Town of Montverde Planning and Zoning Board — November 12, 2025

Meeting Overview

Type: Regular Meeting Quorum: Yes (4 of 5 members present) Duration: 6:30 PM – 9:28 PM (178 minutes) — the longest P&Z meeting in the coverage window Location: Town Hall, 17404 Sixth Street, Montverde, FL 34756

Attendance

• Present: Chairwoman Karin Arellano, Josie Weiss, Aaron Wadsworth, Michael Whidden (sworn in during this meeting)
• Absent: Holly Broecker
• Staff Present: Paul Larino, Town Manager; Anita Geraci-Carver, Town Attorney; Sean Parks, Town Planner; Lisa Busto, Associate Town Planner; Caroline Trepanier, Town Clerk

Prior minutes: July 29, 2025 minutes approved as amended, 3-0 (moved Wadsworth). Wadsworth identified corrections to Grant Roberts's address and to "Consumptive Use Permit," which should have read "Conditional Use Permit"; Arellano identified a typo in her own name.

Board composition change: Michael Whidden took the oath of office as a Planning & Zoning Board Member, filling the seat vacated by Thomas Johnson after April 2025. Whidden had appeared as a public speaker at the April 2 and July 29, 2025 meetings before his appointment.

Agenda Items

Staff presented four related applications concurrently. Busto stated on the record that they were being reviewed together "in the interest of full transparency and informed decision making as they collectively outline a new residential subdivision proposal," and that the Land Development Code amendment would need to be adopted for the other ordinances to take effect. The project is Bella Collina Montverde Estates, submitted by Wilmington Development Services.

Item 1: Ordinance No. 2025-59 — Minimum Lot Size for Annexed Property (LDC § 10-13)

• Type: Text Amendment (Land Development Code)
• Case Number: Ordinance No. 2025-59
• Location: Townwide — governs all property annexed into the Town
• Applicant: Town of Montverde (staff-initiated, enabling the Montverde Estates applications)
• Request: Amend Section 10-13 of Chapter 10 of the Land Development Code relating to minimum lot size for property annexed into the Town. The existing code, written roughly twenty-five years earlier, requires one-acre lots for annexed property.
• Current Zoning: N/A (townwide standard)
• Proposed Zoning: N/A
• Acreage: N/A
• Staff Recommendation: Approve (presented as the enabling instrument for the other three items)
• Action: Recommended for DENIAL, with direction to return with a revised ordinance
• Vote: 4-0 to deny (moved Wadsworth, seconded Whidden). Whidden had first moved to approve the ordinance as written, then withdrew his motion before Wadsworth's denial motion carried.
• Conditions: The motion was a denial plus a directive: bring back an ordinance changing the townwide minimum for newly annexed property from one acre to a half acre. Geraci-Carver restated the motion in those terms on the record and noted this is a recommendation to Town Council only.
• Notable Discussion:
  • Wadsworth asked why the one-acre rule existed. Resident Laura Eldrige (16040 Ridgewood Avenue) answered from the floor: it was "to keep developments down, to keep it small at the time."
  • Parks supplied the institutional history: around the year 2000 there was rapid growth in Lake County, predating Bella Collina; in 2007 or 2008 the Town assembled "the green book" because many separate ordinances were floating around and Council wanted them combined.
  • Weiss said it makes sense to join the 10 annexed acres to the existing 58 acres so the land becomes buildable property.
  • The minutes as published record the denial vote against the wrong ordinance number — see Raw Notes.

Item 2: Ordinance No. 2025-60 — Comprehensive Plan / FLUM Amendment, 9.47 Acres

• Type: Comprehensive Plan Amendment (Future Land Use Map)
• Case Number: Ordinance No. 2025-60
• Location: 9.47 +/- acres — the parcels annexed by Ordinances 2025-46 through 2025-49 on April 2, 2025
• Applicant: Wilmington Development Services (Logan Opsahl, 215 N. Eola Drive, Orlando, appearing)
• Request: Amend the Comprehensive Land-Use Plan under § 163.3187 Fla. Stat., changing the Future Land Use Map designation from Lake County Rural Transition and Bella Collina to Town of Montverde Single Family Low Density Residential.
• Current Zoning: FLUM: Lake County Rural Transition and Bella Collina
• Proposed Zoning: FLUM: Town of Montverde Single Family Low Density Residential
• Acreage: 9.47 +/- acres
• Staff Recommendation: Approve
• Action: Recommended for approval
• Vote: 4-0 (moved Whidden, seconded Wadsworth)
• Conditions: None
• Notable Discussion: Geraci-Carver read and briefly explained the ordinance; the minutes record general discussion without individual positions.

