Planning and Zoning Commission - Regular Meeting

I call to order the October 6th City of Claremont Planning and Zoning Commission. Will the clerk please call the roll?

Please stand as you are able for the Pledge of Allegiance. You may be seated.

Thank you. I will remind everyone to please, when you come to the microphone, it will be on. If you come to the lectern and if you are up here on the dais, please turn your microphone on. Please speak clearly into the mic so everybody watching online and in the room can hear you. As a reminder, tonight's meeting is being recorded and broadcast live on the city's YouTube channel at City of Claremont. Okay, commissioners, you have received the minutes. We actually have two sets of minutes here. We have minutes from our last meeting and we have minutes from the workshop. So I'd look for a motion.

I'll make a motion to approve the meeting minutes from the July 21st, I'm sorry, September 1st, 2026 planning and zoning committee meeting.

Motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? And the chair votes aye. And then we have the minutes from the July 21st workshop. Do I have a motion on those minutes?

Motion and a second, any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Aye. And the chair votes aye as well. Okay, it's... Now the portion of the meeting for reports from commissioners. So I will start at the end with Commissioner Todono.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have no report this month. Thank you.

Commissioner Nemec? Yes, I'd like to say congratulations to Councilwoman Chandra Myers for once again representing the city by doing the first Breast Cancer Awareness function last week it was a very very successful it was it was amazing I actually had the honor and privilege to emcee the entire affair we had a lot of fun we had a A lot of knowledgeable. The admin help was there answering all questions. We're planning to do it again next year. It was a moment where we were having awards for the best hat. And that was a little comical, but I really wanted to have the best dress, the person wear

All right, Commissioner Cramer. Thank you.

I attended National Night Out last week, which if you haven't done, is a really great moment for our community. It's sponsored by the Claremont Police Department, the Fire Department, and all of our local first responders were there. And when I first moved to Claremont from living over in the Mount Verde area, it was the first event that I had attended. And it really gave me a sense of community pride to see such great turnout from the community and our police force out there. It really was a... great experience and also nice to support the police and and the fire department i also want to men

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I also had the privilege of attending the Heels of Hope Tea for Breast Cancer Awareness that Councilwoman Myers put on. And thank you, Commissioner Newnick, for your compliment. But you all should see him in action because he was fantastic. He was phenomenal as our emcee and our host. I want to make this statement that with breast cancer awareness, that everyone should pay attention to this. Everyone has a mother, sister, aunt, a friend. make sure they know their numbers, make sure they get checked. And it's not just women.

Men also need to ensure that they are checking for breast cancer as well. AdventHealth did a phenomenal job of educating us and providing information and letting us know that they have advocates out there for us. I told Councilman Myers how great the program was and next year we should have the main room because it was such a good opportunity to not only learn, but to network with other women and listen to the stories. of the survivors and those who had to fight just to get the right tests that they needed so that they can cure their breast cancer or at least have it taken out. So that was rea

um very interesting meeting it was my very first one um i would encourage everyone to be involved and engaged to know how our dollars are used this is one of the fastest growing areas we want to make sure that the dollars that we are drawing in that we benefit from those dollars um grow businesses it was a very very very good um good meeting and thank you What you said about the council meeting, I agree. I hope that all future ones will be that succinct and to the point. And that's all I have.

Thank You Commissioner Hoisington and the Lake County Tourism Department is doing a great job being more transparent making it easier to to apply for tourism funds which are the tax dollars that come from room nights and they're doing a great job and they're moving forward supporting some things here in South Lake so it's great to see you there I did want to wish Commissioner Ensua a happy birthday week I was hope he would be here to celebrate with us but I Apparently he had other celebration plans, so I hope to see Ebo soon. I would like to just remind commissioners that we need to make discl

I would like to make a disclosure. I met with the Planning and Zoning Department yesterday for a gender review. That's basically it.

Thank you very much. Any other disclosures? All right, hearing none, we will move on to item number one, and that will be presented by the city.

I'm sorry, we have a commissioner question just before you begin your presentation. Go ahead, Vinny. Just a quick question to staff.

I met with you. I received this yesterday.

Okay. I can explain it. So I guess everything in here is outdated and this is... All right, go ahead.

So all of the content is there. The format is different, but all of the content is.

Mr. Chairman, are we voting on this tonight? Well, I think that that is up to the commission, whether we choose to vote on it or not. There may be some other alternatives. I talked with Kurt earlier. So why don't we hear what she has to present?

