Local Planning Agency Meeting

APPROVED 12/09/2025 MINUTES Local Planning Agency Meeting 5:30 PM -Thursday, September 18, 2025- City Hall Call to Order: 5:51 p.m. Acknowledgement of Quorum and Proper Notice PRESENT: Vice Chair Gary Ashcraft, Michael Holland , Emily Lee, George Asbate and Chair Willie L. Hawkins 1. Approval of Minutes September 4, 2025 Local Planning Agency Meeting Motion made by Mr. Holland, Seconded by Vice Chair Ashcraft, to approve the Minutes. The motion passed on the following vote: Voting Yea: Vice Chair Ashcraft, Mr. Holland, Ms. Lee, Mr. Asbate, Chair Hawkins 2. Consideration with Discussion, Public Hearings and Recommendation 2.1 Ordinance Number 25-29: Comprehensive Plan Amendment for Annexation of Parcel with Alternate Key Number 1734231 Kyle Wilkes, Senior Planner, presented Ordinance Number 25-29 assigning the future land use designation for property located at Alternate Key Number 1734231 . He stated the applicant is Ben Champion from Modern New Home Construction, Inc. The request is for .45 acres to be changed from Urban Medium in Lake County to Residential Office Transition with a Suburban Neighborhood design district. He reviewed the location of the site and the surrounding properties. He explained the property currently houses a duplex structure and is contiguous to the City limits to the west. He reviewed the surrounding property designations and location of utilities. He confirmed the required advertisements and notifications were provided. He reviewed staffs analysis of the request including surrounding uses, current county zoning, and the limitation in the Comprehensive Plan for RT to only be allowed along major thoroughfares. He further explained staffs analysis of the request and stated that staff has determined the request is not consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and may hinder future infill development of single family development. He stated staffs recommendation to not transmit to the City Commission . He confirmed that no comments were received from neighbors. The public hearing was opened at 5:56 p.m. There being no public comment, the hearing was closed at 5:56 p.m. There being no motion for transmittal, Attorney Garcia announced for the record that due to the Local Planning Agency not voting to transmit to the Commission then all three related ordinances would not be heard by the Commission. Those ordinances included Ordinance 25-28, 25-29 and 25-30. It was noted that the applicant was not present. The Commission asked if voting to deny the request would it provide a different time frame for any future consideration with Ms. Garcia explaining that not being transmitted Eustis City Commission Page 1 of 3 September 18, 2025  wouldn't affect the LPA but at the Commission level, it will require nine months before it can be brought back. 2.2 Ordinance Number 25-32: Comprehensive Plan Amendment for Annexation of Parcels with Alternate Key Numbers 1743320 and 1407940 Mr. Wilkes reviewed Ordinance Number 25-32 for the future land use designation for property located on County Road 44, east of Sparrow Lane, and bounded to the north by County Road 452. He stated that the property owner is John E. and Betty A. Drawdy and the applicant is Bret Jones and MAS Development LLC. He explained the request is to change the future land use of 20 +/- acres from Urban Low in Lake County to Suburban Residential in the City with a Suburban Neighborhood design district designation. He reviewed the location of the site, available utilities, soil and recharge. He confirmed the required advertisements and notices were completed and explained staff's evaluation of the request. He stated the request is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan and land use regulations and recommended transmittal to the City Commission for consideration. The public hearing was opened at 6:02 p.m. Brenda Kane asked the following questions with related comments: 1) Why 5 homes on one acre; 2) What is being considered for the location such as single-family or multi- family homes; 3) What is the concern for the wetlands across the street; 4) Is there any intention to increasing the highway such as from 2-lanes to 4-lanes; and 5) Are they planning to annex the rest of Grand Island into Eustis. Tom Carrino, City Manager, noted that some of the questions should be answered by the applicant and some could be answered by the City. The Commission directed him to answer those questions he could. Mr. Carrino explained that the SR designation allows "up to" five units per acre but does not mean that the developer is planning five units per acre. He added that once they meet the infrastructure and open space requirements, they won't get to five units per acre. Regarding the roads, he explained both of the roads are County roads and they will potentially require the developer to make some improvements to the roads. The actual widening of the roads would be the responsibility of the County. Regarding wetlands, he explained that the developer is required to handle all stormwater and make sure that no more stormwater comes off the property than currently does. They have to handle the stormwater so they do not negatively impact the surrounding properties. He stated they would not have to do anything with the property across the street since that is not their property. Brett Jones, representing MAS Development, explained they developed their project based on the City's proposed standards that were stopped by SB 180. He explained it is planned to be a single family development in accordance with the City's aspirational a code. He gave presentation that showed the variety of architectural styles that would have been allowed under the aspirational code. He stated their intent to respect their neighbors therefore they would adhere to the following: 1) No access to Sparrow Lane. Grand Crossings will have independent access points; 2) No backyards facing Sparrow Lane; 3) No homes directly abutting existing residences to the north; and 4) An enhanced buffer along the adjoining industrial use to the east. Eustis City Commission Page 2 of 3 September 18, 2025  The Commission asked if there was a plan to have a fence with Mr. Jones stating there is not a plan for a fence but there would be a landscape perimeter. He also confirmed they would be holding a community building. The Commission commented on the need for commercial services in that area and the number of homes planned for the development. Mr. Jones noted that the project has not yet been site-planned or engineered so those are legal maximums. He indicated that the number of homes is subject to change. He emphasized they will not be requesting any kind of variance and the number of homes will be less than the maximum. He commented on his discussions with the City Attorney to see that their project voluntarily adheres to the higher standard under a developer's agreement. He stated that agreement will be submitted to the Commission in time for the second reading or second reading will be voluntarily continued if it is not ready by then. Discussion was held regarding why this developer's agreement could be considered when the previous one could not. Attorney Garcia explained that in this case it is not a condition of annexation. She explained that the lot sizes they are requesting are not currently allowed under the current code but under the aspirational code it could be requested. They can voluntarily have the community meetings. She added that, under the worst case scenario, they would have the SR designation and they would lose four to six homes by complying with the sizes of the lots and they would still be able to have the development. She explained the only reason they are having the agreement is to have the varied lot sizes. Vice Chair Ashcraft asked why Mr. Sawchuk could not have entered into a development agreement to limit what would go on his property with Attorney Garcia explaining they could not condition annexation on an agreement and that couldn't be done during a meeting . She further explained that Mr. Jones came to staff with the suggestion. Motion made by Mr. Holland, Seconded by Ms. Lee, for Ordinance Number 25-32 to be transmitted to the Commission for consideration . The motion passed on the following vote: Voting Yea: Vice Chair Ashcraft, Mr. Holland, Ms. Lee, Mr. Asbate, Chair Hawkins 3. Adjournment: 6:20 p.m. *These minutes reflect the actions taken and portions of the discussion during the meeting. To review the entire discussion concerning any agenda item, go to www.eustis.org and click on the video for the meeting in question. A DVD of the entire meeting or CD of the entire audio recording of the meeting can be obtained from the office of the City Clerk for a fee . CHRISTINE HALLORAN City Clerk Mayor/Commiss oner Eustis City Commission Page 3 of3 September 18, 2025