Item 3: Ordinance No. 2025-61 — Rezoning to Single-Family Residential PUD (Montverde Estates)

• Type: Rezoning (PUD), with waivers and variances
• Case Number: Ordinance No. 2025-61
• Location: South of Ridgewood Avenue, west of County Road 455, east of Blackstill Lake Road, Montverde
• Applicant: DCS Real Estate Investments, LLC and Wilmington Development Services Inc. — Logan Opsahl appearing; Paul Simonson of DCS Real Estate Investments (16690 Cavallo Drive, Montverde) also addressed the board; engineering by Steve Boyd, Boyd Civil Engineering and Jim Boyd, Boyd Environmental Engineering
• Request: Rezone from Lake County PUD, Agriculture and Light Industrial, and Town of Montverde Single Family Low Density, to Town of Montverde Single-Family Residential PUD; approve waivers; approve variances from Town Code with conditions.
• Current Zoning: Lake County PUD / Agriculture / Light Industrial; Town of Montverde Single Family Low Density
• Proposed Zoning: Town of Montverde Single-Family Residential PUD
• Acreage: ~68 acres total assemblage (10 annexed acres + 58-acre parent tract, per the applicant)
• Staff Recommendation: Approve
• Action: Recommended for approval, as modified
• Vote: 4-0 (moved Wadsworth, seconded Whidden). Whidden had moved to approve earlier and withdrew that motion before further discussion.
• Conditions: Approved as written except for Waiver No. 9 on water conservation — the motion requires that non-potable water be a requirement, delivered either through a well or through a contribution to the Town's LFA (Lower Floridan Aquifer) well, as negotiated between the Town and the developer. Geraci-Carver additionally noted the PUD document (page 5) requires an updated traffic study and Lake County approval.
• Notable Discussion:
  • Lot geometry: Opsahl said two lot widths — 70-foot and 60-foot — and Steve Boyd specified 70' x 140' and 60' x 140' deep lots. Boyd explained the PUD's purpose is to cluster lots to create larger contiguous open-space tracts.
  • Weiss noted the lots are not half-acre lots. A 70' x 140' lot is 9,800 sq ft — roughly 0.22 acres, under a quarter of the one-acre standard Ordinance 2025-59 would have relaxed.
  • Home size: Steve Boyd said homes would be a minimum 3,300 square feet. Opsahl said prices would be "$1.5 million and up."
  • Wastewater plant: Jim Boyd (35+ years designing wastewater facilities in central Florida, retained by the developer) described a plant of approximately 33,000 gallons per day sized for 114 single-family units, with two rapid infiltration basins (perk ponds) for treated effluent disposal, and a lift station on the plant site. He tied the design standards to FDEP requirements and a recently adopted Basin Management Action Plan intended to improve water quality and reduce impacts to springs and other water bodies.
  • Access: Larino described two access points — a guarded gate off County Road 455 as the main entrance for "Amazon trucks, service vehicles and visitors," and a Ridgewood Avenue access for residents only. Geraci-Carver cited PUD ordinance page 5, subsection I ¶3 (transportation): the Ridgewood access is for emergencies and residents only.
  • Buffers: Wadsworth compared the Magnolia Terrace HOA attorney's request for a 10-foot buffer against the developer's proposed 20-foot buffer, larger in some areas. Opsahl committed to construction fencing, said many boundary trees would be preserved with supplemental planting, and offered native cypress (thicker and taller) alongside oak canopy trees. Parks stated the Town's mitigation threshold: trees four inches or greater in diameter trigger a mitigation requirement.
  • Impact fees: Whidden asked for projected impact fee collections. Larino said he had not done an analysis, went over a few numbers, and offered to provide figures later.
  • Supermajority charter question: Kelly Moore asked about the supermajority vote on the election ballot. Geraci-Carver: the adopted Charter Amendment requires a supermajority vote of Council to approve a comprehensive plan amendment that increases density above what a property currently has. The Charter Amendment did not address lot sizes.

