Town of Montverde Planning and Zoning Board — April 2, 2025

Meeting Overview

Type: Regular Meeting Quorum: Yes (5 of 5 members present) Duration: 6:30 PM – 7:32 PM (62 minutes) Location: Town Hall, 17404 Sixth Street, Montverde, FL 34756

Attendance

Present: Chairwoman Karin Arellano, Josie Weiss, Thomas Johnson, Holly Broecker, Aaron Wadsworth
Absent: None
Staff Present: Paul Larino, Town Manager; Anita Geraci-Carver, Town Attorney; Sean Parks, Town Planner; Lisa Busto, Associate Town Planner; Caroline Trepanier, Administrative Assistant

Prior minutes: December 11, 2024 minutes approved 4-0 (moved Wadsworth, seconded Johnson). Note the four-month gap between meetings — the December 11, 2024 meeting was the board's previous sitting.

Agenda Items

Item 1: P&Z Training (Discussion Item)

Type: Other (board training / procedural instruction)
Case Number: [not available]
Location: N/A
Applicant: Town of Montverde (staff-initiated)
Request: Orientation on the board's role, the evidentiary function of its discussions, and motion/voting procedure.
Current Zoning: N/A
Proposed Zoning: N/A
Acreage: N/A
Staff Recommendation: N/A
Action: Discussion only — no vote
Vote: N/A
Conditions: N/A
Notable Discussion:
- Town Manager Larino told the board its position "comes with a lot of work," described the board as "the first step in the process that the Town staff or an applicant may have worked on for one (1) or two (2) years," and stressed that board discussion "establishes the record & the evidence used to make the decision & how the code is applied in making the decision."
- Town Attorney Geraci-Carver stated the voting rule the board would operate under going forward: a member who makes a motion must vote in favor of it; a member who seconds a motion is not obligated to vote in favor.
- Wadsworth noted board members are volunteers and asked whether agenda packets could be distributed earlier. Larino offered door delivery for members unable to collect packets from Town Hall.

Item 2: Ordinance No. 2025-55 — Accessory-Structure Setbacks (LDC Chapter 10)

Type: Text Amendment (Land Development Code)
Case Number: Ordinance No. 2025-55
Location: Townwide
Applicant: Town of Montverde (staff-initiated)
Request: Amend Chapter 10 of the Land Development Code to revise rear-yard setbacks for accessory structures, with alternative scenarios of 7.5 ft, 15 ft, or retaining the existing 25 ft depending on structure size.
Current Zoning: N/A (townwide)
Proposed Zoning: N/A
Acreage: N/A
Staff Recommendation: Presented with alternatives rather than a single recommended number
Action: Recommended for approval, as modified by the board
Vote: 5-0 (moved Weiss, seconded Johnson) — approved with a 15-foot rear setback, the middle of the three staff scenarios
Conditions: The 15-foot rear setback substituted for the staff-presented range
Notable Discussion:
- Busto presented the setback scenarios; Larino confirmed the maximum accessory-structure height is 14 feet and the maximum fence height is 6 feet.
- Geraci-Carver stated the operative distinction the ordinance turns on: the setback is currently 7.5 feet for sheds of 120 square feet or less, and for structures larger than 120 square feet staff were recommending 15 or 25 feet.
- Broecker asked whether the rule changes where a property line abuts wetlands. Larino: the code requires 50 feet from the property line where the property borders a wetland or a lake, with pools excepted at 25 feet.
- Weiss asked whether recent legislature activity on sheds applied. Geraci-Carver said that legislation concerned accessory dwelling units, which must meet zoning setbacks.
- Weiss asked whether the community had given feedback. Larino explained this was the first hearing and public comment follows.
- Public hearing: Mike Whidden (17635 Broad Street) supported changing the standard and asked about a mother-in-law suite and a one-car garage. Andrew Elam (17175 Ridgewood Avenue) said he lives in a rural area and wants to build an 800-square-foot accessory unit for cars, asking where it could be sited.

Item 3: Ordinance No. 2025-46 — Voluntary Annexation, 1.82 Acres

Type: Annexation (voluntary, § 171.044 Fla. Stat.)
Case Number: Ordinance No. 2025-46 — Alt Key 1037247, Lake County Parcel ID 11-22-26-0004-000-10000
Location: CR 455 & Heatherwood Lane, unincorporated Lake County. Packet exhibits title the whole set "Bella Collina — Annexation of 9 Parcels."
Applicant: Logan Opsahl, 215 N. Eola Drive, Orlando (appearing for the applicant). Property owner of record: DCS Real Estate Investments LLC.
Request: Annex 1.82 +/- acres into the corporate limits of the Town of Montverde.
Current Zoning: Lake County light industrial (per the applicant's statement on the record)
Proposed Zoning: None at annexation — a separate zoning request follows
Acreage: 1.82 +/- acres
Staff Recommendation: Approve (Town Planner Parks recommended, characterizing annexation as giving "the Town control of their destiny")
Action: Recommended for approval
Vote: 5-0 (moved Johnson, seconded Weiss)
Conditions: None
Notable Discussion:
- Opsahl stated the current county zoning is light industrial and argued annexation was in the Town's interest.
- Parks described a multiphase approach, walked through density, the "Willow Ridge exception," and the annexation process steps, describing this as "the beginning part of the process."
- Weiss said she "does not see anything negative about this proposal" and "prefers homes in lieu of industrial."
- Wadsworth asked whether zoning would be R1L initially with potential for later change. Geraci-Carver: procedurally the property comes in without zoning; the owner then makes a zoning request, and a PUD zoning request is anticipated.
- Broecker asked whether the board could question the applicant about their development plan. Geraci-Carver: at the annexation stage the question is only whether the property should be part of the town.
- No public speakers for or against.

