City of Apopka Planning Commission — January 13, 2026

Meeting Overview

Type: Regular Meeting Quorum: Yes (5 of 7 voting members present) Duration: 18 minutes (called to order 5:30 PM, adjourned 5:48 PM)

Attendance

• Present: Chairperson William Gusler, Howard Washington, Robert Ryan, David Woods, Eric Mock
• Absent: Wes Dumey, Mary Norwood; Orange County Public Schools (non-voting representative)
• Staff Present: Jean Sanchez (Senior Planner) presented the Freshfields Farm site plan; Amer Hamza and Jun Sohn, Ph.D. listed as project managers

Agenda Items

Item 1: Election of Officers

• Type: Other (procedural)
• Request: Annual election of Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson
• Action: William Gusler elected Chairperson; Robert Ryan elected Vice-Chairperson
• Vote: Unanimous on both (Chair: nominated by Washington, seconded by Ryan. Vice-Chair: nominated by Washington, seconded by Mock)

Item 2: Approval of Minutes — December 9, 2025

• Type: Other (procedural)
• Action: Approved
• Vote: Unanimous (motion by Washington, second by Woods)

Item 3: Ordinance No. 3118 — Land Development Code Text Amendment — Town Center Overlay District (Wyld Oaks)

• Type: Text Amendment (Land Development Code)
• Case Number: Ordinance No. 3118
• Location: Southwest corner of Kelly Park Road and SR 429
• Applicant: Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor & Reed, P.A. c/o Tara L. Tedrow, Esq. (owner: Kelly Park VB Development, LLC)
• Acreage: 304.28 +/- acres
• Density: Minimum 0 du/gross acre; maximum 27.5 du/gross acre (approximately 4,675 units across 170 acres); bonus to 30 du/gross acre where at least 30% open space is provided
• Intensity: Minimum 0.1 FAR district-wide; maximum FAR regulated through building height (up to 10 stories), block and street standards, and open space distribution
• Current Zoning / FLU: Existing FLU Mixed Use; existing use vacant
• Proposed Zoning: KPI-MU (Kelly Park Interchange — Mixed-Use), Wyld Oaks Town Center Overlay District
• Project Manager: Jean Sanchez, Senior Planner
• Action: Pulled from the agenda
• Vote: No vote taken
• Notable Discussion: Chairperson Gusler stated the item was pulled "due to errors in advertising." Second pull of this ordinance, following September 9, 2025.

Item 4: Ordinance No. 3150 — Comprehensive Plan, Future Land Use Element Text Amendment — Wyld Oaks

• Type: Comprehensive Plan Amendment (Text Amendment, FLU Element)
• Case Number: Ordinance No. 3150
• Location: Southwest corner of Kelly Park Road and SR 429
• Applicant: Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor & Reed, P.A. c/o Tara L. Tedrow, Esq. (owner: Kelly Park VB Development, LLC)
• Acreage: 304.28 +/- acres
• Project Manager: Jean Sanchez, Senior Planner
• Action: Pulled from the agenda
• Vote: No vote taken
• Notable Discussion: Same advertising errors as Item 3.

Item 5: Ordinance No. 3154 — Change of Zoning — Lester Road Subdivision

• Type: Rezoning
• Case Number: Ordinance No. 3154
• Location: 550 W. Lester Road
• Applicant: Thomas Faber (owners: Christopher Williams and Katrina Bennett)
• Request: Change of zoning to large-lot single-family for a subdivision
• Current Zoning: T (Transitional)
• Proposed Zoning: RSF-1B (Residential Single Family — Large Lot)
• Acreage: 3.05 +/- acres
• Density: Maximum 3.5 DU/AC
• Project Manager: Amer Hamza
• Staff Recommendation: Approve
• Action: Recommended approval
• Vote: Unanimous (motion by Mock, second by Washington)
• Notable Discussion: Quasi-judicial item; all members declared no ex-parte communication. One public speaker, Fred Cruz, raised concerns about fencing and the property line.

Item 6: Special Exception — 4410 and 4420 Chandler Road

• Type: Special Exception
• Location: 4410 Chandler Road and 4420 Chandler Road
• Applicant: Camila Neira (owner: Richard Chandler)
• Request: Special exception to allow child care facility uses in the RSF-1A zoning district
• Project Manager: Jun Sohn, Ph.D.
• Action: Pulled from the agenda — applicant withdrew the application
• Vote: No vote taken
• Notable Discussion: Chairperson Gusler stated the item was pulled because the applicant withdrew. The same applicant and owner returned on June 9, 2026 seeking a Future Land Use amendment and rezoning to Office for the same parcels, and both were denied unanimously.