Item 4: Resolution No. 2025-178 — Montverde Estates Preliminary Development Plan (114 Lots)

• Type: Site Plan / Preliminary Development Plan
• Case Number: Resolution No. 2025-178
• Location: South of Ridgewood Avenue, west of CR 455, east of Blackstill Lake Road, Town of Montverde
• Applicant: DCS Real Estate Investments, LLC / Wilmington Development Services Inc.
• Request: Grant preliminary development plan approval for Montverde Estates, a 114-lot single-family residential subdivision.
• Current Zoning: As rezoned by Ordinance 2025-61 (Single-Family Residential PUD)
• Proposed Zoning: No change
• Acreage: ~68 acres
• Staff Recommendation: Approve
• Action: Recommended for approval
• Vote: 4-0 (moved Whidden, seconded Wadsworth)
• Conditions: None added to the motion
• Notable Discussion: Larino briefly explained the preliminary development plan; the item passed with no recorded debate after nearly three hours on the preceding ordinances.

Public Hearings Summary

• Number of speakers: 8 — Michael Dietrick (16724 Magnolia Terrace), Tony Lennard (16442 Magnolia Bluff Drive), Robert Tomlinson (16634 Magnolia Terrace), President of the Magnolia Terrace HOA, Wayne Meadows (16401 Magnolia Bluff Drive), Kelly Moore (17029 Florence View), Jeffrey Johnson (16455 Magnolia Bluff Drive), Gretchen Leonard (16422 Magnolia Bluff Drive), plus Laura Eldrige (16040 Ridgewood Avenue) speaking to the history of the one-acre rule.
• General sentiment: Organized and conditional rather than oppositional. The HOA explicitly declined to take a position on the project itself.
• Key concerns:
  • An HOA appearing through counsel. Tomlinson confirmed the board had received a letter from the Magnolia Terrace HOA's attorney, stated the HOA "does not take any specific position on whether the Board or the Town Council should approve the overall Montverde Estate project," and instead entered specific concerns — chief among them a requested buffer.
  • Buffers, fences and trees — Lennard asked whether oak trees could be planted before building; Leonard asked whether boundary trees would be kept; Johnson asked where the fence would go.
  • Hydrology — Dietrick described a creek that used to flow through his backyard and asked about St. Johns River Water Management District involvement. Parks said it is a conservation easement dedicated to the district at the time Magnolia Terrace was built, and that he does not know the condition of the flow.
  • Wastewater plant odor — Meadows. Jim Boyd answered that the lift station sits on the plant site and wastewater is pumped into an enclosed screen.
  • Density and the charter — Kelly Moore asked for clarification on density and on the supermajority ballot measure.
  • Price point — Johnson asked the price range; Opsahl answered $1.5 million and up.

Key Signals

• The board recommended denial of the ordinance the whole project depended on — then approved all three items that depended on it, 4-0 each. Busto told the board plainly that Ordinance 2025-59 "would need to be adopted for the other ordinances to take effect." The board denied 2025-59 4-0 and asked staff to return with a half-acre minimum instead of the one-acre standard, then recommended approval of the FLUM amendment, the PUD rezoning, and the 114-lot preliminary plan. The board split the difference: it moved the townwide rule and let the project through. Council received a recommendation package that contradicts itself by design.

• A twenty-five-year-old one-acre rule became the night's real subject, and a resident supplied the legislative history. Wadsworth asked why annexed property had to come in at one acre. Laura Eldrige answered from the floor: "to keep developments down, to keep it small at the time." Parks dated it to the growth wave around 2000, before Bella Collina, and to the 2007–08 "green book" consolidation. That rule is the only townwide instrument standing between Montverde and the density its neighbors have already absorbed — and the board's own motion was to cut it in half.

• The lots at issue are roughly a fifth of an acre, and Weiss said so out loud. Steve Boyd specified 70' x 140' and 60' x 140' lots — about 0.22 and 0.19 acres. Weiss noted they are not half-acre lots. So the ordinance fight over one acre versus half an acre is downstream of a PUD that clusters to roughly a fifth of an acre and takes its density credit in open space. A buyer reading "Montverde minimum lot size" in the code will not find the number that governs Montverde Estates; the PUD waivers do.

