What were the most significant items on the Lake County (Unincorporated) Planning and Zoning Board agenda for January 2026?

Meeting Reading

Lake County (Unincorporated) Planning and Zoning Board

January 7, 2026

3 items on the agenda

**Schofield PUD adds 78 units to Wellness Way's 1,488-unit baseline — incremental density compounding inside the WWAP envelope:** The 5-0 approval brings total Schofield PUD units to ~1,566 and introduces a smaller 50×70 ft lot type. Sowell's framing matters: under the Wellness Way Area Plan, every Agriculture-zoned parcel inside the WWAP whose FLU allows 3.6 du/ac is, in effect, queued for PUD rezoning at builder timing. This is structural — Wellness Way is a phased buildout machine, and the 47.71-acre Schofield expansion is a calibration data point on what density additions look like inside an already-approved master PUD. Watch for similar mismatched-zoning rezoning queue entries through 2026.
**A speaker named Lake Louisa State Park and Southern Hill Farms as the "Real Florida" identity reference points opposed to Wellness Way's residential density:** Laura Parker's framing is the eco-agrarian opposition voice that has been recurrent in Groveland but is now showing up in unincorporated Lake County as Wellness Way's edges fill in. The 5-0 approval against this opposition tells you where the County PZB sits on the property-rights / WWAP-execution axis: vision-document compliance trumps cumulative-impact concerns at the rezoning stage.
**The County's res judicata + special-master-order discipline is shaping how applicants choose between deny/table:** The Barn at Southern Oaks file is an instructive procedural exhibit. The applicant is outside an active code enforcement special master order requiring permits within 180 days. A Board denial would lock the applicant out of re-applying for one year unless substantially modified; tabling to date certain avoids re-advertising costs and gives a 28-day window to negotiate with Public Works and Fire Rescue. The Board chose the soft procedural path. Worth tracking how often this procedural fork resolves in February.

On January 7, 2026, Lake County (Unincorporated)'s Planning and Zoning Board considered 3 agenda items. **Schofield PUD adds 78 units to Wellness Way's 1,488-unit baseline — incremental density compounding inside the WWAP envelope:** The 5-0 approval brings total Schofield PUD units to ~1,566 and introduces a smaller 50×70 ft lot type. Sowell's framing matters: under the Wellness Way Area Plan, every Agriculture-zoned parcel inside the WWAP whose FLU allows 3.6 du/ac is, in effect, queued for PUD rezoning at builder timing. This is structural — Wellness Way is a phased buildout machine, and the 47.71-acre Schofield expansion is a calibration data point on what density additions look like inside an already-approved master PUD. Watch for similar mismatched-zoning rezoning queue entries through 2026. **A speaker named Lake Louisa State Park and Southern Hill Farms as the "Real Florida" identity reference points opposed to Wellness Way's residential density:** Laura Parker's framing is the eco-agrarian opposition voice that has been recurrent in Groveland but is now showing up in unincorporated Lake County as Wellness Way's edges fill in. The 5-0 approval against this opposition tells you where the County PZB sits on the property-rights / WWAP-execution axis: vision-document compliance trumps cumulative-impact concerns at the rezoning stage. **The County's res judicata + special-master-order discipline is shaping how applicants choose between deny/table:** The Barn at Southern Oaks file is an instructive procedural exhibit. The applicant is outside an active code enforcement special master order requiring permits within 180 days. A Board denial would lock the applicant out of re-applying for one year unless substantially modified; tabling to date certain avoids re-advertising costs and gives a 28-day window to negotiate with Public Works and Fire Rescue. The Board chose the soft procedural path. Worth tracking how often this procedural fork resolves in February.

