City of Winter Garden Planning and Zoning Board — July 7, 2025

Meeting Overview

Type: Regular Meeting Quorum: Yes (5 of 7 members present) Duration: 102 minutes (6:33 p.m. – 8:15 p.m.) — the longest P&Z meeting in the 2025 record

Attendance

• Present: Chairman Will Hawthorne, Co-Chairman Steve Ambielli, Linda Bennett, Jeff Ewing, Mark Hide
• Absent: Myron Brown (excused), Jimmy Dunn (excused)
• Staff Present: City Attorney Kurt Ardaman; Planning Director Kelly Carson; Planning Supervisor Shane Friedman; Senior Planner Yvonne Conatser; Planner I Amber McDonald; Recording Secretary Ellen King
• Other Attendees (public sign-in): John W Gibbs (10505 Down Lakeview Cir); Allison Painter (393 N Lakeview Ave); Quang Lam (Lam Civil Engineering Inc); Vladimir Kadatskiy (Avior Holdings); Beverly Thornton (145 N Highland Ave); Sara Farese (361 N Boyd St); Angela Johnson Trapp (1345 Avalon Rd); Sharon Williams (Exchange Place); Nick Nicola and Nathan Carney (Winter Garden Pet Resort); Tim Berkebile and R. Conner (Faith Family Community Church); Tiago Azevedo (1204 Avalon Rd); Daniel Siplin (1422 Avalon Rd); Shawn Dennis and Kelly Miller (J&J Building); Melissa Stump (First United Methodist Church); Shazad Nesaralli (Solomon Auto Body); Jim & Jeanie Rahman (153 Apopka St); Luis Santana (85 N Boyd St); Taylor Brigham (230 N Boyd St)

Agenda Items

Item 2: Approval of Minutes — June 2, 2025

• Type: Other (procedural)
• Action: Approved
• Vote: Unanimous 5-0 (motion by Ewing, second by Ambielli)

Item 3.A: 1150, 1158, 1166 & 1204 Avalon Road — Annexation, Future Land Use Amendment & Rezoning

• Type: Annexation + Comp Plan (FLU) Amendment + Rezoning (public hearing) — Ordinances 25-18, 25-19, 25-20
• Location: 1150, 1158, 1166 and 1204 Avalon Road (Parcel IDs 28-22-27-0000-00-036, -022, -021, -032)
• Request: Annex four Avalon Road parcels, amend the future land use map, and rezone to C-3 (Professional Office District)
• Current Zoning: Orange County (property to the south is Orange County A-1)
• Proposed Zoning: C-3 (Professional Office District)
• Staff Recommendation: Approve Ordinances 25-18, 25-19 and 25-20 (presented by Senior Planner Conatser)
• Action: Approved
• Vote: Unanimous 5-0 (motion by Hide, second by Ewing)
• Notable Discussion: The board asked about the zoning to the south and what C-3 permits; staff described low-volume professional uses such as real estate and law offices. Dan Siplin (1422 Avalon Rd) raised traffic impact. Staff answered that the City of Winter Garden had recently taken control of Avalon Road from Orange County, that critical State Road 50 improvements are now within the city's power to complete, that rezoning to C-3 rather than C-2 generates less traffic for the use, and that a traffic study will be reviewed at site plan submittal.

Item 3.B: 14451, 14423, 14411, 14375 & 14345 W Colonial Drive (Solomon's Auto Body) — PCD Rezoning

• Type: Rezoning to Planned Commercial Development (public hearing) — Ordinance 25-13
• Location: 14451, 14423, 14411, 14375 and 14345 W Colonial Drive (Parcel IDs 22-22-27-0000-00-075, -070, -056, -057, -034)
• Applicant: Shazad Nesaralli (Solomon Auto Body)
• Request: Rezone five W Colonial Drive parcels to PCD to permit four commercial buildings totaling 46,432 sq ft — retail/office/restaurant in three buildings, with Building 100 occupied by Solomon Auto Body repair
• Current Zoning: C-2 (Arterial Commercial District), within the West State Road 50 Overlay
• Proposed Zoning: PCD (Planned Commercial Development)
• Staff Recommendation: Approve Ordinance 25-13 (presented by Planning Supervisor Friedman)
• Action: Approved
• Vote: Unanimous 5-0 (motion by Hawthorne, second by Hide)
• Notable Discussion: The board asked whether auto body is an allowable use and whether the PCD vests the right to it. Staff explained that under C-2 in the West SR-50 Overlay any auto service or sales requires a Special Exception; this business has operated on the property for a long time with a Special Exception only for an interior paint booth; and that only Building 100 will be vested for auto body use, including for future tenants of that building. The building was pulled forward on the site so vehicle parking sits behind it and screens cars being worked on; outdoor storage of vehicles elsewhere would draw Code Enforcement.

