What's New Clermont

06/05/2026

Lake P&Z board vote in favor of Skorman Development multifamily project near Clermont

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The Lake County Planning & Zoning Board voted unanimously to advance consideration of a multifamily apartment complex proposed just outside Clermont city limits.

Located near the northwest intersection of County Road 455 and State Road 50 in unincorporated Clermont, Hartle Hills Apartments is planned as a 212-unit apartment community set to rise on 17.89 acres.

As the developer on the proposed project, Orlando-based Skorman Development is seeking to amend the property’s future land use from Regional Office to Planned Unit Development, or PUD, and rezone it from Agriculture to PUD zoning.

According to the project’s concept plan, dwelling units for Hartle Hills will be spread across 10 separate two- or three-story buildings.

Lowndes shareholder Tara Tedrow, representing Skorman during Wednesday’s planning board meeting, said she designed the concept plan to be “extensively amenitized.”

Amenities planned for the project include a clubhouse, pool, tot lot, pickleball court, dog park, yoga lawn, butterfly garden, and community garden.

The community will also have convenient access to the nearby South Lake Trail, providing a 43-mile greenway corridor and recreational trail for residents to walk, run or bike across the southern portion of Lake County.

The planning board and Tedrow concurred that Lake County has a very low number of residential rental units, acknowledging Hartle Hills helps fill a need for area residents seeking market-rate rental options.

“The rental that gets developed, people are trying to lease it a year before it’s even constructed because there’s not enough places for folks who work and don’t want to have a house or are waiting for a house to get built to live,” Tedrow said. “We’ve spent three and a half years on this project analyzing what we could do and the only thing that makes sense, respecting the topography of the property and the market forces, is a really nice multifamily product that we’ve designed.”

With approval by the planning board, Hartle Hills moves forward to the Lake County Board of County Commissioners and is scheduled for consideration during its upcoming July 14 meeting.

“There’s a lot of apartments already in this area, they seemed to be leased up and fully occupied,” Lake County P&Z Chair Laura Jones Smith said. “This seems to be pretty sympathetic to the overall topography and looks to be something that’ll fit in with everything else that’s already being developed in that area.”

Earlier this year, Skorman Development broke ground on Vista Hills Apartments, the second apartment complex to be located within the Hills of Minneola.

Vista Hills is planned for 324 multifamily units ranging from one to three bedrooms. The complex will comprise 12 three-story buildings arranged in four quads, each with four apartment buildings facing a central courtyard.

Just south of the Hartle Hills site, across SR 50, the third phase of Perimeter Park West was recently approved by Clermont City Council.

Phase three of the proposed industrial park, set for development by Orlando-based TSG Development Inc., will see the addition of three new commercial warehouse buildings to a 12-acre parcel south of SR 50 on Hartle Road and Ray Goodgame Parkway.

About half a mile east of the Hartle Hills property, Orlando-based Pinecastle Investment Properties recently filed construction plans for a new subdivision in Clermont, where home prices will start at $1 million.

Straddling Old Highway 50 and bordering Florida’s Turnpike to the north, the proposed Green Mountain subdivision will include 130 estate homes on 123 acres. With plans for 75-foot lots, the property is owned — and set to be developed — by Pinecastle President Bob Harrell.

Story Courtesy of: James Wilkins |Orlando Sentinel
PUBLISHED: June 4, 2026 at 4:00 PM EDT

06/03/2026

Lake County leaders, in face of SB 180, discuss rural protection at joint workshop in Leesburg

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Lake County leaders are continuing to move forward with an effort to enact rural protections that could potentially violate Senate Bill 180, a controversial state law restricting local governments’ ability to regulate land development.

As developments continue to pop up in Lake County, with annexations stretching and changing the borders of each municipality, county leaders have previously shared concerns about growth changing the county’s rural character at a rapid pace.

Leaders from all 14 Lake County municipalities met in Leesburg in May to discuss protecting the county’s rural areas in an effort to preserve its natural charm and landscape.

They discussed creating a Joint Rural Protection Areas, or JRPA, that municipalities would agree on together as specific areas where potential development would be prohibited.

According to Leesburg City Manager Al Minner, who gave a presentation on the potential process, the JRPA would exist as a “buffer zone” between municipal service areas.

To bring the proposed JRPA to life, the existing Interlocal Service Boundary Area, or ISBA, that exists between a handful of municipalities would need to be modified.

“What I’m saying is, why don’t we go back into that agreement and amend it?” Minner said. “We amend it so that there’s areas in our respective service areas that we don’t modify or annex at all.”

