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Meetings · Orlando

Orlando Board of Zoning Adjustment — June 23, 2026 minutes

City of Orlando Board of Zoning Adjustment — June 23, 2026

Meeting Overview

Type: Regular Meeting Quorum: Yes (9 of 9 members present — full board) Duration: 2:00 PM – 2:47 PM (47 minutes) Location: Orlando City Hall, Sustainability Conference Room, 400 S. Orange Ave. — not Council Chambers

Attendance

  • Present: Robert Slavens (Chairperson) [9/0], Jill Roberts (Vice Chairperson) [8/1], Keith Haugdahl [8/1], Carol Hendren [8/1], Hannah Hollinger [8/1] (via Zoom), Marc Ispass [8/1], Chad Linn [9/0], Minesh Patel [8/1], Shawn Straight [8/1]
  • Absent: None
  • Staff Present: Tim McClendon, Doug Metzger, Ed Petersen, Jim Burnett, Mark Cechman, Raquel Lozano, Richard Forbes, Sean Elordi (City Planning); John Groenendaal and Keith Grayson (Permitting Services); Melissa Clarke (City Attorney's Office); Amber Levesque and Casey Billings (City Clerk's Office). Mark Cechman, Executive Secretary; Ed Petersen, Recording Secretary.

Prior minutes: May 26, 2026 minutes approved as written (moved Hendren, seconded Roberts), unanimous voice vote 9-0.

Conflict declarations: Vice Chairperson Roberts on Item 5 (VAR2026-10026, 1215 Mount Vernon St.); Form 8B filed.

Public comments: A speaker request was received for Item 2 (1709 Ferris Ave.), which was moved to the Regular Agenda.

Agenda Items

Item 1: VAR2026-10016 — 1033 Montana St., Rear Deck Enclosure

  • Type: Variance (returned from May deferral)
  • Case Number: VAR2026-10016
  • Location: 1033 Montana St., north of Montana St., east and south of Wildred Dr., west of Lang Ave. (± 0.17 acres), District 3
  • Applicant: Stephen Wood, Wood Engineering LLC
  • Owner: Kent Matthes, KMC4 Capital LLC
  • Request: 12.5 ft. to allow a rear addition with a 7.5 ft. rear setback, where the minimum 20 ft. rear setback is required.
  • Staff Recommendation: Approve with conditions
  • Action: Approved (consent)
  • Vote: Included in the 9-0 consent motion
  • Notable Discussion: None recorded. The May version of this case sought a 4 ft. rear setback (16 ft. of relief) plus a 0.53 FAR variance; the FAR request did not return. Project planner Raquel Lozano.

Item 2: VAR2026-10023 — 1709 Ferris Ave., Second Driveway

  • Type: Variance (pulled to Regular Agenda)
  • Case Number: VAR2026-10023
  • Location: 1709 Ferris Ave., north of Virginia Dr., south of S. Lake Formosa Dr., west of Dauphin Ln., east of Ferris Ave. (± 0.4 acres), District 3
  • Applicant/Owner: Katherine Skrobiak
  • Request: Allow a second, unconnected driveway on a 100 ft. wide property, where two driveways are required to be connected.
  • Staff Recommendation: Approve, subject to the conditions in the staff report and addendum
  • Action: Approved with a modified condition
  • Vote: 9-0 unanimous voice vote (moved Straight, seconded Hendren)
  • Conditions: Staff-report conditions and addendum, with one condition rewritten on the dais: "The applicant shall obtain all required permits and approvals, including the City Engineer, related to the paving of the secondary driveway that the first 15 ft. of the new, secondary driveway must be paved (Engineering Standards Manual, 5th Edition, Section 8.11(E)(6)(a))."
  • Notable Discussion:
    • Sean Elordi presented, noting staff supported the request but could not waive the paving requirement because it sits in the Engineering Standards Manual, not the Land Development Code.
    • Kathleen Skrobiak thanked staff and asked whether the condition could be removed, saying the material in question was not "loose gravel" but of commercial-grade quality with no evidence of harm, and that the previously installed bricks were deteriorating.
    • Assistant City Attorney Stacy Fallon noted the BZA is not permitted to waive Engineering Standards Manual requirements.
    • Keith Grayson, Assistant Division Manager of Permitting Services, stated no permit had been pulled for this project, and that had one been requested in advance it would not have been approved as constructed. Only the City Engineer can grant relief from those requirements.

