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Meetings · Kissimmee

Kissimmee Planning Advisory Board — January 7, 2026 minutes

City of Kissimmee Planning Advisory Board — January 7, 2026

Meeting Overview

Type: Regular Meeting Quorum: Yes (4 of 7 members present) Duration: 6:00 PM – 6:46 PM (46 minutes) Location: Kissimmee City Hall, Commission Chambers, 101 Church Street

Attendance

  • Present: Chairman Robert Bussiere, Vice Chair Alex Alemi, Board Member Javin Lopez, Board Member Raymond Sanchez
  • Absent: Board Member Lynda Roth, Board Member Thomas Kapp, Board Member Jon Arguello
  • Staff Present: Brenda Ryan (Planning Manager), Cristian Arias (Senior Planner), Ryan Altizer (Senior Planner), Courtney Harris (Planner II), Kalanit Oded (Deputy City Attorney), Junellyx Cartagena (Administrative Assistant II)

Prior minutes approved: November 5, 2025 minutes 4-0 (moved Alemi, seconded Bussiere); November 19, 2025 minutes 4-0 (moved Alemi, seconded Lopez).

Agenda Items

Item 5.A: CU-25-0017 — Office at 1720 W. Oak Street

  • Type: Conditional Use with Site Plan
  • Case Number: CU-25-0017
  • Location: 1720 W. Oak Street
  • Applicant: [not available — no applicant or representative is recorded as speaking]
  • Request: Establish an office in an existing single-family house.
  • Current Zoning: Medium Density Residential (RB-2); Future Land Use Office Residential (OR), up to 1.0 FAR for non-residential use or 9 dwelling units per acre residential
  • Proposed Zoning: No change
  • Acreage: approximately 0.213 acres
  • Staff Recommendation: Approve with one condition
  • Action: Approved with conditions
  • Vote: 4-0 (moved Alemi, seconded Lopez)
  • Conditions: Hours of operation Monday to Sunday, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
  • Notable Discussion: Altizer stated the existing house — main area, garage and open porch — was built in 1973, and that the RB-2 district "is primarily designed for locations on the fringe of existing residential areas serving as a transition area between residential neighborhoods and higher-intensity development." Alemi walked through the conditional-use approval criteria on the record and stated the item meets all of them — the only instance in the harvested period of a member reciting the criteria before voting. No public comment.

Item 5.B: LUPA-25-0007 / Ordinance #26-01 — 610 Buckley Drive Future Land Use Map amendment

  • Type: Comprehensive Plan Amendment (Future Land Use Map)
  • Case Number: LUPA-25-0007 / Proposed Ordinance #26-01, amending Ordinance No. 3050
  • Location: 610 Buckley Drive — three parcels; Parcels 1 and 2 contain single-family homes, Parcel 3 is vacant
  • Applicant: [not available — no applicant or representative is recorded as speaking]
  • Request: Change the Future Land Use Map designation from Single-Family Low Density Residential (SF-LDR) to Industrial Business (IB).
  • Current Zoning: Single-Family Residential (RA-1); within the Conservation Overlay District
  • Proposed Zoning: Future land use to Industrial Business, intensity up to 0.50 FAR (paired with the Item 5.C rezoning to Airport Industrial)
  • Acreage: approximately 5.223 acres across the paired applications
  • Staff Recommendation: Approve
  • Action: Recommended for approval
  • Vote: 3-1 — AYE: Bussiere, Lopez, Sanchez. NAY: Alemi, who made the motion. (seconded Lopez)
  • Conditions: Four compliance findings — FLU Policy 1.2.4.3 (Industrial Business, up to 0.50 FAR); FLU Policy 1.1.3.2 (General Pattern of Industrial Land Use, maintaining major industrial centers including the airport and airport environs in the southwest quadrant); LDC § 14-3-26 (comprehensive plan amendment procedure); LDC § 14-4-7.B, Conservation Overlay District, requiring a conservation impact report under LDC § 14-3-33 with any subsequent site plan or preliminary plat submittal.
  • Notable Discussion: Altizer said the properties "would expand the industrial center in the City's southwest quadrant near the airport, concentrating traffic, infrastructure, and industrial impacts in appropriate areas." Three residents of 730 Buckley Drive engaged. City resident Diana Elliot submitted an email of concern in advance. Darrell Elliot said he and his wife have lived at 730 Buckley Drive for over 11 years, that it is a one-way dirt road with a single point of entry and exit, and that adding an industrial area "would be catastrophic to the neighborhood" given surrounding wildlife and nearby conservation areas, the limited capacity of the road, and the currently quiet character of the community, warning of environmental harm to wildlife and quality of life. Debbie Elliot said the road is a single lane with no feasible way to widen it and asked how that would be addressed to support residents there. Alemi discussed his concerns with the restrictions on the property, then moved approval and voted against his own motion.