The current ISBA was initially passed in 2013 as a joint effort between Groveland, Clermont, Howey-in-the-Hills, Leesburg, Mascotte, Minneola, and Lake County. A potential JRPA would require all parties from the 2013 ISBA to agree to modifications.

The City of Leesburg, which signed a separate ISBA agreement with Lake County in 2014, would have to go back into discussions with the county on how to change its language for any potential JRPA agreement, according to Minner.

For the Lake County cities and towns not currently part of the 2013 ISBA, Minner and Lake County Commission Chair Leslie Campione said Monday’s discussion was meant to exist as a “model” for how to address rural protection.

“I always saw the ISBA as not really a land use document and more of a utilities document, but the concept of keeping the rural and rural transition areas — the rural protection areas, in particular — intact inside those ISBAs wasn’t specifically addressed,” Campione said. “This gives us a chance to actually specifically address it and say ‘those rural protection areas will stay protected.'”

County officials provided each municipality a draft map to bring to their respective commissions and councils for discussion on whether to honor the areas decided on by the county or propose another map that they feel better represents the areas highlighted for a potential JRPA.

Campione said that while the county might not be able to achieve a defined rural county space between each city, it would benefit the county to have specific areas residents and the general public know will be untouched by development. But those types of interlocal agreements or “no annexation zones” could run afoul of SB 180, which commissioners acknowledged during their December meeting.

The law, Senate Bill 180, was pitched as a way to ease rebuilding hurricane-damaged structures, and passed with little debate at the end of the 2025 Legislative Session. But almost immediately, it was interpreted by the state to prevent any city or county impacted by 2024’s hurricanes from implementing stricter development rules.

Once signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis, SB180 gave developers a tool to sue local governments that had denied controversial rezoning cases, like the proposed Sustanee development near rural Lake Pickett in Orange County. The DeSantis administration also nullified huge portions of Orange County’s 2050 Vision Plan and the county’s rural protection boundaries, which were overwhelmingly approved by voters in late 2024.

Eric Grimmer, chair of the Orange County Transportation Mobility Advisory Commission and former Sustainable Growth Subcommittee chairman of the county’s Charter Review Commission, said a potential JRPA could arguably conflict with the “very broad and ambiguous language” of SB 180.

“I know that some jurisdictions are just kind of pushing forward and implementing their [comprehensive] plan updates and policies to implement a smarter growth paradigm in the face of SB 180,” he told GrowthSpotter. “It’s almost like daring someone to stop them.”

Mount Dora Mayor James Homich pointed out that different municipalities have varying amounts of rural land to protect and brought up his proposal for a county-wide Joint Planning Agreement, or JPA, where cities and towns agree not to annex any rural transition areas.

“The county would then agree with the cities not to change the rural or rural transition zoning on any of the lands in the county,” he said. “…I’m looking for a commitment from the county to say ‘we won’t change any rural or rural transition lands’ in exchange for the cities to not annex those lands. It’s a very simple agreement and it will protect the areas between cities.”

Campione said the county attorney would have to work on any potential agreement that prohibits Lake County from considering change of an underlying land use, but argued that exists as a different scenario than the simple decision to annex or not.

“I think our board has indicated a huge commitment to preserving these rural designation plans and rural protection areas that are on our comprehensive map,” she said. “That’s what brought us here to all these discussions.”

Moving forward, county commissioners instructed municipalities to take the pilot maps created by the county and bring them back to the next workshop, likely in August, for further consideration.

“For me, this is a big step in the right direction from the sense of agreeing that these are areas that won’t be annexed,” Lake County Commissioner Sean Parks said. “I talk about the JPA versus the ISBA and all the various different words and that’s not super important to me, what’s most important is process from here on out in continuing to joint plan together.”

Credits: Written by James Wilkins, Orlando Sentinel
PUBLISHED: June 1, 2026 at 3:35 PM EDT

05/25/2026

Today, the What's New Clermont community pauses to remember, honor, and give thanks for the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation.

​As we spend the day with family and friends, let us keep the families of our fallen heroes in our thoughts and hearts. We are forever grateful for their bravery and service.

​Wishing everyone a safe, meaningful, and peaceful Memorial Day.

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05/24/2026

05/08/2026

What's New Clermont: Clermont PD E-bike Patrol. Story found below👇

05/07/2026

What's Up For Consideration in Minneola:

The Citrus Ridge Commercial PUD, or Planned Unit Development, is headed for consideration by the Minneola City Council after receiving approval from the city’s planning board earlier this week.

