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Mascotte City Council (acting as Local Planning Agency)
March 2026

9 items on the agendaConvened March 17, 2026
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THE READINGmeeting record

City of Mascotte City Council (acting as LPA) — March 17, 2026

Meeting Overview

Type: Regular Meeting (Council + Community Redevelopment Agency, alternating sessions) Quorum: Yes (4 of 5 members present) Duration: Approximately 2 hours 22 minutes (6:30 PM – 8:52 PM)

Attendance

  • Present: Mayor Steven Sheffield, Mayor Pro-Tem Bruno, Council Member Brasher, Council Member Hughes
  • Absent: Council Member DeSoto
  • Staff Present: Annamarie Reno (City Manager), Eric Pedersen (Police Chief), Dolly Miller (Finance Director), Stephanie Abrams (City Clerk), Larry Walker (Public Works Director), Maxwell Spann (City Planner), Andrew Hand (City Attorney)

Agenda Items

Item 1: Waterstone Phase 3 Final Construction Plans (Planning)

  • Type: Site Plan / Construction-Plan Approval (PUD phase)
  • Case Number: Project No. 2025-10-236
  • Location: Waterstone PUD, City of Mascotte
  • Applicant: Taylor Morrison
  • Request: Approve final construction plans for 213 residential units (Waterstone Phase 3), per staff findings and the development-order conditions in the staff report; consistency with the Comprehensive Plan, Land Development Code, Development Agreement, and all amendments.
  • Current Zoning: PUD (Waterstone Development Agreement)
  • Proposed Zoning: No change
  • Acreage: Not stated in minutes
  • Staff Recommendation: Approve (staff review complete; consistency confirmed)
  • Action: Approved
  • Vote: 4-0 (Sheffield motion, Brasher second; DeSoto absent)
  • Conditions: Per staff findings and development-order conditions in the staff report
  • Notable Discussion: No public comment. This is the formal approval of the 213-unit phase that was presented March 3. The FDEP wastewater-conveyance permit — the lone "pending" item two weeks prior — was resolved before this vote. Clean 4-0 approval of a national-builder residential phase.

Item 2: Resolution 2026-03-863 — City-Owned Property Affordable-Housing Inventory (Resolutions)

  • Type: Resolution (statutory compliance — affordable housing inventory)
  • Case Number: Resolution 2026-03-863
  • Location: Citywide
  • Applicant: City staff (Finance Director Miller)
  • Request: Adopt an inventory list of city-owned real property appropriate for affordable housing, per Florida Statute 166.0451(1). The City currently owns NO real property suitable for affordable housing, so the inventory is empty; the resolution formally confirms statutory compliance.
  • Action: Approved
  • Vote: 4-0 (Bruno motion, Brasher second)
  • Conditions: None
  • Notable Discussion: Read by title only. A "nil-inventory" affordable-housing resolution — compliance with the statewide 166.0451 mandate that piggybacks the Live Local Act era. The empty list is itself a signal: Mascotte holds no surplus public land it considers developable for housing.

Item 3: CRA Fund Audit Engagement Letter (CRA session)

  • Type: Other (CRA financial governance)
  • Applicant: Finance Director Miller
  • Request: Approve and authorize the Mayor to execute a three-year engagement letter with McDirmit Davis for auditing the CRA Fund (statutorily required when CRA revenues/expenditures exceed $100,000). Estimated FY2026 cost $3,000; ~$3,500 each of the next two years.
  • Action: Approved
  • Vote: 4-0 (Bruno motion, Brasher second)
  • Conditions: None

Item 4: Notice of Filing FY2025 Annual CRA Report (CRA session)

  • Type: Other (CRA statutory reporting, F.S. 163.371)
  • Applicant: Finance Director Miller
  • Request: Inform Council that the CRA's FY2025 annual report must be filed with the governing body by March 31 and published in a newspaper of general circulation.
  • Action: Informational — no vote
  • Vote: None

Item 5: FY2025 CRA Audit Presentation (CRA session)

  • Type: Other (CRA audit acceptance)
  • Applicant: Finance Director Miller; Tammy Campbell (McDirmit & Davis) presenting
  • Request: Accept the FY2025 CRA compliance audit (year ended Sept 30, 2025; report issued March 6, 2026). Auditor opinion: CRA complied in all material respects with F.S. 163.387(6)–(7); no issues on tested risks.
  • Action: Approved (accepted as presented)
  • Vote: 4-0 (Brasher motion, Bruno second)
  • Conditions: None

Item 6: City Audit Engagement Letter (Council session)

  • Type: Other (city financial governance)
  • Applicant: Finance Director Miller
  • Request: Approve and authorize the Mayor to execute a three-year engagement letter with McDirmit Davis for the citywide audit. Fee $30,000 for FY2026 & FY2027, $31,500 FY2028; +$4,000/yr if a Single Audit is required.
  • Action: Approved
  • Vote: 4-0 (Bruno motion, Sheffield second)
  • Conditions: None

