Annexation as Aggregator: When the city's development liaison says the quiet part out loud

Voluntary annexation operates as a jurisdictional consolidation instrument when the city pre-positions the policy framework — Joint Planning Area, Interlocal Service Boundary Agreement, multi-decade utility-service precedent — and treats outreach to multi-company ownership as the binding constraint rather than political resistance. On April 7, 2026, Clermont approved Ordinance 2026-016 and Ordinance 2026-017 at 12305 US Highway 27 — 15.9 acres voluntarily annexed from unincorporated Lake County, both votes unanimous 7-0. Development Liaison Zane Ertel framed the strategic rationale on the record: the city had been trying to annex the parcel "for years" but was blocked by complex multi-company ownership; once Ertel established a media-contact line, the play became using Kohl's annexation as leverage to bring adjacent commercial parcels into the city. The pattern is the city as active jurisdictional aggregator, with the strategy disclosed at the dais.