Item 4.A: 775 Garden Commerce Parkway, Suite D (Winter Garden Pet Resort) — Special Exception

• Type: Special Exception Permit (public hearing)
• Location: 775 Garden Commerce Parkway, Suite D — property address per OCPA is 761 Garden Commerce Parkway (Parcel ID 24-22-27-9387-23-000)
• Applicant: Winter Garden Pet Resort (Nick Nicola, Nathan Carney); property owner Exchange Place (Sharon Williams, CEO)
• Request: Dog boarding facility with daycare and grooming, entirely indoor except a 630 sq ft fenced grass dog run along the rear east side of the building
• Staff Recommendation: Deny — the requested use is not listed as a possible special-exception use under PID Ordinance 13-42 (presented by Planning Director Carson)
• Action: Tabled
• Vote: Unanimous 5-0 to table (motion by Bennett, second by Hide)
• Notable Discussion: The owner's representative argued the pet resort could be classified as a storage use under the PID based on legal precedents, asked staff to process it as storage or as a Special Exception, presented neighboring-tenant support letters, and described Exchange Place as an employee-owned development company headquartered in Winter Garden wanting business diversification in the park. The business owners described sound insulation, secured fencing, no outdoor kennels, and pet-care facilities operating in other cities' and counties' industrial areas. Staff noted an outdoor dog run would be consistent with other Winter Garden pet-care facilities. Board members objected that dog boarding is not allowed in the PID, disliked the dog-run layout, rejected the storage classification, and said they do not like forcing an issue to make it work; discussion turned to amending the PID. Asked whether they preferred denial or tabling, the applicants cited hardship and chose tabling.

Item 4.B: 305 Beulah Road (Winter Garden Christian Academy) — Special Exception Renewal

• Type: Special Exception Permit renewal (public hearing)
• Location: 305 Beulah Road (Parcel ID 25-22-27-0000-00-013)
• Applicant: Winter Garden Christian Academy
• Request: Renew the school-use Special Exception, increasing enrollment from 60 to 90 students and extending the grade level to 6th grade
• Staff Recommendation: Approve with conditions (presented by Senior Planner Conatser)
• Action: Approved
• Vote: Unanimous 5-0 (motion by Hide, second by Ewing)
• Conditions: Subject to staff conditions
• Notable Discussion: The board asked about on-site capacity for additional students and whether the Special Exception carries a time limit. Staff had no site concerns and confirmed no time limit, but that another Special Exception would be required if the school later seeks more students.

Item 5.A: 99 N Boyd Street (Gibbs Residence) — Variance

• Type: Variance (public hearing) — Winter Garden Historic Downtown District Overlay Area
• Location: 99 N Boyd Street (Parcel ID 14-22-27-5656-00-691)
• Applicant: John W. Gibbs (owner); presented in part by Kelly Miller (J&J Building) on behalf of Michael Morrisey
• Request: 10 ft rear-yard setback in lieu of the required 25 ft, and an attached garage in lieu of the required detached garage, for a new two-story single-family structure of approximately 4,800 sq ft (3,592 sq ft under air)
• Current Zoning: R-2, within the Historic Downtown District Overlay
• Staff Recommendation: Deny (presented by Planning Director Carson)
• Action: Tabled to a date uncertain
• Vote: Unanimous 5-0 to table (motion by Hawthorne, second by Ambielli)
• Notable Discussion: Chairman Hawthorne disclosed on the record that the architectural consultant had contacted him about the project's history and status. Staff's stated concerns: a sub-standard lot under R-2 conditions in the Historic Downtown District; a proposed home significantly larger in scale than the adjacent single-family home to the south; impervious ratio at the edge (49.1% including 50% of the driveway counted as pervious); stormwater requirements; and a structure too large to leave room for a compliant detached garage. Allison Painter (393 N Lakeview Ave) opposed the size and the attached garage in the historic district and warned about precedent. Beverly Thornton (145 N Highland Ave) opposed and said if the city agrees, the city should change its guidelines. Taylor Brigham (230 N Boyd St) raised area drainage and wanted a smaller home. Sara Farese (361 N Boyd St) asked about the three-car garage, drainage handling, and how the impervious ratio holds. Luis Santana (tenant, 85 N Boyd St) had no issue and said the owner would provide a supportive letter. Staff confirmed the R-2 minimum standard lot is 75 ft by 100 ft, knew of no one-to-one precedent, and cited historic code requiring new construction to be compatible with the size and scale of the property, neighborhood and immediate environment. The Architectural Review and Historic Preservation Board (ARHPB) had not yet reviewed the project; it was scheduled for the ARHPB's July 15, 2025 agenda. The board asked the applicants to go to ARHPB first and have the city engineer review the impervious calculations; the applicants agreed.