Item 3: VAR2026-10024 — 9917 Red Clover Ave., Driveway & ISR

  • Type: Variance (two requests, split staff recommendation)
  • Case Number: VAR2026-10024
  • Location: 9917 Red Clover Ave., north of Red Clover Ave., south of Teaberry Ct., west of Lupine Ave. (± 0.1 acres), District 1
  • Applicant/Owner: Miguel & Awilda Rondan
  • Request: (A) 14.5% to allow a front yard impervious surface ratio of 54.5%, where 40% is the maximum; (B) 6 ft. to allow a driveway width of 24 ft., where 18 ft. is the maximum.
  • Staff Recommendation: (A) Approve with conditions; (B) Deny
  • Action: Split — (A) approved, (B) denied, as recommended
  • Vote: Included in the 9-0 consent motion, which adopted the staff recommendations as written
  • Notable Discussion: None recorded. Project planner Sean Elordi.

Item 4: VAR2026-10025 — 128 E. Evans St., Garage Street Setback

  • Type: Variance
  • Case Number: VAR2026-10025
  • Location: 128 E. Evans St., north of E. King St., east of Interstate 4, south of E. Hazel St., west of Formosa Ave. (± 0.17 acres), District 3
  • Applicant: Brendan Goudy, Maximum Design Build
  • Owner: Lance Jung
  • Request: 5 ft. to allow a 15 ft. street side yard setback for a detached garage, where 20 ft. is required.
  • Staff Recommendation: Approve with conditions
  • Action: Approved (consent)
  • Vote: Included in the 9-0 consent motion
  • Notable Discussion: None recorded. Project planner Raquel Lozano.

Item 5: VAR2026-10026 — 1215 Mount Vernon St., Impervious Surface and Parking Buffers

  • Type: Variance (commercial)
  • Case Number: VAR2026-10026
  • Location: 1215 Mount Vernon St., east of N. Mills Ave. and west of Shine Ave., south of E. Colonial Dr. (± 0.16 acres), District 4
  • Applicant/Owner: Itay Guy, SGC Holdings USA 22, LLC
  • Request: (A) 5.5% to allow a 75.5% impervious surface ratio where a maximum 70% is allowed in the O-1/T district; (B) 4.5 ft. to allow reduced 3 ft. rear, east and west landscape buffers next to the rear parking lot, where a minimum 7.5 ft. buffer is required.
  • Current Zoning: O-1/T (Office, Traditional City overlay)
  • Staff Recommendation: Approve with conditions
  • Action: Approved (consent)
  • Vote: Included in the 9-0 consent motion; Vice Chairperson Roberts declared a conflict and filed Form 8B on this item
  • Notable Discussion: None recorded. Project planner Jim Burnett.

Item 6: VAR2026-10027 — 744 Buckminster Cir., Rear Addition Setbacks

  • Type: Variance
  • Case Number: VAR2026-10027
  • Location: 744 Buckminster Cir., northeast corner of S. Bumby Ave. and Buckminster Cir. (± 0.2 acres), District 4
  • Applicant/Owner: Meera McKie
  • Request: 12 ft. to allow a rear addition with a 13 ft. setback from the rear property line, where 25 ft. is required.
  • Staff Recommendation: Approve with conditions
  • Action: Approved (consent)
  • Vote: Included in the 9-0 consent motion
  • Notable Discussion: None recorded. Project planner Laura Eng.

Consent motion: Board member Straight moved approval of the Consent Agenda subject to the conditions in the staff reports; Board member Hendren seconded; passed by unanimous voice vote (9-0).

Old/New Business & Announcements:

  • Recording Secretary Petersen reminded members that Financial Disclosure Forms are due to the Supervisor of Elections by July 1, 2026.
  • Executive Secretary Mark Cechman stated that this would be his final meeting serving in that capacity. Tim McClendon, Assistant Planning Division Manager, would fill the role in subsequent meetings.