Item 5.C: ZMA-25-0011 / Ordinance #26-02 — 610 Buckley Drive rezoning to Airport Industrial

  • Type: Rezoning (Zoning Map Amendment)
  • Case Number: ZMA-25-0011 / Proposed Ordinance #26-02, amending Ordinance No. 3110
  • Location: 610 Buckley Drive
  • Applicant: [not available]
  • Request: Change the Zoning Map designation from Single-Family Residential (RA-1) to Airport Industrial (AI).
  • Current Zoning: Single-Family Residential (RA-1); within the Conservation Overlay District
  • Proposed Zoning: Airport Industrial (AI)
  • Acreage: approximately 5.223 acres
  • Staff Recommendation: Approve
  • Action: Recommended for approval
  • Vote: 4-0 (moved Alemi, seconded Sanchez) — Alemi voting aye on the rezoning after voting no on its paired future land use amendment minutes earlier
  • Conditions: Four compliance findings — FLU Policy 1.1.3.2; LDC § 14-4-4(P) (Airport Industrial district, intended for activities connected with typical industrial uses and supporting non-industrial uses in the vicinity of the Kissimmee Municipal Airport); LDC § 14-3-26; LDC § 14-4-7.B Conservation Overlay District with the § 14-3-33 conservation impact report requirement.
  • Notable Discussion: Altizer said the parcels are currently vacant or contain single-family residences, that much of the Conservation Overlay District information had already been presented on the prior item, and that the properties would contribute to expanding the industrial center in the southwest quadrant near the airport. No further public comment is recorded on this item; the residents' testimony was given on Item 5.B.

Public Hearings Summary

  • Number of speakers: 2 in person plus 1 written — Darrell Elliot and Debbie Elliot of 730 Buckley Drive spoke; Diana Elliot of 730 Buckley Drive submitted an email in advance. All three opposed the Buckley Drive industrial conversion. Items 5.A, 5.B and 5.C were noticed public hearings.
  • General sentiment: Opposed on Buckley Drive — the only sustained neighborhood opposition of the coverage period. No comment on the Oak Street office.
  • Key concerns: Road capacity — Buckley Drive is a one-way, single-lane dirt road with a single point of entry and exit and "no feasible way to widen it." Environmental harm — surrounding wildlife and nearby conservation areas, with the site inside the Conservation Overlay District. Neighborhood character — an 11-year resident described the community as currently quiet and the industrial conversion as "catastrophic."

Key Signals

  • Kissimmee moved 5.22 acres of single-family land at 610 Buckley Drive to Airport Industrial, over the objections of the neighbors, on a one-lane dirt road. Two existing homes and one vacant parcel go from RA-1 residential to AI industrial. Residents of 730 Buckley Drive told the board the street is a single-lane dirt road with one way in and out and no feasible way to widen it. Nothing in the staff findings addresses road capacity. The future land use amendment passed 3-1 and the rezoning 4-0. The City's southwest quadrant industrial expansion around Kissimmee Gateway Airport is now consuming the residential parcels at its edge.

  • The site sits inside the Conservation Overlay District, and the only protection attached is a report due later. LDC § 14-4-7.B requires a conservation impact report under § 14-3-33 — but only "in conjunction with any development proposal," meaning at site plan or preliminary plat. The entitlement changes now; the environmental analysis happens after. For the wetlands, floodplain and wildlife habitat the overlay is written to protect, the sequencing means the land use decision is made without the study.

  • The Vice Chair moved the Buckley Drive future land use amendment and then voted against it. Alemi made the motion on Item 5.B, discussed "his concerns with the restrictions on this property," and cast the lone nay — then moved and voted for the paired rezoning on Item 5.C. Reading Kissimmee's vote tallies as sentiment fails again here: procedurally, a member who wants an item to reach a vote may move it regardless of position.

  • Four members decided a comprehensive plan amendment; three seats were empty. Roth, Kapp and Arguello were all absent five weeks after the board seated its fullest roster of the period. This is the same structural fragility that produced the July 2025 quorum failures — the ones the City later cited as grounds for taking Ordinance #25-14 to the Commission without a PAB hearing at all.

  • A house built in 1973 becomes an office with a Monday-to-Sunday, 9-to-5 condition. CU-25-0017 at 1720 W. Oak Street is small, but the pattern is worth noting: Kissimmee's Office Residential future land use category is the mechanism converting fringe single-family houses into commercial use one parcel at a time, with the hours condition as the entire buffer against neighborhood impact. The RB-2 district is explicitly described by staff as a transition zone between neighborhoods and higher-intensity development.

Raw Notes

  • Source provenance: minutes PDF published to CivicClerk as file 9862 ("PAB Meeting Minutes") under agenda 1944, event 2256. Scanned document with no text layer; content recovered by OCR. A same-day Action Summary is published as file 8647 and confirms the 3-1 tally on Item 5.B and the 4-0 tallies on Items 5.A and 5.C.
  • The Action Summary preserves the full ordinance caption on Item 5.B (amending Ordinance No. 3050, the Comprehensive Development Plan adopting ordinance); the OCR of the Minutes loses the caption's first line.
  • Item 5.C's ordinance caption amends Ordinance No. 3110, "known as the City of Kissimmee Land Development Code." Item 5.B in February 2025 cited Ordinance No. 3068 as the LDC; the codifying ordinance number changed between the two.
  • Staff's stated "condition" on Item 5.C reads in full: "This is compliant with numbers of plan and the land development code and staffs is recommending approval" — a transcription of a spoken statement rather than an enforceable condition.
  • Courtney Harris (Planner II) appears in the staff list for the first time.
  • The Elliots of 730 Buckley Drive appear three times in the record — Diana by email, Darrell and Debbie in person.
  • OCR artifacts: "Zoning Destination" for "Zoning Designation"; "RA'1" for "RA-1"; "1973.this" run together.
  • Adjournment 6:46 PM with no recorded motion. Signed by the Board Chairman and attested by the Board Secretary.

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