Item 4: Ordinance No. 2025-47 — Voluntary Annexation, Five Parcels

Type: Annexation (voluntary, § 171.044 Fla. Stat.)
Case Number: Ordinance No. 2025-47 — Alt Keys 1592038, 1592054, 1592071, 1592089, 1814120 (Parcel IDs 11-22-26-0004-000-02801, -03600, -02809, -02802, -03500)
Location: CR 455 & Heatherwood Lane, unincorporated Lake County
Applicant: Wilmington Development Services Inc. (owner of record on all five parcels); Logan Opsahl appearing
Request: Annex five parcels of real property into the corporate limits.
Current Zoning: Lake County (designations not itemized in the minutes; the assemblage carried a mix later described in Ordinance 2025-61 as Lake County PUD, Agriculture, and Light Industrial)
Proposed Zoning: None at annexation
Acreage: 5.68 +/- acres (per ordinance recital; packet table itemizes 1.2436 + 1.9218 + 0.3562 + 1.1446 + 1.0093 = 5.6755)
Staff Recommendation: Approve
Action: Recommended for approval
Vote: 5-0 (moved Weiss, seconded Wadsworth)
Conditions: None
Notable Discussion:
- Public hearing: Mike Whidden (17635 Broad Street) asked whether the property would become part of Bella Collina. Larino: Bella Collina is in the county and this will be within Town limits; it will be its own subdivision, no PUD request has been submitted, and the question could not be answered at that point.

Item 5: Ordinance No. 2025-48 — Voluntary Annexation, Two Parcels

Type: Annexation (voluntary, § 171.044 Fla. Stat.)
Case Number: Ordinance No. 2025-48 — Alt Keys 3809249, 1592020 (Parcel IDs 11-22-26-0004-000-04200, -02807)
Location: CR 455 & Heatherwood Lane, unincorporated Lake County
Applicant: Wilmington Development Services Inc. (owner of record on both parcels)
Request: Annex two parcels of real property into the corporate limits.
Current Zoning: Lake County (not itemized in the minutes)
Proposed Zoning: None at annexation
Acreage: 1.63 +/- acres (packet table: 0.0550 + 1.5791 = 1.6340)
Staff Recommendation: Approve
Action: Recommended for approval
Vote: 5-0 (moved Wadsworth, seconded Weiss)
Conditions: None
Notable Discussion: The public hearing was opened and closed with no speakers recorded.

Item 6: Ordinance No. 2025-49 — Voluntary Annexation

Type: Annexation (voluntary, § 171.044 Fla. Stat.)
Case Number: Ordinance No. 2025-49 — Alt Key 1592101, Parcel ID 11-22-26-0004-000-02805
Location: CR 455 & Heatherwood Lane, unincorporated Lake County
Applicant: Wilmington Development Services Inc. (owner of record)
Request: Annex real property into the corporate limits.
Current Zoning: Lake County (not itemized in the minutes)
Proposed Zoning: None at annexation
Acreage: 0.78 +/- acres
Staff Recommendation: Approve
Action: Recommended for approval
Vote: 5-0 (moved Johnson, seconded Weiss)
Conditions: None
Notable Discussion: No one spoke for or against.

Public Hearings Summary

Number of speakers: 2 distinct residents across the evening — Mike Whidden (17635 Broad Street), who spoke on both the accessory-structure amendment and Ordinance 2025-47, and Andrew Elam (17175 Ridgewood Avenue), who spoke on the accessory-structure amendment.
General sentiment: Supportive-to-neutral. No speaker opposed any item. Both residents who addressed the setback ordinance wanted more permissive accessory-structure rules, not fewer.
Key concerns: Where a large accessory building (800 sq ft for cars, a mother-in-law suite, a one-car garage) could legally be placed; whether the annexed land would become part of Bella Collina.