The 17.74-acre property planned for a mix of small commercial uses as Citrus Ridge is located east of Grassy Lake Road and west of North Hancock Road in Minneola.

Property owner Crittenden Howey LLC is seeking to annex two of the three parcels planned for Citrus Ridge, totaling 15.68 acres, into the City of Minneola and rezone them into a PUD. The third parcel, at just over two acres, is already annexed into the city and zoned as a PUD.

Along with annexation and rezoning, the property owner is looking to change the land use of the entire proposed PUD to General Commercial and enter into a development agreement with the City of Minneola for an increase in allowed commercial development at the site.

The conceptual site plan for the development shows six commercial buildings, one of which is planned for a gas station, fronting Citrus Grove Road with a larger mini-storage or warehouse building on the northern edge of the site. The building, according to the plan, is set along a road that will be built to lead into the adjacent Camp Lake Commerce Center currently under construction.

Requests for additional height — from 35 feet to a maximum of 42 feet — for the planned mini-storage or warehouse building is one of several changes proposed by property owners within the development agreement.

Other requests include allowing the proposed gas station to have two outdoor freezers for bagged ice and a propane cage, allowing property owners to pre-pay for utility impact fees and reserve capacity, granting parking reductions, and allowing deviations from the city’s architectural requirements.

Lowndes attorney Tara Tedrow, representing the property owner during Monday night’s meeting, said they wanted the project to transition down from surrounding industrial uses — like Camp Lake Commerce Center — to commercial uses that make more sense near Florida’s Turnpike.

“When we saw this property, we thought ‘gosh, that would be great for having some of these smaller commercial uses,'” Tedrow said. “When we went to lay it out, we were trying to work with the topography, and we were trying to work with the end users that we had. That’s why we laid out a development agreement that did ask for some changes.”

With Minneola lacking in commercial options, Tedrow said, Citrus Ridge could provide much-needed space for a restaurant, retail shop, doctor’s office, drive-thru coffee shop or other business looking for a spot to operate in a growing area.

Speaking about potential tenants within the proposed Citrus Ridge development, Commissioner Ken Rose said he does not want to see “another carbon copy” of other commercial projects with businesses like nail salons or doctors’ offices and instead supports more family-oriented businesses.

“If you look at the median income of the City of Minneola and the cost of housing, I would venture to think that most of the residents want upscale upscale boutiques and upscale restaurants,” he said. “We don’t need more White Castles and those types of things. I’ve lived in Minneola since 2012 and there’s none of that here. We want upscale, we want places that we can go bring our families to.”

Tedrow responded by saying Lowndes and the property owner are looking “at what makes sense” for Citrus Ridge and would bring in tenants that support its location near the turnpike, on property surrounded by mostly industrial uses.

“We have already laid it out with our engineer to get our end users under a [Letter of Intent] and under contract so that we can try to bring to market some appropriate commercial uses that have great proximity on the turnpike and that are only taking people onto Minneola’s roads… for a minute or two minutes to get on and off.”

The planning commission voted 4-0 to approve the project ordinances and advance consideration of Citrus Ridge Commercial PUD to the Minneola City Council meeting on May 19.

Story Courtesy of GrowthSpotter: By James Wilkins | [email protected]
PUBLISHED: May 6, 2026 at 4:30 PM

04/16/2026

Lake County board deny agreement for proposed KB Home subdivision near Clermont (unincorporated).

Despite revised plans from KB Home, the Lake County Board of County Commissioners rejected a settlement that would have allowed the production homebuilder to move forward with a proposed 40-acre subdivision in unincorporated Clermont.

Located at the corner of Log House Road and Priebe Road near County Road 561, Crescent Pines is proposed as a 79-home subdivision.

After the project’s initial rezoning application was denied during the Nov. 4 county board meeting, KB Home filed a Request for Relief from the development order, and Lake County responded with a plea to initiate a case with the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings, or DOAH.

An initial hearing was held on Feb.18, and the case was placed in abeyance by Administrative Law Judge Suzanne Van Wyk last month, with both parties set to give an update by April 10.

With commissioners voting 3-2 to deny a proposed settlement agreement with KB Home last week, the court is now working with both parties to set dates for a preliminary hearing next month.

As the applicant on the project, KB Home is seeking to rezone the approximately 40-acre project site from Urban Residential to Planned Unit Development, or PUD, zoning. According to the project’s concept plan, each lot within Crescent Pines would be at least 75 feet wide.

