What were the most significant items on the Ocoee Planning & Zoning Commission agenda for January 2026?

Meeting Reading

Ocoee Planning & Zoning Commission

January 13, 2026

3 items on the agenda

**Two Ocoee staff transitions in two months — Whitfield's departure to Alachua MPO + the Building Official's death.** The January 13 status report disclosed Development Services Deputy Director Whitfield's departure to Gainesville's MPO (Alachua County), AND the City's Building Official passed away in December 2025. The Deputy Building Official is in the process of obtaining licensure; Universal Engineering provides services under contract. Combined with the March 10 introduction of new Development Services Director Nick Lepp, three staff transitions inside three months — significant institutional churn during the SR-429 corridor's substantive cycle. The pattern parallels Groveland's Anita Geraci-Carver departure (April 2026, mid-EAR cycle) and Winter Garden's three-attorney rotation (Ardaman / Langley / Geller across six months) — multiple SR-429 / South Lake corridor cities are experiencing planning-staff transitions in the same window.
**Daka Property continuance preserves the case for a future hearing — second appearance of the SR-429 / Lakewood corridor in the corpus.** The 8801 Hackney Prairie Rd parcel is not on SR-429 but is in the same northern Ocoee zone where the December 2025 Barragan Property (SR-429 Overlay) was approved and the March 2026 1460 N. Lakewood PUD was approved 3-1. The continuance to "future date uncertain" leaves the case open without binding the board to a return date — procedurally distinct from a definite continuance. Watch the case's return; the small (1.99-acre) single-family annexation is the lowest-friction case in the cluster.
**Walmart Neighborhood Market in final site plan review at Ocoee Village Center.** A grocery anchor's pad-readiness preparation at Ocoee Village Center is the corpus's first signal of grocery-anchored retail moving through Ocoee's pipeline. Combined with the Dynasty project status update and Shoppes on the Bluff awaiting engineering plans, Ocoee's commercial pipeline is loaded — distinct from the Apopka cycle (which is dominated by residential annexations) and the Winter Garden cycle (which is variance-heavy).

On January 13, 2026, City of Ocoee's Planning & Zoning Commission considered 3 agenda items. **Two Ocoee staff transitions in two months — Whitfield's departure to Alachua MPO + the Building Official's death.** The January 13 status report disclosed Development Services Deputy Director Whitfield's departure to Gainesville's MPO (Alachua County), AND the City's Building Official passed away in December 2025. The Deputy Building Official is in the process of obtaining licensure; Universal Engineering provides services under contract. Combined with the March 10 introduction of new Development Services Director Nick Lepp, three staff transitions inside three months — significant institutional churn during the SR-429 corridor's substantive cycle. The pattern parallels Groveland's Anita Geraci-Carver departure (April 2026, mid-EAR cycle) and Winter Garden's three-attorney rotation (Ardaman / Langley / Geller across six months) — multiple SR-429 / South Lake corridor cities are experiencing planning-staff transitions in the same window. **Daka Property continuance preserves the case for a future hearing — second appearance of the SR-429 / Lakewood corridor in the corpus.** The 8801 Hackney Prairie Rd parcel is not on SR-429 but is in the same northern Ocoee zone where the December 2025 Barragan Property (SR-429 Overlay) was approved and the March 2026 1460 N. Lakewood PUD was approved 3-1. The continuance to "future date uncertain" leaves the case open without binding the board to a return date — procedurally distinct from a definite continuance. Watch the case's return; the small (1.99-acre) single-family annexation is the lowest-friction case in the cluster. **Walmart Neighborhood Market in final site plan review at Ocoee Village Center.** A grocery anchor's pad-readiness preparation at Ocoee Village Center is the corpus's first signal of grocery-anchored retail moving through Ocoee's pipeline. Combined with the Dynasty project status update and Shoppes on the Bluff awaiting engineering plans, Ocoee's commercial pipeline is loaded — distinct from the Apopka cycle (which is dominated by residential annexations) and the Winter Garden cycle (which is variance-heavy).

CHANGE LENS

THE READINGmeeting record

City of Ocoee Planning & Zoning Commission — January 13, 2026

Meeting Overview

Type: Regular Meeting (acting as Local Planning Agency) Quorum: Yes Duration: 10 minutes (called 6:15 PM, adjourned 6:25 PM)

Attendance

Present: Chair Lomneck, Vice-Chair Forges, Member Keller, Member Chacon (arrived 6:19 PM), Alternate Member Butler
Absent: Member Galvan
Staff Present: Assistant City Manager Rumer; Board Attorney Johnson; Recording Clerk Justice

Agenda Items

Consent: Minutes of December 9, 2025

Action: Approved
Vote: 4-0 (motion by Keller, second by Butler; Chacon and Galvan absent at vote time)

