Zoning Signal

Meetings · Groveland

Groveland Planning & Zoning Board, July 9, 2026 minutes

Meeting Overview

Type: Regular Meeting Quorum: Yes (5 of the 7 voting members on the agenda roster present at the call to order; 4 after Marty Proctor left at 5:30 PM) Duration: 5:04 PM to 8:03 PM, about 3 hours Record: The city's minutes of this meeting, posted as a scanned file and read by OCR. The one action item was the consent approval of the May 7 minutes; the minutes record no ordinance or other land-use item. The agenda for this meeting is held in the corpus as groveland/2026-07-agenda-PZB.md.

Attendance

  • Present: Zach Decker (Chairman), Robin Hoover, Michael Archer, Alisha Kissee, Marty Proctor (left at 5:30 PM)
  • Absent: Kerry Lambert, Brandan Dixion, Bill Mathias (non-voting, per the agenda roster); Andrew Landis, Interim Community & Economic Development Director
  • Staff Present: Kurt Garber, City Attorney; DeWayne Jones, Planning and Zoning Manager; Alan Booker, Senior Planner; Maria Ramirez, Recording Secretary
  • Presenters: Kelly Randall, Executive Director of Facilities & Planning (Lake County Schools update); TJ Fish, Director of Transportation & Public Works; Rich Niles, Halff Project Manager; David Muntean, Halff Associate Vice President/Senior Project Manager

Agenda Items

Item 0: Approval of the May 7, 2026 Minutes (Consent)

  • Type: Consent
  • Request: Approval of the May 7, 2026 Planning & Zoning Board meeting minutes
  • Action: Approved
  • Vote: All board members present voted aye (motion by Marty Proctor, seconded by Robin Hoover)
  • Notable Discussion: The minutes approved here are held in the corpus as groveland/2026-05-meeting-PZB.md.

Presentations

Presentation A: Lake County Schools Update

  • Presenter: Kelly Randall, Executive Director of Facilities & Planning
  • Substance: Updates on improvements at Groveland Elementary, Cecil Gray Middle School and South Lake High School, maintenance programs, enrollment forecasts and the district's five-year capital plan. Discussion included future school needs and long-range growth planning.
  • Maintenance requests: The minutes record that the schools' maintenance requests are received and tracked through a work order system, and give the repair turnaround, excluding emergencies, as generally 7 days for a routine issue, with an aim of 72 hours.

Presentation B: EAR Update, Utilities Level of Service

  • Presenters: TJ Fish, Director of Transportation & Public Works; Rich Niles, Halff Project Manager
  • Substance: Mr. Fish reviewed how Florida law treats transportation and concurrency and showed Groveland's utility service area. Mr. Niles reviewed population projections and water, wastewater, reclaimed water and stormwater planning. The updates covered the new water treatment plant, wastewater expansion projects, reclaimed water standards and long-term infrastructure planning.
  • Attendance change: The minutes record, between this presentation and the next, that Board Member Marty Proctor left the meeting at 5:30 PM.

Presentation C: EAR Update, Transportation Levels of Service Review

  • Presenter: David Muntean, Halff Associate Vice President/Senior Project Manager
  • Substance: Roadway level of service (LOS) concepts, adopted LOS standards, transportation concurrency, traffic impact mitigation and future transportation planning.
  • Discussion topics recorded: LOS A through F definitions; LOS D as the generally preferred urban operating target; the distinction between roadway performance and public perception of congestion; State Road 19 congestion, freight movement, safety issues and the upcoming PD&E Study; transportation concurrency requirements and proportionate-share mitigation; development impacts versus existing roadway deficiencies; and creation of a transportation monitoring database to track future roadway capacity.
  • Analysis shown: Mr. Muntean demonstrated analysis showing future capacity concerns on portions of SR 19, SR 50 and US 27 based on approved but unbuilt development.

Public Hearings Summary

  • Number of speakers: 1, under Public Comments.
  • General sentiment: The one speaker, Mayor Keith Keogh, advised the board on growth, traffic and city finances rather than taking a position on an agenda item.
  • Key concerns:
    • Mayor Keith Keogh addressed the board on traffic planning, commercial development, land use decisions, fiscal sustainability, utility debt, infrastructure funding, wastewater expansion costs and future property tax impacts. He encouraged the board to focus on commercial growth, long-term infrastructure planning and transportation decisions that reduce dependence on SR 19.

