City of Eustis Local Planning Agency — April 17, 2025

Meeting Overview

Type: Regular Meeting Quorum: Yes (5 of 5 members present) Duration: 5:30 PM – 5:59 PM (29 minutes) Location: Eustis City Hall

Attendance

• Present: Chairman Willie Hawkins, Vice Chair Gary Ashcraft, Mr. Michael Holland, Mr. George Asbate, Ms. Emily Lee
• Absent: None
• Staff Present: Mike Lane, Director of Development Services; Tom Carrino, City Manager; Christine Halloran, City Clerk

Prior minutes: April 3, 2025 minutes approved (moved Holland, seconded Ashcraft), 5-0.

Agenda Items

Item 1: Approval of Minutes — April 3, 2025

• Type: Other (procedural)
• Request: Approve the April 3, 2025 LPA minutes.
• Action: Approved
• Vote: 5-0 (moved Holland, seconded Ashcraft)

Item 2.1: Ordinance Number 25-04 — Future Land Use assignment for annexation of the Sangster parcels, north of County Road 44

• Type: Comprehensive Plan Amendment (Future Land Use assignment on annexation)
• Case Number: Ordinance Number 25-04
• Location: North of County Road 44, east of State Road 19, north of Trout Lake Nature Center (Alternate Key Numbers 1097070 and 1094712)
• Applicant: Robert T. Sangster (property owner); Logan Wilson appeared as representative
• Request: Annex approximately 49.5 acres and assign a future land use district of Mixed Commercial and Industrial (MCI), replacing Lake County's Urban Low designation.
• Current Zoning: Urban Low (Lake County future land use), which allows up to four dwelling units per acre plus some multi-family and commercial uses
• Proposed Zoning: Mixed Commercial and Industrial (MCI)
• Acreage: Approximately 49.5 acres as presented (re-surveyed at 50.5 acres and returned to the LPA on September 4, 2025 as a large-scale amendment)
• Staff Recommendation: Approve
• Action: Recommended for transmittal to the City Commission
• Vote: 5-0 (moved Holland, seconded Lee)
• Conditions: None
• Notable Discussion:
  • Lane confirmed Lake County was notified under the Joint Planning Area Agreement and that advertisements and postings were completed. Once developed, the site would have to be buffered from the residential area to the west.
  • The property is in the flood zone; future development would require a FEMA letter of map amendment to use fill. All soils on the site are poorly drained; future development will require geotechnical reports. The property has been cleared in the last few years.
  • No site plan has been received. The board asked what the property is for.
  • Wilson's account of the intended use: the soil is not suitable for building and construction would be cost-prohibitive, so Sangster arrived at storage — agricultural storage, covered storage, and outdoor storage for items such as RVs and boats, not a self-storage facility. The ponds at the front are 1970s borrow pits to be used for stormwater collection. The site is currently being used as a drop yard by Southland Construction. A shared entrance to the adjoining City parcel and a small commercial building at the front were floated.
  • Asbate asked whether there are violations against the property. Wilson said none he was aware of; both Lake County and DEP had visited, DEP satisfied once it understood the ponds were borrow pits, the County concerned primarily about pervious surface and buildings.
  • The board discussed annexing in order to gain control over the property, noting it is an enclave surrounded by the City, and asked whether the fill was crushed concrete or slab.
  • Wilson explained the concrete stream: Sangster recently purchased Professional Dirt Service; as FDOT removes curbing and driveways, Southland Construction has used the site for the concrete, which is milled to crushed concrete and sold to third parties. Wilson said this was part of the curb work in Eustis, and that FDOT switched the project to evenings after material was initially delivered during the day.

Public Hearings Summary

• Number of speakers: 5 (hearing open 5:45 PM – 5:58 PM)
• General sentiment: Opposed
• Key concerns:
  • John Thornton (homeowner behind the property) — tree removal increased roadway noise; concrete delivered between 2 AM and 4 AM; questioned the origin of the concrete and whether it contains hazardous material; questioned whether a permit was obtained to move it there; said the owner had been told by the County to cease construction or dumping or remove all the concrete; said the owner is being investigated by the St. Johns Water Authority; asked directly whether annexation into Eustis would absolve the owner of accountability for pending violations.
  • Blake Griswold — impact on Trout Lake and the wetlands from an industrial complex; possible saturation of the wetlands.
  • Cindy Newton (County resident) — impact on the City's waterfront and the wetlands.
  • Amanda Hall (Dona Vista resident) — water levels after Hurricane Milton, effects on wildlife, increasing traffic from development.
  • Sherry Thornton (adjacent owner) — the ponds on the site are dying; volume of concrete and asphalt on the site; noise, accidents and truck traffic entering the property.

Key Signals

• A resident asked whether annexation washes out pending county and state enforcement, and the minutes record no answer. John Thornton's question is the sharpest one in the Eustis record: the property is under investigation by St. Johns and had been told by Lake County to stop dumping or remove the concrete, and he asked whether coming into the city absolves the owner. The board discussed annexing "in order to have some control over the property" and voted 5-0 without addressing the enforcement question. Anyone tracking annexation as a compliance strategy should mark this parcel.

• Fifty acres next to Trout Lake Nature Center moved to Mixed Commercial and Industrial with no site plan on file. Five members of the public spoke, all in opposition, and the vote was unanimous the other way. The applicant's representative described the intent as outdoor storage for RVs, boats and equipment — but MCI is the designation that gets assigned, and the designation, not the stated intent, is what binds. This is the pattern the LPA itself begins objecting to nine months later.

• The entire site is poorly drained, in the flood zone, and will need a FEMA map amendment to accept fill. Lane put all three constraints on the record. Development here is a hydrology problem before it is a zoning problem, and the neighbors' flooding concerns are consistent with the staff's own soils analysis rather than opposed to it.

• The concrete stream has a named chain of custody: FDOT curb removal → Southland Construction → Professional Dirt Service (recently purchased by the applicant) → crushed and resold. Milled concrete arriving on a floodplain parcel at night is a materials-handling operation, not a passive holding yard. The 2 AM–4 AM delivery window Thornton described was attributed by Wilson to FDOT moving the roadwork to evenings.

• The acreage was wrong, and the error changed the review track. Re-surveyed at 50.5 acres, the amendment crossed the 50-acre threshold and became a large-scale amendment requiring Florida Department of Commerce review — sending it back to this board on September 4, 2025 and pushing adoption to November.

Raw Notes

• Source: minutes PDF at https://mccmeetings.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/eustisfl-pubu/MEET-Minutes-1d21082c4ac14edea7aa9d2ffcfa8391.pdf (3 pp.), retrieved 2026-08-15.
• Minutes stamped "APPROVED 6/19/2025".
• The minutes render one alternate key as "1094 712" with an intervening space; the agenda gives 1094712.
• "St. John's Water Authority" as written in the minutes refers to the St. Johns River Water Management District.
• The board noted the property abuts City-owned property and that adding it to City holdings "might be good" — no motion or direction followed.
• Sangster himself spoke briefly, characterizing the structures as agricultural buildings and saying nothing was planned for hard construction.
• Minutes pages headed "Eustis City Commission" (clerk template artifact).