If we're going to table it, why are we wasting her time?

Well, we have the expert here with information. I think we should listen and take in whatever information she has.

Excuse me. That picture you just showed, that's low-density?

I'm impressed with building them, but see the low density that Claremont has, we have a lot more room between the homes.

This looks like medium high density to me, but I'll wait for my questions.

Ma'am, may I stop you? What page is that on? Oh, okay. Yeah, thank you. Okay, thank you, ma'am.

All right. Thank you very much. Thank you for the presentation. If you will stand by for questions before I bring it back to the commission, I do want to open it up to the public. If there's anybody who would like to come up and make any statement or ask questions, please come to the podium and state your name and address for us, please.

May I ask that, since you brought that up, could you tell me where that study, what state that study was done in?

Washington. Washington. Yes, sir. And we're in Florida.

Is there anybody else from the public who would like to make a statement or ask questions? All right, so I'm going to ring back to the Commission. Before we do, for full transparency, this question was already asked, taking action today. So, Kurt, could you address it? I think we have two options. We can take action on this today. If the Commission decided not to, there is a date possibly next week.

Okay. But we are looking, we are asking to make a recommendation, but it is at the pleasure of the commission what we wish to do with this. So we will ask each commissioner to ask any questions they have and express their feelings. So we'll start to my right and we'll work our way across, starting with you, Commissioner Hoisington.

Thank you, Mr. Shearer. I don't have any questions, and I'm not prepared to vote on this. It is not what I was given prior to review, and I just received this right before our meeting started. Even though she went through it, I am not going to vote on something that I have not personally read.

Okay. Thank you very much, Commissioner Kramer.

No questions or okay, we will go to you. I'm going I'm going working my way right across right right right across we're going from my far right and far away.

I'll be served to go right right because I don't want to tie them up okay questions that we will go to commissioner may.

There's a lot to go through. But some stuff that just I got to bring it up just to bring it up. Okay. We don't know how much longer it's going to take for this to be approved. It could take what six months a year.

When does it fully take effect? Just because everything goes through and it's all signed...

Three to six months. Okay. With the potential of going to a year once it goes to the state and back.

Okay. Does this comp plan and any associated zonings that will come out of it, will it hold up against HB 180 and 399? Do we win that lawsuit every time?

Okay, well, 399 was passed in order to circumvent what we already were trying to win against 180. So just being okay with 180, for me, is not enough. It's got to go to 399, because once we get down to 399, it becomes... We can't deny something based on a family feel, a community feel, and all that stuff. So this has got to get into that minutia because that's the war that we're at with the state legislature and developers. So if we can win a lawsuit, I'm all for it. I think that's great.

That brings me to something else. Again, just things that fly through my brain. You talked about having roads redesigned by FDOT. So when we do something and put one of these town centers, we should depend on FDOT to redesign the roads, okay? So I've been a proponent for the last year and a half of mobility fees and sureties. Why can't the developer redesign the road. Why can't they put the money up based on an FDOT survey that says, I need a roundabout, I need a left turn lane, or so on and so forth, and then put what we decide, which could be anywhere from five to 15% of the costs incurred t

Okay. Mr. Chair, may I just hand out something? Go right ahead. So no disrespect to anything anybody has done. I've sat in on a bunch of your meetings. You folks are absolutely incredible, okay?

Oh, I had a conversation with Google AI. Okay. It wasn't an attorney. It wasn't an engineer. It wasn't anybody, okay? And if you want a copy, I'd be more than happy to give you a copy. I even made extra copies if somebody wants it, okay? So I'm going to read just some highlights. I'm not going to go through three pages of stuff. I asked Google AI, how can you tell if a city has too many homes? You could tell if a city has too many homes when the housing supply greatly outpaces demand and so on and so forth. And it asked me a question, what specific city are you asking for? And I said, Clermont

So then what actually separates the homes, the setbacks on each side so that I'm not doing a knock on my neighbor's, you know.

Okay. So, but even with that, and like I said, I haven't gone through this and I apologize. We're still putting somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 to 5,000 homes up, which equates to at least another 6,000 to 10,000 people, 6,000 to 10,000 cars. We have no industry here, no manufacturing, no high-paying jobs. A typical one-bedroom apartment in Claremont runs from $1,500 to $1,800 a month. There is no live-work-play industry. And Claremont, unless you could balance three jobs.