Key Signals

One 9.91-acre assemblage was split into four annexation ordinances and passed 5-0 each, in a single 62-minute meeting. The packet's own cover sheet names it plainly — "Bella Collina — Annexation of 9 Parcels" at CR 455 & Heatherwood Lane — and the parcel table totals 9.91 +/- acres held by Wilmington Development Services Inc. (eight parcels) and DCS Real Estate Investments LLC (one). Nothing in the four ordinance titles as read into the record disclosed that they were one project; the connective tissue lives in a packet table, not the agenda. Opsahl confirmed the purpose at the November 12, 2025 hearing: unify the ~10 acres with a 58-acre parent tract to make one 68-acre holding.
The land came in as county light industrial and the board openly preferred houses. Opsahl told the board the current Lake County zoning was light industrial. Weiss said on the record that she "prefers homes in lieu of industrial." That single exchange is the conversion mechanism: a county industrial designation gets annexed into a town with no zoning, and the town's own board has already signalled which direction it wants the re-designation to go. Anyone tracking industrial land supply on the CR 455 corridor should mark April 2, 2025 as the date this parcel left the industrial column.
The town attorney told the board it could not ask the applicant what they intended to build. When Broecker asked whether the board could question the developer's plan, Geraci-Carver's answer was that at the annexation stage the only question is whether the property should be part of the town. Procedurally correct — and it is also the reason a 68-acre subdivision could clear its first municipal gate in a meeting where the phrase "PUD request has not been submitted" was the answer to every substantive question. The board approved the boundary before it could see the product.
Accessory-structure setbacks loosened from 25 feet to 15 feet, and the board picked the number itself. Staff presented three scenarios (7.5 / 15 / 25 feet) rather than a recommendation; Weiss's motion selected 15 and it carried 5-0. Homeowners with lots deep enough for a shed larger than 120 square feet gained ten feet of buildable rear yard. The wetland rule was unchanged and remains the binding constraint on lakefront and wetland-adjacent lots: 50 feet from the property line, with pools excepted at 25 feet.
The board had not met since December 11, 2024 — a four-month gap — and then disposed of five ordinances in one sitting. Montverde's P&Z meets "as needed," and this is what "as needed" produces: long silences punctuated by nights where the whole quarter's land-use pipeline clears at once. For anyone monitoring this town, the meeting calendar is not the signal; the agenda-packet posting is.

Raw Notes

Source provenance: The published minutes PDF is a scan of the signed paper record with no embedded text layer. Content was recovered by OCR (tools/ocr-pdf.py, 300 DPI, PSM 1). Signature block: signed Karin Arellano, Chairwoman; attested Sandy Johnson, Town Clerk. Note that Trepanier is listed in the attendance block as Administrative Assistant at this meeting and appears as Town Clerk from the July 29, 2025 meeting onward.

Parcel-level detail is not in the minutes. Acreages for Ordinances 2025-47, -48 and -49 are absent from the ordinance titles as read into the record. They were recovered by OCR of the 184-page agenda packet (also a full scan), page 41, which carries a summary table headed "Bella Collina - Annexation of 9 Parcels":

Ord	Alt Key	Acres	Owner of record
2025-46	1037247	1.82	DCS Real Estate Investments LLC
2025-47	1592038	1.2436	Wilmington Development Services Inc
2025-47	1592054	1.9218	Wilmington Development Services Inc
2025-47	1592071	0.3562	Wilmington Development Services Inc
2025-47	1592089	1.1446	Wilmington Development Services Inc
2025-47	1814120	1.0093	Wilmington Development Services Inc
2025-48	3809249	0.0550	Wilmington Development Services Inc
2025-48	1592020	1.5791	Wilmington Development Services Inc
2025-49	1592101	0.7833	Wilmington Development Services Inc
Total	9 parcels	9.9129

Ordinance recitals round to 1.82 / 5.68 / 1.63 / 0.78 +/- acres. The table's subtotals (5.6755, 1.6340) and grand total (9.9129) are internally consistent, and consistent with the applicant's "10 acres" characterization at the November 12, 2025 hearing.

Location-map exhibits for all four annexation ordinances are dated March 3, 2025 and were prepared by Parks Consulting Services, 12135 Topaz Street, Clermont, FL 34711 — the firm of Town Planner Sean Parks, who also presented the item to the board and recommended it.
Town Attorney is Anita Geraci-Carver, who also serves other south Lake County jurisdictions.
Closing reports: Larino discussed the upcoming meeting schedule and spring events; Busto reported staff were "continuing to work on many zoning clearances, still working on Willow Ridge, the single-family homes coming in & fences"; Larino mentioned new Town shirts and centennial logos.
Meeting adjourned 7:32 PM (moved Weiss, seconded Johnson).
Companion agenda document: https://mymontverde.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/00-P-Z-Meeting-Agenda-04-02-2025-FiNAL.pdf — also a scan. Agenda packet: https://mymontverde.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/P-Z-Packet-04.02.2025.pdf (184 pp., 28.8 MB).
Canonical per-meeting record page: https://mymontverde.com/town-meetings/planning-zoning-meeting-wednesday-april-2-2025-at-630-pm-at-town-hall/

Montverde Planning and Zoning Board — April 2, 2025 minutes