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Meetings · Montverde

Montverde Planning and Zoning Board — January 14, 2026 minutes

Town of Montverde Planning and Zoning Board — January 14, 2026

Meeting Overview

Type: Regular Meeting (annual organizational meeting — officers elected) Quorum: Yes (5 of 5 members present) Duration: 6:30 PM – 7:26 PM (56 minutes) Location: Town Hall, 17404 Sixth Street, Montverde, FL 34756

Attendance

  • Present: Karin Arellano, Josie Weiss, Holly Broecker, Aaron Wadsworth, Michael Whidden — full board
  • Absent: None
  • Staff Present: Paul Larino, Town Manager; Anita Geraci-Carver, Town Attorney; Sean Parks, Town Planner; Lisa Busto, Associate Town Planner; Caroline Trepanier, Town Clerk; Iman Rashid, Administrative Assistant

No prior minutes were taken up. The November, December and January minutes were all approved together at the March 11, 2026 meeting.

Agenda Items

Item 1: Appointment of Planning & Zoning Chair and Vice Chair

  • Type: Other (board organization)
  • Case Number: N/A
  • Location: N/A
  • Applicant: Town of Montverde
  • Request: Elect the board's Chair and Vice Chair for the year.
  • Current Zoning: N/A
  • Proposed Zoning: N/A
  • Acreage: N/A
  • Staff Recommendation: N/A
  • Action: Karin Arellano re-appointed Chair; Aaron Wadsworth appointed Vice Chair
  • Vote: Chair — 5-0 (nominated Weiss, seconded Wadsworth). Vice Chair — 5-0 (nominated Whidden, seconded Weiss)
  • Conditions: N/A
  • Notable Discussion: No competing nominations recorded for either office.

Item 2: Resolution No. 2026-01 — Osgood Final Development Plan (137 Single-Family Lots)

  • Type: Site Plan (final development plan)
  • Case Number: Resolution No. 2026-01
  • Location: North of Osgood Road, east of County Road 455, west of Lake Apopka, Town of Montverde
  • Applicant: Brian Ashby, Kimley-Horn & Associates (appearing)
  • Request: Grant final development plan approval for a 137-lot single-family residential subdivision — the final stage of the project given preliminary approval on July 29, 2025 (Resolution 2025-179).
  • Current Zoning: Planned Unit Development (PUD)
  • Proposed Zoning: No change
  • Acreage: ±88 acres (per the preliminary approval; not restated at this hearing)
  • Staff Recommendation: Approve
  • Action: Recommended for approval
  • Vote: 5-0 (moved Whidden, seconded Broecker)
  • Conditions: Subject to all conditions and requirements requested by Town staff — the condition written into the motion
  • Notable Discussion:
    • Larino conducted the review himself, describing an application containing detailed paving, grading, and drainage plans, street maps and utility layouts, reviewed collaboratively by the applicant, Town Engineer, Town Planner, Town Attorney, and Town Surveyor.
    • Broecker asked whether FDEP approval, particularly regarding Lake Apopka, was required. Larino and Parks explained the applicable FDEP review process and conditions.
    • Wadsworth asked whether individual or shared septic systems were proposed — the same question raised repeatedly by residents at the July 29 preliminary hearing.
    • Weiss asked about traffic study requirements and anticipated impacts. Larino said traffic impacts are evaluated through professional engineering review.
    • Ashby's water disclosure is the substantive new fact of the meeting: he addressed the St. Johns River Water Management District permit, reclaimed water usage from Lake Apopka, and contingency plans involving well water if reclaimed water is unavailable. He also covered lot sizing, sewer system design, and FDEP oversight.
    • Broecker asked about well usage and associated costs; Larino and Ashby responded.
    • Wadsworth asked about tank systems and water quality.
    • Arellano asked about easements; Ashby explained their placement and function.
    • Whidden raised concerns regarding pumping mechanisms and payment responsibilities — who pays to operate the system.
    • Public hearing: Darrin Mc Land (16634 Pine Timber Avenue) asked whether Osgood Road would be built, whether Kirkland Avenue would be fixed, and whether a wall would go around the community. Tom Vinton (17716 Virginia Circle) asked about a letter distributed by the Town and requested clarification. John Daggett (17718 Ninth Street) asked about fence lines, a road by his home, and tree preservation.

Public Hearings Summary

  • Number of speakers: 3 — Darrin Mc Land (16634 Pine Timber Avenue), Tom Vinton (17716 Virginia Circle), John Daggett (17718 Ninth Street).
  • General sentiment: Inquiring. No speaker opposed the final plan; none asked for denial.
  • Key concerns: Whether Osgood Road would actually be constructed and Kirkland Avenue repaired; whether the subdivision would be walled; fence lines and tree preservation on the boundary; and clarification of a letter the Town had distributed to residents about the project.

Key Signals

  • The 137-lot Osgood subdivision is fully entitled. Preliminary approval July 29, 2025; final development plan approval January 14, 2026 — 169 days, two meetings, both unanimous, zero recorded opposition. Combined with the 114-lot Montverde Estates approvals in November, Montverde's Planning & Zoning Board recommended 251 new single-family lots in six months in a town of roughly 2,000 people. At Lake County household sizes that is on the order of 600 new residents, or a ~30% population increase, moving through a five-member volunteer board.

  • Reclaimed water from Lake Apopka is the subdivision's design assumption, with well water as the fallback. Ashby's disclosure is the most consequential technical fact in the record: irrigation demand is planned against reclaimed water sourced from Lake Apopka under a St. Johns River Water Management District permit, with a contingency of well water if reclaimed is unavailable. The Town is simultaneously drilling a redundant Upper Floridan well and a new Lower Floridan well and updating its 10-year Water Supply Facilities Work Plan. If the reclaimed supply does not materialize, 137 homes fall back onto the aquifer the Town is already spending capital to secure.

  • The board asked who pays to run the water and sewer, and the answer is not in the minutes. Whidden raised "pumping mechanisms and payment responsibilities"; Broecker asked about well usage "and associated costs." Both questions go to the long-run operating burden of a private package plant and a reclaimed-water system in a town this size. The minutes record that responses were given and record none of them. For a buyer in this subdivision, the utility cost structure is the open question the public record does not close.

  • Residents asked whether the roads in the deal will actually get built. Mc Land asked directly whether Osgood Road would be built and Kirkland Avenue fixed. At the July 2025 preliminary hearing Larino disclosed the developers "agreed to make a financial contribution to the town to help fix roads," with no amount stated; 8th, 9th and Temple Streets were slated for widening to 24 feet with sidewalks on one side. Six months later the road commitments are still being asked about from the podium rather than read from a recorded agreement.

  • A full board, a 56-minute meeting, and a 137-lot final plan approved 5-0. This was the first meeting of the window with all five seats filled and present. It re-elected its chair without a competing nomination and then approved the largest subdivision in the town's modern record in under an hour. The Montverde pattern holds: the entitlement argument happens at the PUD and preliminary stages, and by the final plan the questions are about fences.

Raw Notes

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