CHANGE LENS

THE READINGmeeting record

Lake County Planning and Zoning Board — January 7, 2026

Meeting Overview

Type: Regular Meeting Quorum: Yes (5 of 8 voting members present) Duration: Approximately 63 minutes (9:00 AM – 10:03 AM)

Attendance

Present: Laura Jones Smith (Chairman), Carroll Jaskulski (Vice Chairman), Judith Fike, Addie Owens, Sean Lahey
Absent: Dan Tatro, Mollie Cunningham (School Board Rep), Mark McManus (Ex-Officio Non-Voting Military)
Staff Present: Janie Barron, Planning Manager; Leslie Regan, Senior Planner; Meagan Bracciale, Planner II; Eva Lora, Public Hearing Coordinator; Melanie Marsh, County Attorney; Josh Pearson, Deputy Clerk

Agenda Items

Tab 1: The Barn at Southern Oaks (CUP)

Type: Conditional Use Permit
Case Number: Ordinance #2026-XX
Location: Unincorporated Umatilla area, ~21.49 acres; access via Le Grande Street (unmaintained dirt road)
Applicant: Represented by Jamie Blunt
Request: CUP for an enclosed barn wedding venue accommodating the general public, with a waiver to LDR road access requirements (Appendix A — paved access, two-way traffic).
Current Zoning: Agriculture; FLU: Rural; agricultural exemption (hay farming) granted via Property Appraiser
Staff Recommendation: Approve (consistent with LDR/Comp Plan)
Action: Tabled to February 4, 2026 (date certain)
Vote: 5-0 (Fike/Lahey motion to table)
Conditions: N/A (tabled)
Notable Discussion:
- Owens pointed out the application's social-media record showed 41 events in the prior year despite the proposed 15-event limit, calling the gap a "set up for failure" if approved as written. Owens further noted the file traces back to a 2022 Lake County code enforcement violation notice.
- Marsh (County Attorney) confirmed the applicant's change-of-use permit had expired and that no other permits showed up for the structure beyond a 2025 metal-shed-on-concrete-slab permit — meaning the barn currently lacks a certificate of occupancy as an assembly building. The applicant was operating under an active special master order requiring permits within 180 days; the applicant was outside that order.
- Public Works Director Seth Lynch confirmed Le Grande Street is not a county road, lacks county right-of-way, and is more accurately a shared private easement.
- Resident Rhonda Deletis (Le Grande Street) flagged road access and maintenance concerns; described the road as essentially one-way.
- Marsh noted that under the agritourism statute, the applicant could continue ceremonial use without the CUP, but the County could still regulate offsite impacts (noise, traffic stacking) and pursue an injunction; building permits are required for any structure the public uses.
- Marsh framed the procedural fork: deny would trigger res judicata (1 year + substantial application change required); table-to-date-certain (Feb 4) avoids re-advertising costs.

Tab 2: Schofield PUD (Rezoning)

Type: PUD Amendment / Rezoning (Agriculture → PUD)
Case Number: Ordinance #2026-XX
Location: South of Schofield Road, west of Cook Road, unincorporated Clermont area; ~47.71 acres
Applicant: Represented by attorney Elesa Sowell
Request: Rezone 47.71 ac from Agriculture to PUD; bring the parcel into the existing Schofield PUD; add 78 single-family lots; add a new lot type with a 50-ft × 70-ft minimum (current PUD typical is 50 × 120). PUD total density rises from 1,488 to ~1,566 units. Non-residential acreage requirement increases from 326,000 to 344,000 sq ft.
Current Zoning: Agriculture; FLU: Neighborhood (Wellness Way Area Plan)
Staff Recommendation: Approve (consistent with LDR/Comp Plan; remains within 3.6 du/ac density)
Action: Approved
Vote: 5-0 (Owens/Jaskulski motion)
Notable Discussion:
- Confirmed inside the Wellness Way sector plan area. Sowell (applicant attorney) explained per the Wellness Way Area Plan, parcels with mismatched FLU (allows 3.6 du/ac) and Agriculture zoning (allows 1 du/5 ac) must be rezoned to PUD to be developed. This 47-acre piece was always contemplated within the WWAP; the rezoning aligns zoning with the FLU.
- Resident Laura Parker (Groveland) raised opposition: "I have a difficult time seeing all of these homes being part of 'Real Florida'"; cited Lake County average income ~$35K (2023) versus $500K home prices; raised wildlife mortality and traffic congestion concerns near Lake Louisa State Park and Southern Hill Farms.
- Jones Smith pointed Parker to the County's Affordable Housing Advisory Committee (AHAC) and clarified the Board's purview is LDR/Comp Plan consistency only.
- Schofield PUD water/wastewater: Sunshine Water Services (private utility).
- Concept plan: 78 lots + 2 open-space areas + stormwater area; 4.02-acre open space on Island Lake.

