What were the most significant items on the Winter Park Planning & Zoning Board agenda for September 2025?

Meeting Reading

Winter Park Planning & Zoning Board

September 2, 2025

3 items on the agenda

**The Winter Park Racquet Club CUP was tabled 7-0 with the explicit board determination that the proposal is "premature and requires significant redesign."** This is the meeting's seminal signal. Eleven speakers (10 opposed), a board that flatly told the applicant to remove the front parking lot or move the building closer to the street, and a unanimous vote to table. The friction is structural: PR (Parks and Recreation) zoning permits private clubs only as Conditional Uses, and the residential Via Tuscany neighborhood is asserting that "commercial appearance" violates the original 2015 rezoning intent. The conditions list (entrance-only driveway, podocarpus hedge, acoustic fence, membership cap, 8 PM closure) all survived the table — meaning when the project returns it returns into a constrained envelope.
**The 425 Alberta Drive lakefront approval used the **city-owned-parcel side** as the elastic setback dimension** — a creative use of adjacent ownership to relieve setback pressure. The 7.5-foot first-floor side setback was acceptable to the board because it faced city land rather than a private neighbor. This is a Winter Park-specific lakefront playbook: when a site has a city-owned adjacency, the setback flexibility goes that direction.
**Eleven public speakers on a single CUP item is unusually high for Winter Park PZB.** The Via Tuscany neighborhood organized substantively — that's not "the loudest neighbor of the week," that's an organized opposition. Seven of the speakers shared the "Via Tuscany" street-name signature; the rest came from adjacent streets. This level of mobilization on a single use change signals the kind of political-legibility a developer needs to model when entering Winter Park's residential-adjacent CUP territory.

On September 2, 2025, City of Winter Park's Planning & Zoning Board considered 3 agenda items. **The Winter Park Racquet Club CUP was tabled 7-0 with the explicit board determination that the proposal is "premature and requires significant redesign."** This is the meeting's seminal signal. Eleven speakers (10 opposed), a board that flatly told the applicant to remove the front parking lot or move the building closer to the street, and a unanimous vote to table. The friction is structural: PR (Parks and Recreation) zoning permits private clubs only as Conditional Uses, and the residential Via Tuscany neighborhood is asserting that "commercial appearance" violates the original 2015 rezoning intent. The conditions list (entrance-only driveway, podocarpus hedge, acoustic fence, membership cap, 8 PM closure) all survived the table — meaning when the project returns it returns into a constrained envelope. **The 425 Alberta Drive lakefront approval used the **city-owned-parcel side** as the elastic setback dimension** — a creative use of adjacent ownership to relieve setback pressure. The 7.5-foot first-floor side setback was acceptable to the board because it faced city land rather than a private neighbor. This is a Winter Park-specific lakefront playbook: when a site has a city-owned adjacency, the setback flexibility goes that direction. **Eleven public speakers on a single CUP item is unusually high for Winter Park PZB.** The Via Tuscany neighborhood organized substantively — that's not "the loudest neighbor of the week," that's an organized opposition. Seven of the speakers shared the "Via Tuscany" street-name signature; the rest came from adjacent streets. This level of mobilization on a single use change signals the kind of political-legibility a developer needs to model when entering Winter Park's residential-adjacent CUP territory.

CHANGE LENS

THE READINGmeeting record

City of Winter Park Planning & Zoning Board — September 2, 2025

Meeting Overview

Type: Regular Meeting Quorum: Yes (7 of 7 members present) Duration: Approximately 2 hours 18 minutes (5:02 PM – 7:20 PM)

Attendance

Present: Alex Stringfellow, David Bornstein, Jason Johnson, Bill Segal, Charles Steinberg, Michael Dick, Vashon Sarkisian
Absent: None
Staff Present: Director of Planning & Zoning Allison McGillis, Asst. Director of Planning & Zoning/Zoning Official John Harbilas, Planner II Nicholas Lewis, Planner I Corrinna Lundgren, Administrative Coordinator Mary Bush

Agenda Items

Item 1: SPR #25-12 — 1727 Lake Berry Drive Second-Story Addition (Tabled)

Type: Site Plan Review (Lakefront)
Case Number: SPR #25-12
Location: 1727 Lake Berry Drive
Applicant: James Hobson, S&W Kitchens
Request: 1,174-sq-ft second-story addition to existing single-family home (zoned PURD)
Action: Tabled to October 7, 2025 (at applicant's request)
Vote: Procedural (no opposition)
Notable Discussion: Applicant requested table to refine plans; would later be tabled again to November 4.

Item 2: SPR #25-10 — 425 Alberta Drive New Home (Lake Osceola)

Type: Site Plan Review (Lakefront)
Case Number: SPR #25-10
Location: 425 Alberta Drive, Lake Osceola
Applicant: Dillon Muto, Floridian Custom Homes
Request: Construct a new two-story 4,721 sq ft single-family home; reduced first-floor side setback (7.5 ft on the city-owned-parcel side, 14.3 ft on the neighbor side at closest corner) due to lake-curvature constraints
Current Zoning: R-1AAA
Staff Recommendation: Approve as presented
Action: Approved
Vote: 7-0 unanimous
Notable Discussion: Setback shifted toward adjacent city-owned parcel rather than the private neighbor. Two structures over 50 feet apart, ensuring no view conflict. No specimen trees removed; required FAR met; no stormwater impact. Adjacent neighbor questions about boathouse plans answered by applicant.