Though Urban Residential zoning allows single-family homes, according to county officials, the project was brought before the county’s Planning & Zoning board because Lake County’s Comprehensive Plan requires rezoning for any proposed development in the Urban Land Use category with more than 50 lots. Under current zoning, KB Home can develop no more than 49 lots.

The Lake County Planning & Zoning Board voted unanimously to move the project forward last October, before subsequent denial by county commissioners.

“I’m leaning towards a lower density because of the impacts in the traffic in the area and because of the storm water and flooding concerns,” Lake County Commission Chair Leslie Campione said during the project’s denial in November.

After filing the Land Use Dispute against Lake County, KB Home worked on a settlement agreement in an attempt to receive county approval without further legal action.

Per the terms of the agreement, KB Home would redesign its PUD by increasing the pond sizes to accommodate larger rainfall events, reducing the number of lots to 79 and providing buffers adjacent to all existing residential lots. In addition, KB Home offered to extend the sidewalk along Log House Road west to Cedar Forest Circle and east toward Lakeshore Drive, provided sufficient right-of-way exists.

“I think the process allowed for this dialogue to occur and to make adjustments to what was originally proposed that we feel is a better plan,” Attorney Jonathan Huels with Lowndes, representing KB Home, said during last week’s county commission meeting. “We think it’s more cohesive with the community, and we think we’ve addressed, to a reasonable degree, the comments that have been received at that initial meeting.”

Still, the changes made for the development agreement were insufficient for approval from county commissioners.

Commissioner Sean Parks offered the project’s location next to a county solid waste facility and inconsistencies with land development regulations as justification for his vote to deny the agreement.

“We also have to consider the compatibility of surrounding uses, adequacy of public facilities, transportation safety and public interest,” he said. “I don’t think it meets all of those criteria at that basis of review. The site directly abuts the county land-designated public services facility and infrastructure associated with the county solid waste drop-off operations.”

Campione shared concerns about potential drainage due to the adjacent solid waste facility and increased traffic due to the proposed project density.

“You add more traffic, you have more safety conflicts, so that’s certainly a concern,” she said. “Sometimes, when we’re faced with a situation, we’re trying to come up with some sort of a compromise where we get something in return that maybe makes the situation better. Unfortunately, in this case, I don’t see a pathway where we actually improve a situation that already exists by doing something in order to reach a compromise.”

Denial of the settlement agreement moves the legal dispute toward a preliminary hearing with the DOAH in May.

A final hearing in the case is tentatively scheduled for June, subject to court availability, with the exact date to be determined.

Story Courtesy of GrowthSpotter
Aerial Courtesy of Lake County
Site Plan Courtesy of Halff

03/10/2026

Reminder: There’s a council meeting today at 3:00 p.m. Details found below👇

Its so great to know that anyone can participate in-person or online.

Important items to listen in and provide input is on Items No. 4 thru 9. Both are annexationfl from County to City and Rezoning.

Champions, a friendly reminder that the Clermont City Council Meeting is tomorrow, Tuesday, March 10 at 3 pm at City Hall located at 685 W. Montrose St., Clermont, Florida 34711.

Community members are welcome to attend in person or join the meeting virtually. Champions can stay informed, review meeting details, and learn how to participate by visiting https://www.ClermontFl.gov/Meetings.
The meeting agenda is available at https://www.ClermontFl.gov/Agendas.

The meeting will also be live streamed on the City of Clermont YouTube channel at so champions can follow along from anywhere.

Your participation helps keep our community strong and informed as Clermont continues to be the Choice of Champions™.

https://www.ClermontFl.gov

03/06/2026

If you are a fan of the Three Birds Cafe then great news. They will be a Vendor at the Clermont Farmers Market's on Sunday. Let's welcome them to our community.

This week has felt a little strange without seeing all of you… we missed you more than you know 🥺🩷

But we have some good news to share.

While we continue searching for our next home for the cafe, you’ll now be able to find us every weekend at the Winter Garden Farmers Market (Saturdays) and the Clermont Farmers Market (Sundays).

It may not be our little cafe on the corner, but it means the world to us that we still get to make your coffee, see your faces and keep up with our community while we figure out our next chapter.

Thank you for sticking with us through all of this.

We’ll be there with coffee, matcha, pastries… andddd more 👀

Menu and booth location will be posted the morning of each market.

We can’t wait to see youuuu 🤍✨