City of Clermont Planning and Zoning Commission — May 5, 2026

Meeting Overview

Type: Regular Meeting Quorum: Yes (5 of 7 members present) Duration: Approximately 56 minutes (6:30 PM – 7:26 PM)

Attendance

• Present: Acting Chair Entsuah, Commissioner Tidona, Commissioner May, Commissioner Hoisington, Commissioner Cramer
• Absent: Chair Colby, Vice-Chair Niemiec
• Staff Present: Development Services Director Curt Henschel, Planner Nicholas Gonzalez, Planner Justine Day, City Attorney Christian Waugh, Planning Coordinator Rae Chidlow

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Agenda Items

Item 1: Resolution No. 2026-011R — Mayamero Food Truck CUP

• Type: CUP
• Case Number: Resolution No. 2026-011R
• Location: 477 E. Hwy 50 (Sunoco/Texaco convenience-store parking lot, east side adjacent to the store)
• Applicant: Rommel Rodulfo (Mayamero) — relocated from a Davenport site near Little Caesars
• Request: Conditional Use Permit to operate a single mobile food dispensing vehicle serving authentic Venezuelan cuisine, takeout only (no seating), seven days a week, 4:00 PM – 10:00 PM. The truck would remain on-site overnight, drawing electricity from the convenience store (no generator), with a separate commissary handling waste. Written owner authorization provided, including restroom access for patrons. Food trucks are not a permitted use in C-2 per LDC 125-313 and require a CUP.
• Current Zoning: C-2 General Commercial
• Proposed Zoning: No change
• Staff Recommendation: Approve (with conditions in Resolution No. 2026-011R; outdoor music prohibited)
• Action: Approved (recommended for approval)
• Vote: 4-1 (Commissioner May opposing)
• Conditions: Standard CUP conditions; no amplified music / outdoor entertainment; CUP tied to the property (not the operator) and void after 60 days of inactivity; electrical-connection arrangement from the convenience store to be formally written into the resolution and authorized by the property owner; the motion added a recommendation that operational hours be changed to align with the gas station's hours; city retains authority to amend or revoke if parking becomes inadequate.
• Notable Discussion: This was a contested 4-1 — the first split vote on a Clermont food-truck CUP in the recent run. Two neighbors from 1319 Anderson Street (Sherri Brady, a 30-year resident, and Robert Pohle) spoke in opposition, citing loud music from the existing Hwy 50 food-truck cluster, pedestrian danger crossing Anderson Street and E. Hwy 50, traffic congestion, rodent/quality-of-life concerns, and propane safety next to a fuel station (Pohle is an FDACS-certified RV technician). Both stressed they support small business generally but felt the location threatens the neighborhood's "small-town feel," which they said is already eroding under recent duplex construction; they also noted the truck and an RV appeared already on-site, giving the impression approval was a foregone conclusion. Staff (Gonzalez) clarified Code Enforcement had told the applicant to stop operating at a prior site; the truck has been relocated but is not yet operational. Commissioner May drove the dissent — she pressed on lighting adequacy at a dark site, insufficient/undesignated parking versus prior food-truck approvals that had "clearer, more structured" arrangements, the property owner's absence, and inconsistent standards across cases; she ultimately voted no. The most consequential staff disclosure: Gonzalez confirmed that under the ordinance expected in June (Ord 2026-014), this type of food-truck use would likely be permitted administratively through site review and would no longer require P&Z or City Council approval — explicitly framing this CUP as a soon-obsolete process. Commissioner Cramer called the application straightforward and noted the safeguards; Acting Chair Entsuah and Commissioner Hoisington raised gas-station-closing-time mismatch (station closes ~8 PM, truck would run to 10 PM) and after-hours circulation concerns, leading to the align-hours recommendation in the motion.