Item 3: CU #25-03 — Winter Park Racquet Club Building Replacement (Tabled)

Type: Conditional Use Permit
Case Number: CU #25-03
Location: 2011/2111 Via Tuscany (Winter Park Racquet Club property)
Applicant: Houseman Architecture (representative: Rob Carter, past president of WPRC)
Request: Demolish existing 5,421-sq-ft two-story residential-style building at the front of the property; construct a new one-story 6,300-sq-ft commercial-style facility with offices, tennis pro shop, locker rooms, and a 1,200-sq-ft fitness center; add 14 paved front parking spaces and a 23-space pervious overflow lot
Current Zoning: Parks and Recreation (PR) — private clubs permitted only as Conditional Uses
Staff Recommendation: Approve with seven conditions (entrance-only driveway, hedge maintenance, membership cap, operating hours 7 AM–8 PM, lighting controls, double-tree replacement)
Action: TABLED to October 7, 2025
Vote: 7-0 unanimous to table
Notable Discussion: Eleven public speakers — one in favor (Mick Night), ten opposed (Greenburg, two Petersons, Clayton, Render, Freeman, Medei, Mark/Blair Nichols, Schultz). Concerns: commercial appearance, large front parking lot out of character with residential Via Tuscany neighborhood, traffic, noise, "institutional feel." Applicant offered to soften architecture, consider motor-court approach, eliminate front parking entirely (which would require moving the building closer to Via Tuscany). Board concluded: the proposal as presented is premature and requires significant redesign to better align with the residential character of Via Tuscany. Specific board direction:
- Remove the striped parking lot from the front of the building
- Redesign with motor court approach OR move parking entirely behind
- Soften building architecture toward residential, away from institutional/commercial
- Provide rationale for why alternative designs were rejected
- Make conceptual landscape plan more accurately reflect site plan
Chair Johnson followed up with City Attorney Langley on the community-meeting notification process and public verification.

Public Hearings Summary

Number of speakers: 11 (1 in favor, 10 opposed; mostly Via Tuscany residents)
General sentiment: Strongly opposed on the WPRC item — "commercial appearance" and "out of character" the dominant frames
Key concerns: Building aesthetics (institutional vs. residential), front parking visibility, traffic on Via Tuscany, noise from existing pickleball courts, neighborhood compatibility, perceived non-conforming use of a Parks and Recreation zoning district by a private membership club

Key Signals

The Winter Park Racquet Club CUP was tabled 7-0 with the explicit board determination that the proposal is "premature and requires significant redesign." This is the meeting's seminal signal. Eleven speakers (10 opposed), a board that flatly told the applicant to remove the front parking lot or move the building closer to the street, and a unanimous vote to table. The friction is structural: PR (Parks and Recreation) zoning permits private clubs only as Conditional Uses, and the residential Via Tuscany neighborhood is asserting that "commercial appearance" violates the original 2015 rezoning intent. The conditions list (entrance-only driveway, podocarpus hedge, acoustic fence, membership cap, 8 PM closure) all survived the table — meaning when the project returns it returns into a constrained envelope.
The 425 Alberta Drive lakefront approval used the city-owned-parcel side as the elastic setback dimension — a creative use of adjacent ownership to relieve setback pressure. The 7.5-foot first-floor side setback was acceptable to the board because it faced city land rather than a private neighbor. This is a Winter Park-specific lakefront playbook: when a site has a city-owned adjacency, the setback flexibility goes that direction.
Eleven public speakers on a single CUP item is unusually high for Winter Park PZB. The Via Tuscany neighborhood organized substantively — that's not "the loudest neighbor of the week," that's an organized opposition. Seven of the speakers shared the "Via Tuscany" street-name signature; the rest came from adjacent streets. This level of mobilization on a single use change signals the kind of political-legibility a developer needs to model when entering Winter Park's residential-adjacent CUP territory.
The board's instruction to "provide rationale for why alternative designs were rejected" is a procedural escalation. The board is not just demanding a redesign — it's asking for the documentation trail of considered alternatives. This raises the evidentiary bar for the October hearing. When this kind of language enters the record, applicants either pivot decisively or withdraw.
The PURD-zoned 1727 Lake Berry Drive item was tabled — note the zoning class. Planned Unit Residential Development (PURD) is a less-common Winter Park designation. This particular item would table again in October (deferred to November), suggesting the applicant was working through specific PURD issues that the board needed time to consider.

Raw Notes

City Attorney Langley clarification on community-meeting notice requirements was sought by Chair Johnson at meeting close — a procedural follow-up that would re-emerge in subsequent meetings.
Vice Chair Bornstein's prior consent-agenda suggestion was not formally implemented.
Minutes of August 5, 2025 were approved 7-0.
These September 2, 2025 minutes were approved with revisions by the Board on October 7, 2025.