I get that, and I'm sure that's not going to change, or it might just be amended or whatever. But I think the thrust of where Claremont needs to be going is maybe, and it's just my opinion, a little bit less towards residential and more towards a high-paying city where I don't have to go to Orlando every day.

Okay, but if I'm going to one of the communities that you showed up on there, okay, and I'm walkable, and I love the idea of walkable. Like I said, I've sat in on your presentations, okay? But how am I going to afford a $1,500 a month rent by working at Joe's Pizzeria. It's not going to happen. So somewhere along the line, down in Claremont, you've either got to work for a hospital, work for a law firm or something, or you've got to work somewhere else where you start pulling in some money because you can't live, work, and play here. And I'm not focusing that at you. This has been a concern of

Oh, you want to go last? All right. If you want to go last, then I'll go first. And there are a lot of people, as you were talking, you have a lot of good points, but there are a lot of folks that I don't know that we can capture. I mean, just the number of people that I know that are corporate executives, that are attorneys, there are a lot of folks here, and that's really tough data to to capture, but I personally, doing what I do for a day job, there's many, many people that move here, and it would be interesting to try to capture that data, because it's not just people that are moving here

that it could move forward. And it sounds like there's still a flushing out period. We're still taking questions. There may still be concerns. My biggest thing is not every piece of parcel in Clermont should just be looked at as a town center and for residential. There's plenty of property out there where we could make it an industrial park or at least consider it or at least talk to and bring our economic development people in to say, look, Did you know that Chipotle has 349 restaurants in Florida alone? So is anybody going to go talk to Chipotle and see if they want a southeastern central Fl

Well, there is work. I mean, you know, I don't want to get into, you know, what our county economic development, what LEED is doing, public-private partnership. And then there's a lot of land that is actually outside the county. I mean, this is the first time I've ever lived where any place where the city boundary changes all the time. And we annex projects in. There is a lot of work that is trying to bring some of those things that you're talking about into that wellness way corridor.

Good. And at the end of the day, like I said, yes, this could move forward. I just think we need to be just as equally concerned about keeping jobs here as opposed to people going somewhere else and spending their money somewhere else. But I would agree with you. And I always thank you for your time.

Thank you. While I have to ask you a question, could you put that picture back up of 50 with the low density or medium density of... Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. It was right in the beginning. I wanted to stop you, but that would have been rude of me.

Nope. Nope. Far from it. Keep going. Keep going. It's before this, but that was interesting too. Waterbrook. Keep going. I'm sorry to keep doing this to you. I apologize. Keep going. We're coming right up to it.

yeah it was route 50 it was waterbrook and it was a bunch of cottages as you called cottages this one nope they had a lot a lot you know which one i'm talking about right keep going please okay i'm gonna go slowly and then you stop me waterbrook is that 50 could you go back to that i think yeah that that was you had it the one between the two pictures of the park It's not in my pamphlet. I would have gave you the page number. Keep going.

I don't want to waste time. I want to use that for an example. Right there. Stop. I didn't mean to yell. I just don't want to keep going back and forth. Now, could you show me in this conceptual drawing of a wish list where 50 is?

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Okay. I'm sorry. I have to apologize. I'm trying to be as polite as possible. Okay? I'm not from Disney or Fantasyland. I'm from Claremont. I came from New York. I spent every penny I had for my dream house here. If I saw that in Claremont, I would not live here. Okay? That is horrendous. Horrendous because that's 50. I'm not here to beat you up. I think you're doing a very good job on presenting But I have to disagree with it a lot, especially when it comes to traffic. Anybody in Claremont will tell you right now the number one problem we have is traffic. When I first

But the state was not, right, because I'm on the MPO committee, and I brought up that question after I met with you, and they are not happy with roundabouts. Yes. Do you know that 50 and 27, we do not control that? You know that. I kept telling that over and over.

Okay. I can't even get Hartwood Marsh expanded since 2007. And if you think they're going to come up with money for a roundabout, that's a pipe dream. But that's just traffic. Okay. I really hate doing this. Could I ask my staff a question on density? Because I'm really confused now. What is the capacity of low density? Can somebody answer me that? The capacity of how many single family homes we could have? I'm sorry to bother you, Kurt. I mean, I didn't know this question was gonna come up. Like I didn't know I was getting a new packet.

So this new table wants to do 9 to 18 units per acre. So how could you stay there and tell me you're not changing our density?