Item 1: 8801 Hackney Prairie Rd — Daka Property Annexation & Rezoning

Type: Annexation + Rezoning (AX-11-25-08 / RZ-25-11-08)
Location: 8801 Hackney Prairie Rd (Commission District 4); approximately 0.6 miles east of N. Clarke Road / Hackney Prairie Road intersection
Applicant: Joseph Daka (owner-applicant)
Acreage: 1.99 +/- acres
Current Zoning: Orange County A-1 (Citrus Rural District)
Proposed Zoning: City of Ocoee R-1A (Single-Family Dwelling District)
Current FLU: Low Density Residential (5 du/acre) — remains LDR
Use: Single-family residential (existing)
Action: Continued to a future date uncertain
Vote: 4-0 (motion by Keller, second by Butler)
Notable Discussion: Annexation Feasibility Analysis Report attached; staff identified property as eligible for enclave reduction — bordered on north, south, west by city limits. Staff supported annexation. The continuance was not contested.

Project Status Updates (Miscellaneous)

Assistant City Manager Rumer reported:

Development Services Deputy Director Whitfield accepted a position with the Alachua County Metropolitan Planning Organization (Gainesville) — staff transition
Ocoee Village Center Walmart Neighborhood Market: in final site plan review; developer realigning Westbridge Court, constructing Banyan Cove Boulevard, preparing grocery pad
Commercial development anticipated soon on the north side of Ocoee Village Center near the apartment complex
The Dynasty project: progress expected
Shoppes on the Bluff (Clarcona-Ocoee Road / Clarke Road): awaiting developer's engineering plan return
O2B Kids daycare HVAC fence: will be inspected; PVC required to replace wood
Cambria Hotel: within City Center West Orange CDD; developer coordinating
The City's Building Official passed away in December. Deputy Building Official is in the process of obtaining licensure; Universal Engineering working under contract for Building Official services
Board member terms expiring in June 2026 discussed

Public Hearings Summary

Number of speakers: 0 in chambers
General sentiment: No public engagement
Key concerns: None

Key Signals

Two Ocoee staff transitions in two months — Whitfield's departure to Alachua MPO + the Building Official's death. The January 13 status report disclosed Development Services Deputy Director Whitfield's departure to Gainesville's MPO (Alachua County), AND the City's Building Official passed away in December 2025. The Deputy Building Official is in the process of obtaining licensure; Universal Engineering provides services under contract. Combined with the March 10 introduction of new Development Services Director Nick Lepp, three staff transitions inside three months — significant institutional churn during the SR-429 corridor's substantive cycle. The pattern parallels Groveland's Anita Geraci-Carver departure (April 2026, mid-EAR cycle) and Winter Garden's three-attorney rotation (Ardaman / Langley / Geller across six months) — multiple SR-429 / South Lake corridor cities are experiencing planning-staff transitions in the same window.
Daka Property continuance preserves the case for a future hearing — second appearance of the SR-429 / Lakewood corridor in the corpus. The 8801 Hackney Prairie Rd parcel is not on SR-429 but is in the same northern Ocoee zone where the December 2025 Barragan Property (SR-429 Overlay) was approved and the March 2026 1460 N. Lakewood PUD was approved 3-1. The continuance to "future date uncertain" leaves the case open without binding the board to a return date — procedurally distinct from a definite continuance. Watch the case's return; the small (1.99-acre) single-family annexation is the lowest-friction case in the cluster.
Walmart Neighborhood Market in final site plan review at Ocoee Village Center. A grocery anchor's pad-readiness preparation at Ocoee Village Center is the corpus's first signal of grocery-anchored retail moving through Ocoee's pipeline. Combined with the Dynasty project status update and Shoppes on the Bluff awaiting engineering plans, Ocoee's commercial pipeline is loaded — distinct from the Apopka cycle (which is dominated by residential annexations) and the Winter Garden cycle (which is variance-heavy).
Cambria Hotel within City Center West Orange CDD — the corridor's first explicit CDD-coordination signal in Ocoee. Community Development Districts are the special-district mechanism that often carries form-based design standards in Florida — referenced in the mission briefing's Horizon West connection. The Cambria Hotel's CDD coordination is the corridor's first signal that CDD-level governance is shaping individual project timing in Ocoee.

Raw Notes

Source: Ocoee CivicClerk tenant ocoeefl, agenda ID 533 (event 595). The standalone Minutes PDF is a scanned image; minutes content reconstructed from the embedded Minutes section in the March 10 2026 agenda packet (page 2 of 68). The February 10, 2026 meeting was canceled, so January 13 → March 10 is the next-meeting cadence. Member Galvan was absent at this meeting and was the swing vote at March 10 on the Lakewood PUD rezoning — different absences across the cycle shape the bloc-formation question.