City of Minneola Planning & Zoning Commission — May 4, 2026

Meeting Overview

Type: Regular Meeting Quorum: Yes (4 members present — Minneola P&Z is operating as a 4-member board this cycle) Duration: Approximately 2 hours 27 minutes (6:30 PM – 8:57 PM)

Attendance

• Present: Chairperson Denise Calderon, Commissioner Nicole Martin, Commissioner William McCoy, Commissioner Ken Rose
• Absent: None recorded (board seated as four members)
• Staff Present: Jennifer Cotch (City Attorney), Joyce Heffington, AICP (CRA Manager / City Planner role on the dais), John Lozano (Planning Technician)

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Agenda Items

Item 1: Approval of Minutes — April 6, 2026

• Type: Minutes approval
• Action: Approved with correction (line 47 seconding-commissioner name corrected)
• Vote: 4-0 (McCoy moved, Rose seconded)
• Notable Discussion: Chairperson Calderon flagged the recording error on the April 6 minutes before approval.

Item 2: Resolution 2026-22 — Special Exception, Adult Congregate Living Facility (60 Center St. Unit C)

• Type: Special Exception (Quasi-Judicial)
• Case Number: Resolution 2026-22
• Location: 60 Center St., Unit C
• Applicant: Maria De La Cruz and Mario De La Cruz (operators of the adjacent adult daycare)
• Request: Special exception to expand an existing senior adult daytime care operation (running ~10 years in the adjacent unit) into the vacant Unit C, adding ~30 participants on top of the existing 22-participant licensure.
• Current Zoning: (Center St. — central/commercial context; not specified in minutes)
• Staff Recommendation: Implicitly favorable (staff noted positive community feedback on the existing operation)
• Action: TABLED at first call, then APPROVED after recess when applicant arrived
• Vote: Table 4-0 (Martin moved, Rose seconded) → Approve 4-0 (Martin moved, Rose seconded), subject to state licensure and fire-code occupancy compliance
• Conditions: Compliance with applicable state licensure and fire-code occupancy requirements
• Notable Discussion: The applicant was not present when the item was first called. Commissioner Martin moved to table specifically so the applicant could "appear and answer questions" — she had raised operational and traffic/congestion questions (pick-up/drop-off) and explicitly objected to acting without the applicant present. After a five-minute recess, the De La Cruzes arrived; they confirmed 22 licensed participants today, ~30 additional sought, daytime-only programming (exercise, memory activities, visiting instructors), staggered pick-up times, 24/7 camera recording, and staffing increases to meet state/fire requirements. The board then approved 4-0. A textbook "due-process insistence" episode — the board would not substantively decide a quasi-judicial item without the applicant on the record.

Item 3: Preliminary Subdivision Plat — Camp Lake Industrial Park

• Type: Preliminary Subdivision Plat (within established PUD)
• Location: ~164 acres west of North Hancock Road and the Florida's Turnpike, north of Citrus Grove Road, within the Hills of Minneola PUD
• Applicant: Eric Raasch (Inspire Placemaking Collective, contract planner) / Kevin Castille (Strategic Development Partners)
• Request: Divide the property into three lots to advance the industrial/research park. Hills of Minneola PUD established 2006, amended 2019 for industrial/research-park use; Council approved the phase-one site plan Dec. 17, 2024 and granted flat-roof variances Nov. 2025; vertical construction underway.
• Current Zoning: PUD (Hills of Minneola)
• Acreage: ~164 acres (subdivided into 3 lots)
• Staff Recommendation: Approve (with staff conditions)
• Action: Approved
• Vote: 4-0 (Martin moved, Rose seconded)
• Conditions: Recommendation to evaluate natural buffering between the plats, coordinate with adjacent parcels where feasible, and comply with all staff recommendations. Turkey Farm Road to be transferred to City control; developer responsible for future maintenance under recorded agreement; POA to collect reserves for ongoing maintenance.
• Notable Discussion: Castille explained phasing (1A permitted and meeting City drainage standards; 1B and 2 in preliminary design, final stormwater at permitting). Construction traffic will wear Turkey Farm Road; developer performs repairs and POA funds long-term maintenance. Minimum advertised tenant size ~14,000 sq ft, typical 30,000–40,000 sq ft, single-tenant full-building possible; tenants may operate 24/7. No new traffic study required — trips are within the master PUD allocation. No retaining walls exceeding six feet proposed. This is the same Camp Lake Industrial Park first surfaced in the corpus in spring 2026 as the N. Hancock / Citrus Grove industrial cluster — now platting.

