Meeting Overview

Type: Regular Meeting Time: August 19, 2026, 10:00 AM Location: City Hall Board Room Record: The agenda and the 153-page agenda packet. The minutes of this meeting are not in the corpus, so actions, votes and discussion are not recorded here. Staff recommendations, site data and review comments below come from the staff reports and correspondence in the packet.

Agenda Items

Item V.a: Waterman Early Learning Academy, Site Plan (SP26-06Minor)

Type: Site Plan
Case Number: SP26-06Minor, 2nd Review
Location: 1303 Limit Avenue; Parcel ID 20-19-27-0004-000-02200 (Alternate Key 3310306)
Applicant: John Stover, Waterman Early Learning Academy (applicant); Florida Material Alliance, Inc. (owner); David Clutts, P.E., Civil Engineering Solutions, Inc. (engineer)
Request: Convert the existing 5,884-square-foot, one-story office building into a child day care center "along with a playground area, restriped parking, new on-site drainage swales and retention areas, and a solid waste enclosure." Conditional Use Permit CUP 25-01 allows the use for a maximum enrollment of 60 students and 11 employees.
Current Zoning: Office Professional (OP); Future Land Use: Office; Overlay: Northeast Community Redevelopment Area
Proposed Zoning: No change
Acreage: 3.56 +/- acres (155,202 square feet), per the staff report
Staff Recommendation: "Staff recommends approval of the application as presented." (Michele Janiszewski, AICP, Deputy Planning Director)
Notable Discussion (from the staff report):
- Sewer. "It was determined by the Development Review Committee the property may continue to utilize the existing 4" sewer lateral, whereas it was previously a condition of approval for the child day care use to upgrade the existing line to a 6" sewer lateral." The 6-inch lateral "will be reviewed and may be required" when the conditional use "seeks to expand capacity through increased enrollment or change of use."
- Traffic study. The engineer's exemption letter puts the use at 224 daily trips and 47 PM peak hour trips, and "net new 37 AM Peak hour and 34 PM Peak hour trips, compared to the existing office use." The report quotes the City's 2008 guidelines: a project generating "twenty-six (26) or more" net new peak hour trips "will require the preparation of a TIS," and "Exemptions are given at the discretion of the local government." "The DRC has accepted the Applicant's request for exemption."
- Right-of-way. The application went to Lake County Development Review for comment on right-of-way dedication: "No response has been provided from Lake County." The engineer updated the plans to show the area to be dedicated.
- Turns. The site plan adds a placard reading "Right-Turn Only From 6AM – 9AM and 4PM to 7PM" below the existing stop sign approaching Limit Avenue.
- Landscaping. Existing vegetation documented as sufficient for buffers; a four-foot black decorative aluminum fence around the playground; no trees proposed for removal.
- Surroundings. C-3 land with an approved hotel under construction to the north and east; R-3 single-family homes to the south; a medical recovery treatment use to the west.

Item V.b: Loch Leven Park Amenity Center, Site Plan (SP25-09)

Type: Site Plan (minor deviation within a PUD)
Case Number: SP25-09. The agenda lists it as "Fourth Review"; the staff report in the same packet is headed "Third Review."
Location: Meadenhall Boulevard (the agenda lists the address as "XXX Meadenhall Boulevard"); Parcel ID 17-19-27-0020-0OS-00002, Tract OS-2 of the Loch Levan Park Subdivision, Plat Book 85, Page 23
Applicant: Rick Ortiz, Poulos & Bennett, LLC (applicant); Loch Leven Park, HOA, Inc. (owner); American Surveying and Mapping, Inc. (surveyor)
Request: Build a community pool and restroom on a vacant common open space tract; the site plan "shows a pool, bathroom facility, ADA parking space, landscaping around the tract, and a 4' fence around the tract."
Current Zoning: PUD, Ordinance 2022-02 (Loch Levan Village PUD); Future Land Use: Medium Density
Proposed Zoning: No change
Acreage: 0.21 acres
Staff Recommendation: "Staff recommends approval of the application as presented." A July 29, 2026 memo in the same packet had recommended "tabling the application to address outstanding DRC and engineering comments."
Notable Discussion (from the packet):
- The original construction plans showed Tract OS-2 as "common open space" with no improvements. Staff read the Land Development Code definition, which says common open space "may contain such structures and improvements as are desirable and appropriate for the common benefit and enjoyment of residents," and found the use consistent.
- The subdivision "was approved for fee-simple townhomes and the buildings are currently under construction."
- Public Works comments include: "The pool system is prohibited from connecting to the stormwater system," and a note that the erosion control sheet "Refers to Orange County while the site is in Lake County."
- Surroundings: unincorporated Lake County (AG) to the north, a City PUD across Meadenhall Boulevard and wetlands to the south, the City of Eustis to the east, and the State Road 44 right-of-way to the west.

Item VI.a: Discussion, Mount Dora North and South / Richland

Type: Other (staff update and discussion)
Request: Listed on the agenda only as "Discussion: Mount Dora North and South / Richland." The packet carries no backup material for this item.
Staff Recommendation: None (discussion item)

Public Hearings Summary

The agenda carries the standing "Public Participation/hearing of non-agenda items" slot. Speakers and discussion are in the minutes, which the corpus does not hold.

Key Signals

A day care's sewer condition was lifted before it opened. The Commission approved CUP 25-01 for the 60-student academy 7-0 on June 17, 2026, when the minutes recorded "Discussion on the number of students is based on wastewater capacity." The Development Review Committee has since let the site keep its 4-inch sewer lateral in place of the 6-inch upgrade that was a condition of approval, and moved the upgrade to any later request to expand enrollment or change the use.
The traffic study was waived by discretion. The applicant's own figures (37 AM and 34 PM net new peak hour trips) exceed the guidelines' 26-trip threshold for a study; the guidelines also say exemptions "are given at the discretion of the local government," and the Development Review Committee accepted this one.
Staff moved from tabling to approval on Loch Leven in three weeks. The July 29 memo to the Development Review Committee recommended tabling for outstanding comments; the August 19 staff report to the Commission recommends approval as presented, with no conditions listed.
Richland is on the agenda with no backup. In March 2025 staff told the board that Mount Dora North/South (Richland) was not on the committed capacity list and that staff had asked the applicant for a phasing plan. The August 19 agenda lists a discussion of the project; the packet carries nothing for it.

Raw Notes

Source files. CivicClerk tenant mountdorafl, event 2380: the Agenda (1 page) and the Agenda Packet (153 pages), both native text. The July 15, 2026 minutes open the packet; the corpus holds them as their own record (2026-07-meeting-PZC.md).
Date errors in the source. The Loch Leven staff report is dated "August 19, 206" and its page headers read "August 19, 2029."
Spelling in the source. "Loch Levan" in the PUD ordinance and plat references, "Loch Leven" elsewhere; "Meadenhall Boulevard" and "Meadanhall Blvd" both appear.
Waterman acreage. The staff report states 3.56 acres. In the engineer's response to review comments, the site area net of the apparent right-of-way is 3.391 acres (147,702 square feet); the review comment cites the Property Appraiser at 3.358 acres.
The agenda header lists plandev@cityofmountdora.com; the staff reports use Planning@mountdora.gov.
Next meeting announced on the agenda: September 16, 2026 at 10:00 a.m.

Mount Dora Planning and Zoning Commission, August 19, 2026 agenda