Public Hearings Summary

  • Number of speakers: 1 — Kathleen Skrobiak, the applicant on Item 2, appearing on her own behalf.
  • General sentiment: No opposition recorded on any item. The sole speaker was an applicant contesting a staff condition rather than a neighbor contesting a variance.
  • Key concerns: Whether the BZA can waive a requirement drawn from the Engineering Standards Manual. Staff, the City Attorney's office and Permitting Services all told the board it cannot.

Key Signals

  • The board was told, on the record, where its authority stops — and the boundary is the Engineering Standards Manual. Staff, Assistant City Attorney Stacy Fallon and Permitting Services all confirmed the BZA cannot waive ESM Section 8.11(E)(6)(a); only the City Engineer can. The board approved the variance and rewrote the condition to route the applicant to the City Engineer instead. For anyone planning work in Orlando, this is the durable lesson: setbacks and ISR are negotiable at a public board, but paving specifications, drainage and grading standards are decided administratively by an engineer with no public hearing.

  • A driveway was built, no permit was pulled, and the case reached the board anyway. Keith Grayson stated flatly that no permit had been pulled for the second driveway and that, had one been sought in advance, it would not have been approved as constructed. The variance still passed 9-0. Building first and seeking relief afterward carries no penalty at this board beyond a condition requiring the work be brought into compliance — which is the same outcome as applying properly, minus the wait.

  • Staff split its own recommendation on one case and the board adopted both halves without comment. At 9917 Red Clover Ave. staff recommended approving a 54.5% front-yard ISR and denying a 24-foot driveway width. Both dispositions rode the same 9-0 consent motion. This is the clearest evidence in the window of what the consent calendar actually is: the board is voting to adopt the staff report, including its denials. In six consecutive meetings, February through July, the BZA did not depart from a staff recommended outcome on a single case.

  • Orlando's variance board met in a conference room. June 23 was held in the Sustainability Conference Room rather than City Council Chambers — the only meeting in the window not in Chambers, and it was also the meeting at which the board handled a full nine-member roster and a 47-minute agenda. The room change is not explained in the minutes. Meetings held outside Chambers typically lose the broadcast feed; anyone relying on video for this board's record should check availability for this date.

  • The BZA changed Executive Secretaries mid-cycle. Mark Cechman announced June 23 as his last meeting in the role, with Tim McClendon taking over from July. The Executive Secretary sets the consent agenda and frames the recommendations that this board adopts without departure. A change in that seat is the highest-leverage personnel change on a board whose votes track staff recommendations exactly, and it lands one month before two long-serving members' terms end and chair elections are held.

Raw Notes

  • Access provenance: Laserfiche Cloud public portal, City Clerk repository r-b158fc8c. Direct PDF: https://portal.laserfiche.com/Portal/ElectronicFile.aspx?docid=1104928&repo=r-b158fc8c (10 pages). Pages 1–7 carry born-digital text; pages 8–10 are scanned images (Form 8B conflict disclosure) and were not transcribed.
  • Format change. June 23 is the first BZA meeting written on the redesigned template — a "Meeting Information" block replaces the left-rail column, and the boilerplate "NOTE: All of the approved cases are subject to the additional following conditions" block with its five standing conditions is dropped from the body of the minutes. The MPB adopted the same template one week earlier, on June 16.
  • Unlike the MPB, the BZA retained the bracketed per-member attendance counters in the new template.
  • The applicant is named "Katherine Skrobiak" in the case heading and "Kathleen Skrobiak" in the testimony paragraph of the same document.
  • Assistant City Attorney Stacy Fallon is quoted in the body but does not appear in the Staff Present list, which names Melissa Clarke from the City Attorney's Office.
  • Hollinger participated via Zoom; all nine members were recorded present.
  • Adjournment 2:47 PM. Attested by Mark Cechman, Executive Secretary, and Ed Petersen, Recording Secretary.

Connected records

1 connected record

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