The Recovery Residences Pre-coding Front: Two cities, two surfaces, one statute — and what cross-city pre-litigation coding for federally-protected use classes reveals about the new municipal regulatory posture

Within a 16-day window in March 2026, two Lake County cities built parallel regulatory infrastructure for the same federally-protected sensitive land use. On March 3, 2026, Clermont's Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved Ordinance 2026-013 (6-0) — a new article under Chapter 125 of the Land Development Code aligning city procedure with Section 397.487 Florida Statutes, the SB 954 reasonable-accommodation framework signed June 25, 2025 and effective July 1, 2025. Sixteen days later, Leesburg's Planning Commission approved the 2007 Butler Street Certified Recovery Residence CUP unanimously (6-0) in the R-2 district as final action — no City Commission step. Two cities, two surfaces, one statute. The pattern is regulatory infrastructure built before the litigation pressure arrives. Cities that pre-code keep enforcement authority over life-safety, parking, and building code; cities that wait litigate the federal Fair Housing Act question through court.