Okay, now listen, we'll talk about this. I don't want to take any more of the time because I have four more projects to come up. All right, look, I'm going to be honest. It's way too much density. That's my concern. Way too much traffic. It doesn't fit the surrounding neighborhoods of what I'm looking at right here at this picture. All right? The main concern a lot of people are forgetting about in their fantasy land, all right, is flooding. Flooding. Flooding. Okay, we didn't think about that now, did we? With all these homes and all this asphalt here. I'm not here to beat up your project. I'

Okay, I understand that because I'm going to be, before they leave, I'm going to ask them to tomorrow, I'll come pick it up. I want something I can read because I am not ready to vote on this. I know he'll do that.

Do you know where Waterbrook Park is? That's this site you're showing this picture. Do you know that at a certain time... It's standstill traffic. See, the problem is not the people living in Claremont. It's the people living in Groveland, Mineola, Lakeland, all right? And the problem is we don't control the roads. So if, I'm sorry. I like to set a motion so I can look over this.

All right, well, let's make sure there's no other questions. Anybody have any questions before we entertain any motions?

I understand. And I think we all have frustrations when we don't have exactly what we want.

Mr. Chairman, may I ask a question? When was this handed to my PNC department?

This revised version? The first time I saw it, it was sitting up here. The new one? The revised? With the colors?

Unfortunately, we're spending a lot of money on this project. And mistakes cannot be made.

I wasn't aware of the color one until this evening, myself. Yeah. We all on the same page with that? If there's no other questions, we can entertain a motion. Could we be clear before a motion is made, if there was to be a motion to move this meeting until Monday, could you tell us what time that would be, Kurt?

So your recommendation for a special meeting time would be Monday the 12th at 6.30 p.m. 6 or 6.30, whichever you prefer.

Well, if you don't go through, I'm going through my questions.

But I'm going to set a motion to table list on Monday.

All right, so we have a motion motion, we have have a motion to, to table and have a special meeting on Monday. Do we have a second of that motion? Second, we have a motion and a second.

So, um, just that's, and I should have mentioned earlier that our council is, is, um, online with us if anybody did have any questions for him. Okay, so there is a virtual option. We have a motion and a second to move this to a special meeting for Monday at 6.30 p.m. All in favor? Aye. I'm gonna vote no.

Thank you All right, let's move on to our our next agenda item which is item number two I

I'm sorry one in one into where we're going to be to win 3. So we are we're going to hear 2 and 3 we would vote on 2 and 3 separately.

All right, thank you very much. We will hear from the applicant, Mr. Crawford.

All right. Well, thank you. We appreciate you standing by for questions. At this time, I will open it up for any public comment. Anybody like to comment on this project? All right. I will bring it back to the commission then, and we will just come down starting with you, Commissioner Todono.

Yes. It was given as one presentation by staff and the applicants, so yes.

I got a problem with this. So when you go to Google Earth or Google Map, what you're really not showing, because I listen to every word you say. Access to the site will come from Oakley Sleever Drive along with a continued cross access through the Superior Residence property to the south. Minor typo or whatever, it's no longer Superior, it's now Hunt Trace. But I don't see anything in either packet that might, and again, maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see anything in either packet that even suggests that Superior slash Hunt Trace has been brought into this agreement. And when you take that desig

So Hunt Trace knows all this traffic is coming through their parking lot? Has anybody reached out and talked to them?

We got traffic all over the place here. We got people doing 70 miles an hour in a Walmart parking lot. So even if 20%, 15% of those cars go through that parking lot, that means... or you want to call it an easement, that means Hunt Trace, if and when they do become aware of this, would have to look into different kinds of events because right now their events go out that door and they take up that space. There's no travel lane because it's a dead-end street.

It's a memory care unit. It's a memory care unit. It's not an assisted living unit. It's a memory care unit. As I said, I was there October 3rd. What do you call it? I barely fit. You can't go, you know, so if for some reason there's a delivery truck coming in, UPS shows up, Amazon comes up, and they got to be careful because there's an overhang. I think the overhang is an 11 foot 2 clearance. So if that truck or anything has to either back up, they're backing up into that road. So that road is constantly being used either through deliveries or myself visiting my mom. And so I'm going to be co

So that's your property? That road is your property? Half of it.

Is that the tree line? Okay. Yeah. So 25% of that road is on your property and the other one is there right away.

