from Lake County to the city — but the cities have chosen different procedural trades.