Board and Staff Comments

  • Board members discussed improving communication about development activity, roadway projects, approvals and capital improvement projects that did not come before the Planning and Zoning Board. DeWayne Jones, Planning and Zoning Manager, assured the board that staff will provide updates on the planning side. Mr. Fish will invite the board to the next FDOT workshop and update it as well.
  • Alan Booker, Senior Planner, recommended inviting the CRA to a meeting to update the board. He reported ongoing Comprehensive Plan updates addressing fiscal resilience and mobility planning.

Key Signals

  • Approved but unbuilt development already raises future capacity concerns on SR 19, SR 50 and US 27. Halff's David Muntean showed the board analysis flagging portions of all three roads. The discussion covered proportionate-share mitigation, a transportation monitoring database to track future roadway capacity, and SR 19's congestion, freight and safety issues ahead of an upcoming PD&E Study. For anyone living or buying along those roads, the traffic in that analysis comes from projects already approved and not yet built.
  • The Mayor pressed the board toward commercial growth and less reliance on SR 19. Mayor Keith Keogh used public comment to raise utility debt, wastewater expansion costs, infrastructure funding and future property tax impacts, and encouraged the board to focus on commercial growth, long-term infrastructure planning and transportation decisions that reduce dependence on SR 19.
  • Utility capacity reached this board six weeks before the Council's capacity symposium. Mr. Fish and Halff's Rich Niles covered the new water treatment plant, wastewater expansion projects and reclaimed water standards under the EAR's Utilities Level of Service review. The minutes of the City Council's August 20, 2026 Water & Wastewater Capacity Symposium record the Sampey facility operating at about 110 percent of its permitted average daily flow capacity (groveland/2026-08-meeting-CC-2nd.md).
  • The board asked to hear about projects that never come before it. Members sought better communication on development activity, roadway projects, approvals and capital improvement projects that did not reach the Planning and Zoning Board. Staff agreed to give planning updates, Mr. Fish offered an invitation to the next FDOT workshop, and Alan Booker proposed a CRA update.
  • Lake County Schools brought its enrollment forecasts and five-year capital plan to the board. Kelly Randall covered Groveland Elementary, Cecil Gray Middle School and South Lake High School, with discussion of future school needs and long-range growth planning. The minutes name the subjects of the update but give none of its figures.

Raw Notes

  • Source: the July 9, 2026 minutes, https://groveland-fl.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_07092026-1437 (218,777 bytes, 4 pages, a scan with no text layer), retrieved 2026-09-27 and read by OCR (Tesseract 5.3.4). Names, times and motions were checked against the page images.
  • Approval: the August 6, 2026 minutes record these minutes approved on consent, on a motion by Alisha Kissee seconded by Robin Hoover, all board members present voting aye (groveland/2026-08-meeting-PZB.md). The file carries the attest signatures of Chairman Zach Decker and Recording Secretary Maria Ramirez.
  • City Attorney: these minutes list Kurt Garber as the City Attorney present. The agenda for this meeting, posted July 2, 2026, lists Benjamin Schafer as City Attorney (groveland/2026-07-agenda-PZB.md), and the August 6, 2026 minutes list "Benjermin Schafer" present as City Attorney. None of these documents explains the difference.
  • The minutes title the schools item "Lake County Schools Update"; the agenda titles it "Lake County Public Schools Update." The minutes do not say whether the presenter attended in person.
  • The minutes head the utilities item "Utilities Level of Service"; the agenda reads "Utilities Levels of Service Review."
  • The August 20, 2026 Council record lists a Rich Niles as Senior Program Leader for Woodard & Curran (groveland/2026-08-meeting-CC-2nd.md); these minutes list Rich Niles as Halff Project Manager. This record keeps the minutes' affiliation.
  • Board roster spelling: the minutes spell "Brandan Dixion"; the agenda roster spells "Brandan Dixon."
  • Neither SB 180, the CDC V5 code update nor the Langley Industrial ordinances appear in these minutes.
  • Adjournment: motion by Robin Hoover at 8:03 PM, seconded by Alisha Kissee.

Connected records

2 connected records

Corridors1

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