Item 7: FY2025 City Audit Presentation (Council session)

  • Type: Other (city audit acceptance)
  • Applicant: Finance Director Miller; Tammy Campbell (McDirmit & Davis) presenting
  • Request: Accept the FY2025 city financial-statement audit. Clean opinion — no material weaknesses, no fraud, no disagreements, no material misstatements.
  • Action: Approved (accepted as presented)
  • Vote: 4-0 (Bruno motion, Brasher second)
  • Conditions: None
  • Notable Discussion: Headline financials: net position $53,667,843 (up $12,019,403 YoY); unrestricted net position $20,523,687; governmental funds ending fund balance $18,569,609 (up $4,003,649); unassigned general-fund balance $10,320,524 — equal to 167% of total general-fund expenditures. GASB 101 (Compensated Absences) implemented with no impact to beginning balances.

Item 8: Stormwater / MS4 Presentation (Presentation)

  • Type: Other (stormwater regulatory compliance)
  • Applicant: Maryann Krisovitch, Surface Water Professionals
  • Request: Annual MS4 (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System) program presentation as required of the city.
  • Action: Informational — no vote
  • Vote: None

Item 9: Parks & Recreation Logo (New Business)

  • Type: Other (branding)
  • Applicant: City Manager Reno
  • Request: Council direction on a standalone Parks & Recreation logo vs. continued use of the city seal.
  • Action: Direction given (no formal vote) — Council preferred adding "Parks and Rec" to the bottom of the new city logo rather than a separate logo
  • Vote: Consensus
  • Conditions: None
  • Notable Discussion: Returned for a formal vote at the April 7 meeting (see that document).

Public Hearings Summary

  • Number of speakers: 0 public comments; multiple statutory-compliance items opened for public comment with none offered.
  • General sentiment: N/A — administrative/financial agenda.
  • Key concerns: None raised by public.

Key Signals

  • Waterstone Phase 3's 213 units are now formally approved — Mascotte's residential pipeline keeps absorbing national-builder product. The 4-0 approval (one member absent) closes the loop opened March 3: a Taylor Morrison phase clears once the FDEP wastewater-conveyance permit is signed. For homebuyers, Mascotte reads as an active, builder-friendly absorption market on the SR-50 / CR-33 axis — quieter than Clermont/Minneola but moving.
  • The affordable-housing inventory is empty — a quiet but real signal. Resolution 2026-03-863 confirms Mascotte owns NO public land it deems developable for affordable housing. In the Live Local Act era, the surplus-land inventory (F.S. 166.0451) is where cities either offer up sites or formally state they have none. Mascotte's "none" tells investors there's no city-led affordable-housing land play here — affordability, if it comes, comes through private development (e.g., Waterstone density) not public land disposition. Contrast with Clermont's Pointe Grande / Live Local activity.
  • Fiscal posture is strikingly strong for a small city: 167% general-fund reserve. A clean audit with unassigned general-fund balance at 167% of annual expenditures and a $12M net-position jump signals a city with the balance-sheet capacity to acquire land (foreshadowing the April 7 $1.29M Bluff Lake parcel purchase) and self-fund infrastructure. This is a financially independent small municipality — relevant to whether it can resist or shape county-driven growth pressure rather than depend on it.
  • CRA machinery is running on schedule. Separate CRA audit, annual report filing, three-year audit engagement — Mascotte's Community Redevelopment Agency crosses the $100K threshold that triggers separate auditing, indicating a CRA with real activity. The April 21 sign-grant item and April 7 CRA-funds-for-land-acquisition discussion confirm an active CRA. Track the CRA boundary/expansion (City Attorney flagged a CRA expansion would require a study — April 7).
  • Two members alternated absences across the March meetings (DeSoto out 3/17 after full 3/3 attendance). On a five-member Council-as-LPA with no separate planning board, quorum math (4 of 5) and which members are present directly determines whether land-use items can move. Worth watching for any pattern in who is absent on planning-heavy nights.

Raw Notes

  • Consent: January 20 & February 3, 2026 minutes approved 4-0 (Sheffield motion, Brasher second).
  • Meeting structure alternated: Regular Council → close → open CRA (3 items) → close CRA → reopen Council. Standard practice when the same elected body sits as both Council and CRA board.
  • City Manager: new Instagram @cityofmascotte; PD social page in progress; letter of commendation from Lake County Fire Rescue (Lt./EMT Carter Cork) praising Mascotte PD's integration on critical-patient calls.
  • Mayor Pro-Tem Bruno requested tables/chairs at the in-town food trucks so people can dine together — small but notable as a deliberate food-truck-activation sentiment (echoes the cross-corpus food-truck theme, here on the placemaking side rather than the regulatory side).
  • Source: Mascotte CivicWeb portal council minutes, March 17, 2026 (text via pdftotext). Acreage on Waterstone not recorded in minutes.