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Public Hearings Summary

• Number of speakers: 2 (Sherri Brady and Robert Pohle, both of 1319 Anderson Street, both opposed)
• General sentiment: Opposed (neighborhood-character and safety-driven)
• Key concerns:
  • Noise / amplified music from the existing Hwy 50 food-truck cluster carrying to nearby homes
  • Pedestrian safety crossing Anderson Street and E. Hwy 50; traffic congestion and prior accidents turning onto Anderson Street
  • Propane safety — large tanks, open flames, multiple trucks operating late at night next to a gas station
  • Neighborhood-character erosion ("small-town feel"), with recent duplex construction cited as evidence of change; question of how many more would be approved
  • Late-night hours (to 10 PM) outliving the gas station's own closing time, after-dark activity and lighting adequacy

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Key Signals

• The food-truck CUP machine produced its first dissent — right as the city is about to retire it. After Crab Cakes (Jan), Wahlburgers (Apr), and three prior unanimous approvals, Mayamero drew a 4-1 with Commissioner May in opposition over parking inconsistency and the absent property owner. The split matters less as an outcome (it still passed) than as a tell: staff openly stated this CUP is among the last the commission will process, because Ord 2026-014 — on the very next agenda — will make food trucks an administrative site-review use. The board is voting on cases under a regime it knows is ending in 28 days. For an investor, the message is that the regulatory cost of mobile food vending in Clermont's C-2 frontage is about to drop (staff estimates ~$1,000 saved per truck by eliminating the CUP).
• Neighborhood-character opposition is migrating from rezonings to food trucks. The Anderson Street neighbors framed a single takeout truck as an "invasion" and explicitly tied it to recent duplex construction changing the area. This is the Highway 27/50 "quiet revolution" sentiment surfacing at the smallest possible land-use unit — a sign that residents along the Hwy 50 corridor now read incremental commercial activation as the leading edge of broader change, not an isolated permit.
• The "align hours with the gas station" condition is a new compatibility lever. Rather than deny, the board recommended capping the truck's hours to the host fuel station's (closing the 8 PM–10 PM gap). It's a low-friction tool for managing after-dark activity that prior food-truck approvals didn't use — worth watching whether the forthcoming MFDV ordinance (which sets a blanket 7 AM–10 PM window) preserves or overrides this kind of site-specific narrowing.
• Commissioner May is emerging as the food-truck consistency hawk. Across the Wahlburgers and Mayamero hearings she has pushed hardest on parking designation, lighting, and equal standards across applicants. As the city moves to administrative approval, her recurring concern — that trucks get inconsistent parking/traffic scrutiny — is exactly the discretion the new ordinance removes from the board. Her dissent reads as a marker for what the commission loses when site review replaces CUP review.
• Light agenda, two absent leaders, fast meeting — the procedural calm before a substantive June. A single new-business item under Acting Chair Entsuah (Colby and Niemiec absent) adjourned in under an hour. The Reports period flagged a City Council/P&Z joint workshop and a forthcoming "scorecard/checklist" to streamline review — institutional groundwork that pairs with the MFDV streamlining on the next agenda. Commissioner May also previewed intelligence from an invite-only Bilzin Sumberg developers conference in Miami on Tallahassee legislation, a regulatory-radar signal to track.

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Raw Notes

• April 7, 2026 minutes approved 5-0 as amended (Cramer moved, Hoisington seconded).
• Reports: Tidona reported on a productive joint City Council/P&Z meeting, a forthcoming review-streamlining checklist, NYC Park Avenue redesign as a walkability example, and a Clermont Sun article naming Clermont a national "burnout belt" for long stressful commutes (his own commute reportedly grew from 35 min to 1h40m near John Young Parkway / SR-50); he urged DOT coordination on signal timing.
• May (happy Cinco de Mayo remarks) was invited to an invite-only ~300-400-person Bilzin Sumberg developers conference in Miami covering Tallahassee legislative developments (passed and failed bills); she will report back next meeting. She thanked Council/staff for the recent joint workshop.
• Hoisington attended the joint meeting on the 21st, anticipated a "proposed scorecard" to guide future decisions.
• Cramer thanked Council for including P&Z in the workshop, voiced support for dark-sky initiatives (safety/sustainability/character balance), and promoted the Parks & Recreation survey on the city website.
• Entsuah: no report.
• No discussion of non-agenda items.
• Adjourned 7:26 PM. Minutes will be approved at the June 2, 2026 meeting.
• Staff cross-reference: the existing 3-truck operation ~800 ft west at 300 E. Hwy 50 (operating/housed/stored on-site since mid-2024, no Code Enforcement complaints) was cited as the compatibility benchmark for Mayamero. </content>

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