• $1.5 million homes on 60-foot lots with a private wastewater plant, gated off CR 455. Opsahl's stated price floor is $1.5M; minimum home size 3,300 sq ft; the plant is sized at 33,000 gpd for 114 units with two rapid infiltration basins; the main gate is guarded and faces CR 455, with Ridgewood Avenue restricted to residents and emergencies. This is a Bella Collina-adjacent product — the name on the packet is literally "Bella Collina Montverde Estates" — being placed inside the town limits rather than the county's.

• The Town got a water-conservation concession the staff report did not ask for. Wadsworth's motion carved out Waiver No. 9 and made non-potable water mandatory — either an on-site well or a contribution to the Town's Lower Floridan Aquifer well, negotiated between Town and developer. In a town simultaneously pursuing a redundant Upper Floridan well, a new Lower Floridan well, and a 10-year Water Supply Facilities Work Plan update, this converts a landscape-irrigation waiver into a capital contribution toward municipal water supply. Watch what the negotiated number turns out to be.

• The Charter's supermajority protection does not reach this project. Geraci-Carver's answer to Kelly Moore is the sentence residents should read twice: the adopted Charter Amendment requires a Council supermajority only for a comprehensive plan amendment that increases density above a property's current entitlement, and it "did not address lot sizes." A rezoning that shrinks lots inside an existing density envelope clears on a simple majority. The protection residents voted for has a shape, and this project is outside it.

• Nobody asked the board to say no. The Magnolia Terrace HOA hired an attorney, wrote a letter, sent its president to the podium — and expressly took no position on approval. Every resident question was about buffers, trees, odor, and price. In two consecutive meetings covering 251 new homes, the Montverde record contains not one request for denial from a member of the public.

Raw Notes

• Source provenance: Published minutes PDF is a scan of the signed paper record with no text layer; content recovered by OCR (tools/ocr-pdf.py, 300 DPI, PSM 1; page 7 re-run at 400 DPI / PSM 6 to confirm ordinance numbering). Signed Karin Arellano, Chairwoman; attested Caroline Trepanier, Town Clerk.
• Documented error in the approved minutes. On page 7 the denial vote is recorded as "Board Member Whidden seconded the motion. Ordinance 2025-60 denied 4-0." Every surrounding sentence establishes the motion was on Ordinance 2025-59: Wadsworth's motion is stated as "motioned to deny Ordinance 2025-59 and revisit changing the whole ordinance to half acre minimum," and Geraci-Carver's restatement describes the one-acre-to-half-acre change, which is 2025-59's subject. Ordinance 2025-60 is then separately introduced two paragraphs later and approved 4-0, making the contradiction internal to the document. Verified at 400 DPI — this is an error in the minutes, not an OCR artifact. This document records the denial against Ordinance 2025-59.
• Internal page-numbering inconsistency: the footer of page 2 reads "Page 2 of 9" while the footer of page 1 reads "Page 1 of 3." The document is nine pages.
• Opsahl described the assemblage arithmetic on the record: 10 acres annexed in April 2025 + 58-acre parent tract = 68 acres unified, and said the April annexation provided "access, site circulation, unity of use" for nine parcels "some of which had some industrial designations." This confirms the April 2, 2025 annexations and this rezoning are one project. The harvested April packet's own cover sheet titles them "Bella Collina - Annexation of 9 Parcels."
• Ordinance 2025-60's 9.47 +/- acre figure is close to but not identical with the April annexation total of 9.91 +/- acres across nine parcels. The record does not explain the 0.44-acre difference; it may reflect right-of-way exclusion or survey revision.
• Wadsworth asked whether an additional lift station would be needed for lots 108–114; Steve Boyd said those lots sit high enough that no second lift station is required.
• Whidden withdrew motions twice during the meeting (on 2025-59 and on 2025-61), in both cases yielding to further discussion before a modified motion carried.
• Adjourned 9:28 PM (moved Arellano, seconded Wadsworth).
• Companion document: agenda packet https://mymontverde.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/00-P-Z-Agenda-Packet_Optimized.pdf (257 pp., fully scanned).
• Canonical per-meeting record page: https://mymontverde.com/town-meetings/planning-zoning-meeting-wednesday-november-12-2025-at-630-pm-at-town-hall/