Yep, that's what they want to use all that traffic for.

I said if it's deemed. So that means if they don't want it, you don't build it. Correct. Keep that in mind.

I mean, that's why we have traffic engineers. But what he just said are two different things. And if it's not in writing, it never took place.

Can you just go back to the aerial view? I'm sorry to cut people off.

I just want everybody to know that that middle road, if you want to zoom in a little bit,

No, no, no. On Hunt Trace, on that building. Just zoom in just a little bit.

I'm talking about that road that leads to a dumpster. So we keep talking about how it's a road and it's a cross access, but really, you know, when we look at stuff too zoomed out, we think we've got two roads going through that property when there's really only one. Because if you make the wrong turn, you're in the back of the building where it says West End Group. That is a dead end. It's not even a road. It's a dead end. So everything is going to be going around the back end of Hunt Trace onto that other road where you have that line of trees. And unless you're going to widen that... You sti

Can I make a suggestion? Because this seems to be, you know, kind of a second point. There was another project, and I guess I would ask you, Christian, for some clarification. But there was a project that, that had a lot of angst because, you know, a neighborhood right next to it. When the shopping plaza where Amore Restaurant is, a lot of people showed up from Anderson Hill and they were very, very concerned. So they have the two points, but the second access is for police and fire access only. perhaps we could make a recommendation if if we were to approve we could make a recommendation perh

Well, I agree with you, but I don't know how you're going to control that. And even if there's signage that says this is a – Oh, no, you do it with a gate.

If you've been to the plaza, you know what I mean? No, no, no. I understand. You could put, it would be a locked gate on the roadway. What I'm suggesting is we're behind where Planet Fitness is. You cannot access Anderson Hill Road because there is a locked gate. And the only entities...

So you're saying that there could be a locked gate at that cross-access road that only allows fire and police?

That's what they have in that instance. I mean, I'm not a code expert, but that's what was done in that case because there was never any intent to have residents go through there. But to meet requirements, there was a locked gate.

Because here I come as Claremont PD responding to a call or I'm in a rig. Responding to a call, and I decide to go up in through Hunt Trace's parking lot while the senior citizens, the residents, are having a pickleball contest. Now what do we do?

They use that overflow as part of a recreation for exercise for those residents. Some are in wheelchairs, some are in walkers, some would be able to stand. So does that mean, and I'm not trying to go down every rabbit hole, does that mean somebody at Hunt Trace is going to have to be responsible for giving a calendar of events just in case there's a call? Because here I come with my rig. And I'm hauling ass because I got a guy who's had a heart attack playing pickleball, and I'm going through that parking lot. What do I do when I turn that corner and it's wall-to-wall senior citizens because t

That's correct, and some of those vehicles are staged in that area. So if all of a sudden, to your point, and again, I'm not trying to go down every rabbit hole, if a police car, a fire engine... and an ambulance shows up at that intersection without that gate, if we're going to go down that rabbit hole, that road is essentially closed. If there is a gate, then granted, nobody coming out of the restaurant or the recreational area can get in there, okay? But at the same token, let's play it the different way. If first responders are responding to a restaurant call and decide it's more advantage

You're going to go on their property to walk around?

Well, he's the chairperson, okay? Let's not go there. You're done, Commissioner Mays? Is that what you're telling us? That's all I wanted to hear.

Well, satisfied, don't tell her how to vote.

Okay, I just want to bring to the commission's attention that even though we make recommendations, perfect example, we had a project come up to us. We're all concerned about the parking with a project. And then we asked for negotiation, which that's our job. Let's make it work for you. And they turned around and says, we'll bring only 50 seats that we'll have. And then the council turned around and says, nope, we'll let you go back to 70. So we're just making recommendations, okay? No matter how much hard work this council does to advise them, they know best. That's why they're councilmen. My

In other words, I live in Regency Hills. I have an exit. It's an egress. It's like click to enter for fire department. Now, this ain't going to be a swinging gate. It's going to be locked, just like

So they're going to have an operating gate. Yeah. Would you, could somebody tell me that please? Because I'm still confused.

No, you don't have to show me. I just verbally tell me.

That is okay. Staff that is in writing. That is in this writing.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Another condition we have to write up. All right.

My other one, I'm not done yet. I'm just, I'm asking, okay? I was going to ask if you have another one. You have all the time you want, Benny.

I know I have all the time in the world, and I plan to take it, David. No disrespect to you.