Items 4-6: Citrus Ridge Commercial PUD Package (Ord 2026-02 Annexation & Rezoning · Ord 2026-03 Comp Plan Amendment · Res 2026-01 Development Agreement)

• Type: Annexation + Rezoning (PUD) + Comprehensive Plan Amendment + Development Agreement (Quasi-Judicial / legislative blend)
• Case Numbers: Ordinance 2026-02; Ordinance 2026-03; Resolution 2026-01
• Location: Three-parcel Citrus Ridge site east of Grassy Lake Road and west of North Hancock Road (~17.7 acres total). Two parcels (~15.72 ac) in unincorporated Lake County (Urban Low FLU); one parcel (~2.02 ac) already in the City.
• Applicant: Eric Raasch (Inspire Placemaking Collective) presenting; Tara Tedrow, Lowndes Drosdick (Lowndes Law) as applicant attorney (for Crittenden Howey LLC ownership interest)
• Request: Annex the two County parcels, amend Future Land Use to City Commercial, rezone to Commercial PUD, and approve a development agreement. Development agreement caps a theoretical maximum of 850,029 sq ft (conceptual plan proposes substantially less). Neighborhood-serving commercial + light-industrial uses adjacent to the entitled industrial development.
• Current Zoning: Lake County (Urban Low FLU on the two County parcels)
• Proposed Zoning: City Commercial PUD
• Acreage: ~17.7 acres (≈15.72 ac County + ≈2.02 ac City)
• Staff Recommendation: Approve subject to resolution of outstanding items (Lake County traffic-study coordination; open-space confirmation — code requires 20%; architecture/landscape/signage deviations; public-facilities confirmation)
• Action: All three approved
• Vote: 4-0 on each of Ord 2026-02, Ord 2026-03, Res 2026-01 (Martin moved, Rose seconded on all three)
• Conditions: For Ord 2026-03 / Res 2026-01 — incorporate staff recommendations; clarify dark-sky lighting language (align with DarkSky International); designate and protect Parcel C (south of Citrus Grove) as non-buildable conservation/open space with ecological restoration (sandhill/scrub) language coordinated with staff; address traffic-study clarifications requested by staff and the public prior to City Council action.
• Notable Discussion: Tedrow described topographic constraints (~40-foot fall) requiring tiered retaining walls, confirmed Parcel C is intended as stormwater/open space with no development, and requested PUD flexibility on façade treatments, corrugated-metal panels, limited accent colors for tenant branding, parking reductions for mini-storage using ITE standards, and Florida-friendly landscaping. Commissioner Martin pushed the conservation/design discipline — she requested explicit PUD language designating Parcel C as non-buildable conservation, ecological restoration where feasible, dark-sky standards, and clearer architectural-deviation language. Commissioner Rose took the opposite posture, urging the board to avoid "over-regulation of developers" and expressing a desire for higher-end restaurant/retail options. Public: Heather Heaton (589 Big Pine Ave) supported Florida-friendly landscaping and reduced parking, asked about grading/retaining-wall long-term stability; Kevin Carey raised technical traffic-impact-analysis questions and requested updated counts reflecting planned roadway improvements (Carey is the recurring corpus TIA challenger — last seen on CR-455 capacity in Sept 2025).

Item 7: Ordinance 2026-07 — Golf Carts / Low-Speed Vehicles

• Type: Text Amendment (Land Development Code) — recommendation to City Council
• Case Number: Ordinance 2026-07
• Applicant: City-initiated (Joyce Heffington / staff)
• Request: Establish a local framework for golf-cart / low-speed-vehicle (LSV) use, including HOA/developer empowerment for neighborhood amenity-center access.
• Action: Recommended to Council with conditions (qualified recommendation)
• Vote: 3-1 (Martin moved, McCoy seconded; NAY: Rose)
• Conditions: Recommend Council adopt only if the ordinance (1) strictly conforms to applicable Florida Statutes; (2) requires registration and insurance for golf carts/LSVs on public streets as state law requires; (3) establishes a City-level owner acknowledgment/waiver documenting operator eligibility (licensed drivers) and prohibiting underage operation on public streets; (4) considers a City safety-education component; and (5) clarifies that HOAs are responsible only for private streets under their control, not public-street signage or enforcement.
• Notable Discussion: Commissioner Rose dissented, citing Section 316.212, noting discrepancies between the draft and state law and that key arterials (e.g., North Hancock) exceed allowable golf-cart speeds — he reiterated opposition to local changes beyond state statute and doubted waivers/safety classes would materially improve liability. Commissioner Martin advocated conformance to state law with registration/insurance and a City-level waiver and clearer private-vs-public street language. Public: Nathan Focht (707 Blue Citrus Ln) opposed expanding golf-cart use beyond state law and objected to shifting signage/maintenance liability to HOAs; Eric Hernandez (1692 Hamlin Ridge Rd) clarified carts may cross but not traverse higher-speed roads with county permission; John Hickman (2206 Gold Dust Dr) owns a registered LSV, opposes unregistered carts on public streets, suggested multi-use trail connections. This is the corpus's clearest HOA-municipal interface exhibit — the board explicitly drew the public/private street maintenance-and-liability line.