Public Hearings Summary

• Number of speakers: 6 (Siplin; Painter; Thornton; Brigham; Farese; Santana), plus applicant-side presentations from Williams, Nicola, Carney, Gibbs and Miller
• General sentiment: Opposed on the 99 N Boyd Street historic-district variance; neutral to supportive elsewhere
• Key concerns: Traffic impact from the Avalon Road commercial annexation; the scale and precedent of a 4,800 sq ft home with an attached garage inside the Historic Downtown District; drainage and impervious coverage on N Boyd Street.

Key Signals

• The Pet Resort denial is the origin point of the Garden Commerce Parkway PID-to-PCD conversion. Staff recommended denial because dog boarding simply is not on the special-exception list in PID Ordinance 13-42, and the board refused both the storage-use workaround and the layout — then opened a discussion about amending the PID. Eight months later, on March 2, 2026, this board approves Ordinances 26-06 and 26-07 converting four Garden Commerce Parkway parcels from PID to PCD. The July 2025 tabling is the pressure that produced the conversion: a closed industrial use list met a tenant market that had moved on, and the code changed rather than the market. Anyone tracking industrial-flex-to-commercial conversion in west Orange should read these two meetings as one event.
• Winter Garden took Avalon Road from Orange County, and the annexations followed immediately. Staff stated on the record that the city had recently assumed control of Avalon Road and that critical SR-50 improvements are now within the city's power. Four Avalon Road parcels annexed and rezoned to C-3 in the same breath. Road-jurisdiction transfer is the upstream event that makes the annexation legible — the city acquires the corridor, then acquires the frontage. Watch the remaining Orange County A-1 parcels south of the site.
• C-3 was chosen over C-2 explicitly as a trip-generation control. Staff told a concerned resident that rezoning to C-3 rather than C-2 "means less traffic generated for the use." That is zoning district selection deployed as a concurrency instrument at the entitlement stage, before any traffic study exists. It is the same move Winter Garden makes at a larger scale in May 2026, when Ordinance 26-16 welds an ERU water-consumption threshold into the I-1/I-2 use code. Capacity constraints are migrating into the use tables here rather than into conditions.
• The Historic Downtown District produced the only staff denial recommendation of the summer — and the board would not decide it. At 99 N Boyd Street, staff recommended denial on scale, impervious ratio and the detached-garage requirement; the board tabled to a date uncertain and sent the applicant to the ARHPB first. The historic core is where Winter Garden's variance discipline actually has teeth, and the detached-garage mandate is the specific pressure point. It resurfaces as the April 6, 2026 Cappleman accessory-structure code gap, as the May 2026 live-oak removal fight at 111 N Central, and finally as Ordinance 26-17 on June 1, 2026, which rewrites the accessory-structure and detached-garage provisions outright. A resident's line at this hearing — "if the city agrees to this request then maybe the city needs to change the guidelines" — describes what the city did eleven months later.
• A PCD is being used to vest a single legally awkward tenant in place. Solomon Auto Body has operated on W Colonial Drive under a Special Exception covering only an interior paint booth; the PCD rezoning vests Building 100 for auto body use for this and future tenants while three new buildings carry 46,432 sq ft of retail, office and restaurant around it. This is the West SR-50 Overlay's redevelopment pattern in miniature: legacy arterial auto uses get grandfathered into a planned envelope in exchange for bringing the rest of the frontage up to overlay standards.

Raw Notes

Chairman Hawthorne thanked Board Member Mark Hide for five years of service and announced it as Hide's last meeting. Hide moved or seconded five items that night. The seat sits vacant on August 4, 2025 and is filled by TJ Ryan in September 2025.

The minutes carry an Exhibit A — a presentation handout from John W. Gibbs, retired owner of Gibbs & Register, Inc., a heavy civil engineering and construction firm operating in Winter Garden for 25 years. The handout argues that few modern Winter Garden homes are built with detached garages, that the residence immediately east has a 3-foot setback, and that the previous structure on the site was a dilapidated home that had functioned for a time as an illegal drug manufacturing facility. A boundary survey (Targo Surveying, LLC, LB#7893) is appended. The handout is dated 07/09/25 despite the July 7 meeting date.

Kelly Miller of J&J Building appears here presenting for a third party — the same J&J Building that brings the 15373 SR-438 and 15359 E Oakland Avenue annexations in September 2025 and the Oakland Park Unit 5 PUD-to-PCD in March 2026. J&J's role in Winter Garden spans applicant, presenter and agent.

The meeting started three minutes late (6:33 p.m.) and ran 102 minutes — driven almost entirely by the Pet Resort and 99 N Boyd Street items, both of which ended in tablings rather than votes on the merits.

Source: standalone Minutes PDF (fileId 216), CivicClerk tenant wintergardenfl, agendaId 91 / event 311. Text extracted cleanly; Exhibit A pages are partially garbled scans of a handout and a survey.