I hate being rushed by you. I worked very hard on this. I wasn't going to take the podium away from you.

Thank you. I'm not at the podium. Run my microphone. You're on the dial. Okay. Now, real last one, Jimmy. It's about your buffer. All right. In this, it says you don't want to disturb the view watching the lake. Jim, I'm going to be honest with you. I was on that property. And the only thing I see from that property is I can't even see the lake. I see other homes across the street. So, I mean, when I read that, I said something sounds fishy here. So, my question is, how many, to staff, how many under, how many trees are they supposed to have that they're asking for a variance of?

So they're going to have no canopy trees on their property?

That's my question. Where are those canopy trees going to be placed that they're replacing?

So they have, let's say, all right, so the whole project has, for example, this is my question. You can answer it if I do it by math. They have 20 canopy trees. They want to eliminate five, okay? Are those five they eliminate going to be put to other locations on the property?

You were scheduled for 20. I'm using it for example, Jim. I'm not going to beat nobody up. You were scheduled for 20 trees. Trees are important because we're losing our trees. Okay? And I'm surprised you didn't fight this one tooth and nail. You're asking to take five away, just for an example. And you have... not plan to replace it we can't be true we were asking to take five bigger trees away eventually and replace them with five right and your excuse in here i'm sorry i'm sorry i didn't mean to cut you off to me because i'm not going to go through this with you you're doing great it's you'r

I know the gentleman in engineering. He does great work, but I was every little turned off when he was taking away the canopy trees.

Oh, that would make me happy. I don't know about my tree hugger over here, but that would make me happy.

Okay, so we can put those things in our recommendation. That's it. I only had two questions.

I don't know why you only wanted me to ask one.

All right, we're going to move on then. Okay. If you think of another one, we'll come back to you, though.

Thank you. Jimmy, I get this one. And I'm just going to clarify that your primary entrance and exit used 100% of the time, unless in an emergency, would be from Oakley Seaver. That only in an emergency would they have access through the Hunt Trace Senior Living Facility, correct?

Exactly. But this is a code requirement for all of our commercial properties that we have two accesses. Yes, sir. one quite obvious and sometimes only obvious to people that, because this is, to me, it doesn't seem like an obvious entrance to go through the senior living facility. And yes, people will figure it out. I know that people will figure it out. But even then, I know this area really well. I live in this area and doctors right there and things. And I just couldn't imagine anybody going, wow, there's a hell of a shortcut through the senior living. I will slow down, drive around it. Or

But even still, not a lot of traffic on Hunt Trace Boulevard any day. So once I've turned on to Oakley Seaver and I head back, you know, behind the Home Depot and everything, it's like la-dee-da, la-dee-da. Now I absolutely get Commissioner Dodona's concern because he's got a family member there. And he had boots on the ground there. He knows what it's like. I certainly appreciate that concern. But I don't share that concern because I understand – I understand your primary entrances on Oakley Seaver the secondary emergency entrance would be through the senior living so I get that and that if w

landscape the interior anyway so we're fine with that excellent i get that okay um i for me i have a seemingly a different view i i kind of like what's going on here so thank you thank you commissioner hoisington

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's been some great discussions. Some of the same concerns I had. But when you made the statement about the secured gate that answered my question about in and out, I had concerns about removing the canopy trees. You said if you could replace as many as you can back and other trees, then I'm good with this.

All right. Sounds good. I think we beat this one up pretty good. I'll say something that no one else has said. I think it's actually a really beautiful facility. So Mr. Germano, congratulations. I think it's a great addition to the community. And I would support a motion that does require an emergency access gate. If trees were part of that, I would support that as well, so.

Could I ask a question, Mr. Chairman, before we take a vote? Yeah, go right ahead. Go right ahead. When was it changed from pickleball to racquetball?

Okay. I'm sorry, Mr. Kramer, but I'm tired of errors. You got an error this morning. I mean, coming here. I'm tired of it. Because I had a different outlook on your project if it was pickleball. Now that it's paddleball, it's indoor, correct? Yes, sir. And you have to be a member to use those courts, correct? Correct.

That's what I mean. Yes. That's exactly what I mean. Yes. Okay. I had a different outlook. I just wish it was in there because there's a lot of errors being made. Thank you, Jimmy.

I appreciate it. Any other comments before I ask for a motion?

Any other questions or comments before a motion? All right, I will entertain a motion at this time.