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Public Hearings Summary

• Number of speakers: 5 across all items (Maria & Mario De La Cruz — applicants on Item 2; Heather Heaton & Kevin Carey on Citrus Ridge; Nathan Focht, Eric Hernandez, John Hickman on golf carts)
• General sentiment: Supportive-to-neutral on the senior-care expansion and Citrus Ridge; clearly cautionary/opposed on the golf-cart ordinance (all three public speakers urged adherence to state law and rejected shifting public-street liability to HOAs)
• Key concerns:
  • Operating/traffic detail and applicant presence for the adult congregate living facility (resolved by tabling and reopening)
  • Retaining-wall stability, traffic-impact-analysis adequacy, and conservation protection of Parcel C at Citrus Ridge
  • Liability, registration, and HOA-vs-public-street responsibility for golf carts/LSVs

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Key Signals

• Citrus Ridge cleared P&Z 4-0 — the cross-corridor legal-counsel network advances again. The three-instrument Citrus Ridge package (annexation + comp-plan + PUD rezoning + development agreement, ~17.7 ac, theoretical 850,029 sq ft cap) passed 4-0 with Tara Tedrow of Lowndes Drosdick representing Crittenden Howey LLC. This is the same Tedrow/Lowndes signature seen across Clermont, Apopka (Wyld Oaks), and the broader US-27 corridor — the cross-corridor-legal-counsel-network pattern. Watch for City Council adoption (next step). The multi-instrument package on incoming-county parcels is now Minneola's standard entitlement architecture, mirroring the June 1 CR-455 Yeager package on the same docket.
• The Rose/McCoy "property-rights" posture is now legible as a recurring axis — and Martin is its counterweight. On Citrus Ridge, Rose urged avoiding "over-regulation of developers" while Martin drove the conservation/dark-sky/Parcel-C-protection conditions. On golf carts, Rose was the lone NAY (3-1), opposing any local rule exceeding state statute. The corpus has tracked a Rose/McCoy bloc since the March 2026 Whispering Winds 3-2 split and the April Citrus Grove table motion; this meeting shows the bloc's philosophy (property-rights, minimal local overlay) and its limit — McCoy crossed to join Martin on golf carts, so it is a tendency, not a locked voting bloc. The commission-board-philosophical-inversion lens applies: a 4-member board with a clear conservation-vs-property-rights tension.
• Camp Lake Industrial Park is platting — the N. Hancock / Citrus Grove / Turnpike industrial cluster is going vertical. A ~164-acre industrial/research park inside the Hills of Minneola PUD split into three lots, with vertical construction already underway, 24/7-capable tenants, and 14,000–40,000 sq ft tenant footprints. Turkey Farm Road transfers to City control with developer/POA-funded maintenance. Combined with Citrus Ridge's adjacent light-industrial component, Minneola's eastern flank along the Turnpike is consolidating into an employment/industrial corridor — the three-ordinance-industrial-annexation and employment-edge dynamics seen in Groveland, now in Minneola form (PUD-internal platting rather than fresh annexation).
• A textbook due-process moment: the board tabled rather than decide an applicant-absent quasi-judicial item. Martin refused to vote on the senior-care special exception without the applicant present, the board tabled 4-0, and only approved after the De La Cruzes arrived post-recess. For applicants and attorneys this is a clear procedural signal: Minneola's P&Z will not substantively act on quasi-judicial items in the applicant's absence.
• HOA-municipal interface is being explicitly negotiated via the golf-cart ordinance. The 3-1 recommendation drew a hard line — HOAs responsible only for private streets, not public-street signage/enforcement — and conditioned support on strict state-law conformance, registration/insurance, and a city waiver. As Minneola's master-planned communities (Hills of Minneola, Pine Ridge, Whispering Winds) multiply amenity centers, the cart-access/HOA-liability question is becoming a structural governance theme, not a one-off. The same HOA-road-maintenance logic appears in the Lake Bright-Brighurst CDD/HOA discussion (Leesburg corpus).

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Raw Notes

• Board roster this meeting: Calderon (Chair), Martin, McCoy, Rose — four voting members. City Attorney Jennifer Cotch on the dais (read the golf-cart ordinance title). Joyce Heffington (AICP, CRA Manager) and John Lozano (Planning Technician) staffed.
• Item 2 procedural sequence: tabled to the June 1 meeting at first call (4-0), but the applicant arrived during the meeting, Item 2 was reopened after a five-minute recess, and it was approved the same night (4-0) — so it will NOT carry to June 1 despite the table motion's stated date.
• Citrus Ridge: Parcel C (south of Citrus Grove Road) designated stormwater/open space, conservation-protected by condition. Development agreement theoretical max 850,029 sq ft; conceptual plan substantially less. Outstanding staff items to resolve before Council: Lake County traffic-study coordination, 20% open-space confirmation, architecture/landscape/signage deviations, public-facilities confirmation.
• Kevin Carey reappears as the corpus's recurring TIA/traffic challenger (prior: CR-455 capacity testimony, Sept 8 2025 P&Z).
• Reports: Joyce Heffington noted the Heroes and Veterans Memorial event at May Griffin Pavilion (Veterans Day) and a "Fishing with a First Responder" youth event.
• Meeting adjourned 8:57 PM (McCoy moved, Rose seconded, 4-0). Minutes attested by John Lozano, Planning Technician; signed by Chairperson Denise Calderon.
• Source: these May 4, 2026 minutes are Exhibit 1 to Item 1 of the June 1, 2026 P&Z agenda packet (CivicClerk tenant minneolafl, event 256); minutes approved at June 1 meeting per agenda.