Clermont DPZ CoDesign Comprehensive Plan adoption
1,500+ survey responses converging into the regional model
Clermont's Comprehensive Plan update has been in active drafting under DPZ CoDesign — Andrés Duany's planning practice, also the author of the Wellness Way Design Standards — with 1,500+ community survey responses captured through Strong Towns Clermont's engagement cycle, driven in part by Commissioner May's advocacy. The plan carries the downtown form-based code, parking reform, and pedestrian- orientation framework that the Bain-era Planning Commission has been signaling toward across 2025-2026. Council adoption converts the Professionalizers framing from case-by-case discretion (V3 Capital denial, self-storage C-2 moratorium, Wellness Way design standards enforcement) to enforceable code-level architecture. The cardinal structural-identity event of Clermont's regulatory evolution and the test of whether DPZ-grade planning rigor holds politically through the Council adoption gauntlet — the regional-model question that decides whether form-based discipline scales beyond Wellness Way greenfield to downtown retrofit.
What's pending
A condition-triggered watch — resolution arrives when Clermont City Council adopts the DPZ CoDesign-authored comprehensive plan update at a substantive vote. Three resolution paths:
- Full comp plan adoption — the DPZ-authored framework adopted as a single ordinance package
- Substantive subset adoption — the downtown form-based code adopted separately while broader comp plan elements remain in process
- Material deprioritization — the council pivots to incremental amendments rather than the DPZ-rewrite framework
The DPZ CoDesign signature
DPZ CoDesign — Andrés Duany's New Urbanism practice — is the highest-resolution form-based-code authorship surface in the corpus. The Wellness Way Design Standards (adopted 2022, before SB 180's grandfather window closed) carry the same authorship lineage. Clermont's downtown comp plan update extends DPZ's footprint from greenfield (Wellness Way) to retrofit (downtown), where the design-rigor stakes compound — historic context, existing parcel grain, established traffic patterns.
The 1,500+ survey signal
The community engagement cycle for the comp plan update captured 1,500+ resident survey responses, driven by Strong Towns Clermont (founded by Commissioner May). The engagement density is structurally distinct from typical comp plan update cycles — most cities draft updates through staff workshops with low public participation. Clermont's engagement signature signals political constituency for the framework prior to adoption. The Council adoption vote tests whether that constituency converts to political backing at the vote.
What confirms the Quiet Revolution thesis
The Quiet Revolution on Highway 27 thesis rests on south Lake's regulatory architecture catching up to the institutional capital flowing in. Clermont's comp plan adoption is the structural-identity event for the corridor:
- Hartwood Marsh widening (Spring 2026 target) unlocks corridor capacity
- Olympus first phase (pending) operationalizes anchor capital
- Crooked Can / Hills Town Center (Summer 2026) anchors mixed-use
- Clermont DPZ comp plan adoption — the regulatory architecture that governs what gets built in the unlock window
Without adoption, the corridor unlock proceeds under the existing comp plan, which the Bain-era P&Z has been working around case-by-case. With adoption, the unlock proceeds under DPZ-authored form-based discipline.
What to look for
- Which elements appear at City Council first — full plan, downtown form-based code, parking reform, mixed-use overlays
- Whether DPZ CoDesign principals appear at the adoption hearing or staff carries the presentation
- The Council vote tally and any commissioner / member dissent rationale
- The first development application submitted under the new framework — the conversion from adopted-on-paper to applied-at-the-counter
- Whether the adoption lands inside the SB-180 grandfather window (before June 2026 sunset) or after — affects the legal posture of "more restrictive or burdensome" claims for codes adopted in the window vs after
What it would mean either way
If the comp plan adopts substantively within 12 months — Clermont becomes the regional model for DPZ-grade planning rigor at the local scale. The Professionalizers framework is structurally embedded in code. Future Wellness Way commercial gateways and downtown infill applications enter a different regulatory frame than the V3 Capital era.
If the adoption is partial (e.g., downtown form-based code adopted, broader comp plan elements deferred) — the regulatory architecture phases in under code-level enforcement, while the broader future-land-use map remains under existing framework. The Council adoption tests Council comfort with form-based discipline before extending it to comp plan scale.
If the adoption is materially deprioritized — the comp plan reverts to incremental amendments. DPZ CoDesign's authorship stays at the Wellness Way scale. The Bain-era P&Z's case-by-case discretion remains the operating regulatory frame for downtown. The Quiet Revolution thesis loses its fourth anchor.