I'll set a motion with literature added to this as a recommendation. All right, that the two egress exits be locked to the public except for emergency vehicles. Second, that all canopy trees be relocated On the property, at their discretion. Whatever canopies they're removing along the west side, it has to be replaced on the property at their discretion. I'm compromising, Jimmy.

I understand. We have to do item four and then five. So your motion was for, I'll let you make the complete motion. You don't have to add all the other stuff, but you're making a motion to approve item 2026. I don't want to put words in your mouth, Vinny.

We have to. Okay, so let's first, we have to go item four, and then we'll do number five.

So let's first have a motion on item four, and then we can do item five.

It is item number two, and then we will do three.

Vince, I'll give it a try. I'll try to make a motion to approve ordinance number 2026-006 with the following conditions. No conditions. No conditions. OK, no conditions.

Motion, second for that item. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. All right. That is unanimous. I will entertain a motion for item number three. All right.

I'll try this one again. This is item number three, ordinance number 2026-007, with the conditions that the required cross access through the Hunt Trace Senior Living be secured for only access by emergency person or vehicles or emergency.

Could you refrain that to both exits, please? There's two exits and entrances. It's two entry points.

Amended to require for both exits and entrances. It's not in writing. It never happens. Not the primary one. And then also a requirement that all canopy trees are replaced on a one-for-one basis at the discretion of the developer where it goes. I got it.

Okay, we have a second motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. And the chair votes aye. Okay, that is approved. We will move on to our final applicant. I appreciate you waiting all of this time. We are going to take a quick five minute recess so we can give you our full attention.

All right. We are going to resume the meeting, and we are going to go to item number four for staff report.

All right. We'll hear from the applicant.

It's like the other project, right, Jimmy? The big project with all the walls behind.

all right well uh seeing that all members of the public have gone home and gone to bed um we will we can uh skip the public part of this and um so i'll bring it back to the to the commission i'll make a loop here i'll go um kramer hoisington then back over to you mr tudino and we'll we'll work our way back so mr kramer go ahead i don't think i've ever gone for her so

Well, Jimmy, I have a few questions. So if our own staff is saying that a 31% parking reduction could leave residents without parking spaces, why would this commission knowingly approve a problem that our own professional staff is already warning us could occur?

I counted six significant deviations from our normal development standards, height, grading, retaining walls, landscaping, and the 31% parking reduction that I just spoke of.

But what I'm trying to understand, we're redesigning our standards to make 317 units fit on a site that may not be able to appropriately accommodate 317 units. So that's what I'm trying to wrap my head around.

Well, maybe that will change in the future. Lake County staff previously reviewed this proposal for approximately 300 multifamily units on this property and found it inconsistent with the Claremont JPA land development regulations and comprehensive plan. What materially has changed that makes essentially this level of multifamily development appropriate now? Lake County doesn't want it. We're saying no and then. Here we are.

Well, I have one more question. Cause right now we're working on our comprehensive plan, but our, but it says currently PUD flexibility should produce a better outcome in mobility, open space, infrastructure, and community design. So identify specifically what Claremont's receiving here that is sufficiently exceptional to justify the deviations from our standards and the 300. I mean, what, What makes this special that we would want to approve this? Because you're asking for a lot here. This is separate from what we just discussed a minute ago.

So we feel like that's unique. So, you know, we're working on this new comprehensive. You feel this is a good fit? based on what that future plan is going to be that our new comprehensive plan, looking at what Claremont is going to be for the next decade or two. You feel that that's a good fit based on that plan?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I can support this, particularly when you mentioned the greenways and improving the lakes, the enhanced crosswalk. Everything seems to show that it's going to align with everything else that's there. So I have no other questions, I have no questions or concerns. I think you're moving in the right direction.

All right, Commissioner Todino. Tedona. It's the people I know up north. They have a different name, and I keep saying it, but Tedona. Thank you.

It's okay. Just look at the ID. I've never done it before tonight. They even took my name off. Yeah, you can't see the sign anymore. It's okay. Sorry. It's okay.

So, look, I guess I get to play devil's advocate again. I like the idea, I give credit where credit is due, of the enhanced crosswalk. I work for the Orange County Sheriff's Office. If you come out onto John Young and 50 and head towards Claremont, there is an enhanced crosswalk where somebody presses a button. The lights start flashing. Whether they're yellow or turns to red, you must stop while somebody goes through that crosswalk. It works every time. So if something like that, that you're proposing at that intersection, if it does get approved, more power to you. Thank you.