Item 7: Freshfields Farm Apopka — Major Development Plan and Construction Site Plan

• Type: Site Plan (Major Development Plan and Construction Site Plan)
• Location: 1819 Armanda Borjas Jr. Way
• Parcel ID: 24-21-28-0000-00-005
• Applicant: Bowman Consulting c/o Dane Fray, P.E. (owner: Apopka 3, LLC)
• Request: Major Development Plan and Construction Site Plan for a 17,550 square foot specialty retail perishable food store
• Current Zoning: C-C (Community Commercial); Future Land Use Commercial; existing use vacant
• Acreage: 5.58 +/- acres
• Intensity: 0.25 FAR maximum; 0.07 FAR proposed
• Presented by: Jean Sanchez, Senior Planner
• Staff Recommendation: Approve
• Action: Recommended approval
• Vote: Unanimous (motion by Washington, second by Woods)
• Notable Discussion: Public comment opened and closed with no speakers.

Public Hearings Summary

• Number of speakers: 1 (Fred Cruz, on the Lester Road rezoning)
• General sentiment: Neutral to mildly concerned — the single speaker raised a boundary issue rather than opposing the project
• Key concerns: Fencing and property line definition adjacent to the proposed Lester Road subdivision

Key Signals

• Three of the four public hearing items never reached a vote. Both Wyld Oaks ordinances were pulled for advertising errors and the Chandler Road special exception was withdrawn by its applicant, leaving a board that convened to consider 304 acres and 4,675 units adjourned in eighteen minutes. For a jurisdiction of this growth rate, the binding constraint on the entitlement calendar is public notice compliance.

• The Wyld Oaks Town Center Overlay has now been pulled three times across four months. Ordinance 3118 was pulled September 9, 2025, then pulled again here alongside its Comprehensive Plan companion Ordinance 3150 — this time explicitly "due to errors in advertising." Both were recommended unanimously on February 10, 2026. The corridor's largest pending entitlement lost a full quarter to procedure while facing no recorded opposition at any hearing.

• The Chandler Road withdrawal was a change of route, not a retreat. The applicant had already won this special exception 6-1 in May 2025 with four conditions, including a requirement to return to the board before construction. Withdrawing in January and returning in June 2026 with a Future Land Use amendment and rezoning to Office — represented by Lowndes Drosdick — is a shift from a use-specific permit to a permanent land-use conversion. The board denied both requests unanimously, holding the same line Chairperson Gusler drew in May 2025.

• A grocery-scale food store lands on Ocoee-Apopka Road at 0.07 of its permitted intensity. Freshfields Farm's 17,550 square foot perishable food store occupies 5.58 commercial acres at 0.07 FAR against a 0.25 maximum — roughly a quarter of what the site could carry. The residual capacity on an approved commercial parcel is a forward signal: the entitlement is larger than the building. Food retail anchoring in this belt echoes the Ocoee Village Center grocery and fuel station play in the adjacent jurisdiction, and reappears in Apopka on June 9, 2026 with The Ridge Phase 3's food market and gas station combination.

• Officer election put Gusler and Ryan in the chairs that both would vacate within seven months. Gusler was re-elected Chairperson and Ryan elected Vice-Chairperson here. Gusler resigned at the June 9, 2026 meeting after a City Commissioner moved to remove the Planning Commission's members; Ryan succeeded him by July 14, 2026, and the August 11, 2026 agenda schedules an election to refill the Vice-Chair seat.

Raw Notes

• The minutes' Approval of Minutes section contains a clerical inconsistency: the item heading reads "Meeting Minutes from December 9th, 2025" and the motion approves "the meeting minutes from December 9th, 2025," which is consistent. The comparable section in the April 14, 2026 minutes shows the reverse error, with a heading referring to March 10 and the motion text referring to January 13.
• Howard Washington moved or seconded five of the six actions taken at this meeting, including both officer nominations. This is his last recorded participation as a mover; he appears absent from the March 10, 2026 meeting and does not appear on the membership roster from April 14, 2026 onward.
• The Wyld Oaks agenda entry in this packet lists seven distinct parcel identification numbers assembled under Kelly Park VB Development, LLC.
• Source: minutes embedded at pages 2-5 of the February 10, 2026 agenda packet (CivicClerk apopkafl, agendaId 1309, fileId 3047). Agenda: agendaId 1293, fileId 3024.