Other Business: Revised 2026 Meeting Calendar

Type: Procedural / Calendar correction
Action: Approved
Vote: 5-0 (Fike/Lahey motion)
Notable Discussion: April 2026 meeting moved from April 8 to April 1 (scrivener's error correction).

Public Hearings Summary

Number of speakers: 2 (1 on Tab 1 — road access; 1 on Tab 2 — opposition to PUD expansion)
General sentiment: Mixed — Tab 1 speaker raised access concerns; Tab 2 speaker opposed
Key concerns: Road access infrastructure (Le Grande Street); affordability mismatch (Lake County median income vs. $500K Wellness Way home prices); traffic congestion; wildlife impacts; cumulative development burden in South Lake

Key Signals

Schofield PUD adds 78 units to Wellness Way's 1,488-unit baseline — incremental density compounding inside the WWAP envelope: The 5-0 approval brings total Schofield PUD units to ~1,566 and introduces a smaller 50×70 ft lot type. Sowell's framing matters: under the Wellness Way Area Plan, every Agriculture-zoned parcel inside the WWAP whose FLU allows 3.6 du/ac is, in effect, queued for PUD rezoning at builder timing. This is structural — Wellness Way is a phased buildout machine, and the 47.71-acre Schofield expansion is a calibration data point on what density additions look like inside an already-approved master PUD. Watch for similar mismatched-zoning rezoning queue entries through 2026.
A speaker named Lake Louisa State Park and Southern Hill Farms as the "Real Florida" identity reference points opposed to Wellness Way's residential density: Laura Parker's framing is the eco-agrarian opposition voice that has been recurrent in Groveland but is now showing up in unincorporated Lake County as Wellness Way's edges fill in. The 5-0 approval against this opposition tells you where the County PZB sits on the property-rights / WWAP-execution axis: vision-document compliance trumps cumulative-impact concerns at the rezoning stage.
The County's res judicata + special-master-order discipline is shaping how applicants choose between deny/table: The Barn at Southern Oaks file is an instructive procedural exhibit. The applicant is outside an active code enforcement special master order requiring permits within 180 days. A Board denial would lock the applicant out of re-applying for one year unless substantially modified; tabling to date certain avoids re-advertising costs and gives a 28-day window to negotiate with Public Works and Fire Rescue. The Board chose the soft procedural path. Worth tracking how often this procedural fork resolves in February.
The Wellness Way mismatched-FLU-and-Agriculture-zoning queue is the corridor's main rezoning velocity engine: Regan said it directly: parcels inside the WWAP whose FLU allows 3.6 du/ac and whose zoning is still Agriculture must be rezoned to PUD to develop. That sets up a multi-year sequence of nominally individual rezoning applications, each presented as a clean Comp Plan / LDR consistency case, that collectively bring the WWAP envelope toward full buildout. The 4.02-acre Island Lake open-space carve-out in Schofield is one of these pieces; expect more.
Sunshine Water Services is the utility provider for unincorporated Wellness Way / Clermont-area PUDs: Worth noting because municipal utility coverage was a key constraint signal in the Clermont and Minneola corpora. The unincorporated area uses private water/wastewater (Sunshine), not a city utility — which means utility-capacity arguments won't have the same character at the County level as they do inside city boundaries. Track whether Sunshine capacity becomes a recurring constraint in subsequent rezonings.

Raw Notes

Source: Approved minutes PDF, 15 pages.
Recommendations transmitted to BCC for February 3, 2026 hearing.
Special master order on the Barn at Southern Oaks parcel is from 2022 — three-plus years of code enforcement chain.
Schofield PUD's original entitlement: 1,488 units; current concept plan growth: 1,566 (+78); expect additional Schofield PUD amendments as adjacent ag-zoned parcels are folded in.
The agritourism + CUP interaction is a recurring fact pattern at the County level — agritourism statute protects ceremonial use without CUP, but CUP is required to use a barn structure as an assembly building open to the public.