Right. And they seem to work. Okay. So here are the concerns. I was around when the first piece of property had two hotels on it. And now it has one hotel on it. And now it's got a gym. And now it's got all kinds of other fancy schmancy stuff. And we're going to go through some sort of... Let me borrow a phrase from the last project. Some sort of cross-access... So I can, when I go to Tuffy's to get my car done, I come up through Portillo's. So if I wanted to really, based on your design, I could keep driving right onto Hook's and use that whole thing as a way to cross through whatever, cross

I asked why would Claremont annex property and grant substantially greater development flexibility when Lake County staff previously raised consistency concerns about a roughly 300-unit multifamily proposal on this property?

THANK YOU VERY MUCH. COMMISSIONER NEMUT.

HELLO, JIMMY. ONCE AGAIN, AND SIR. ONCE AGAIN, AND SIR. MY QUESTION, ALL RIGHT, I DON'T MY QUESTION, ALL RIGHT, I DON'T KNOW WHICH ONE TO ASK FIRST, How is this project going to benefit Claremont? Somebody answer that for me, please.

Okay. And who asked you on the city council for that road? I want a specific name.

Okay. I don't know if you remember the voting, but I really wasn't in favor for your first project that came up. All right. And I'm going to be honest with you. All right. And I don't like this project at all, especially when you ask me to wait five variances. Okay. So, I mean, my question is, what made you change your mind from your first project that got approved to To this new project that you're asking us to bend the rules for you.

Don't build it if it's that severe. If you're asking us to break the rules, I'm going to be totally honest with you. I mean, did you change your mind because it's in the comprehensive plan? Because that's what I'm looking at when I first read this. I said, wait a minute. I'm reading this and I'm reading my packet. It's the same exact project. Two properties that they're talking about. Page 112. Sure. You brought it up.

Did they change their minds to get this other location on it and ask for more waivers?

No, absolutely not. Good answer. I'm not in favor of this project. All right. I think most of my questions have been answered. I really hope you spent a lot of time and effort with that crossing. I think that crossing is hugely important, not only for pedestrians, but to slow traffic. That's the speedway right there right now. And if people are pulling directly out in and out of that property, I think all you can do to slow folks down is

Yeah, it's kind of a crazy area with these islands and people pulling U-turns and doing stuff that may or may not be legal sometimes.

I understand the changes on the first one. I've actually, you know, I don't, my reaction probably a year ago before I met the DPZ people would have been losing the park is a horrible thing. But I've actually kind of gotten an education on parks and what makes a good park. And I think a lot of cities, you know, they just throw a piece of grass out and they think it's a great park. But if it's not activated and it doesn't have things that attract people, it's kind of just a useless thing. piece of land that attracts trash and overgrown grass so um um i i you know i don't think um you know losing

May I ask one more? I mean, actually, it's a comment. I'm glad you said comment. Flashing signs, as we know, even down in certain areas, downtown Claremont, don't work. Okay? I see this being a disaster if you're counting on a flashing sign. Okay? I take my life in my hand when I get my car washed, come out of the state and shake. In that area, just getting across. Okay? A flashing sign ain't going to stop it. Like Commissioner Todona said, that's the most busiest intersection when he gets backed up. Okay, so I'm just, I was amazed that that was even brought up, that that's a plus. But thank y

All right, anybody else have any questions, comments before we entertain a motion? All right, so I guess I will entertain a motion at this time. Would anybody like to make a motion?

So do we have a motion for item number four?

I'll start off, I'll set a motion to approve just to start it off. Just to start it off.

I'll second. I'll second a motion to approve ordinance number 2026-034.

Thank you. Okay, we have a motion, a second. Do we have any discussion?

Just to confirm with that, yes, we are. This is just to include. The southern part is item number four.

Okay. So we have a motion. Second. Any further discussion on this? All in favor to support item number four?

Is yes for four. So that passes with one no.

I make a motion that we approve ordinance number 2026-035.

Okay, we have a motion to approve item number five. Is there a second on that?

We have a motion and second. Any discussion? Okay, all in favor of item five, vote aye.

Okay, that completes all the business. Anything else from staff? Meeting adjourned.

I'M JUST SAYING. I'M NOT YELLING AT YOU. I'M JUST SAYING. HOW WE NEGOTIATE. I'M JUST SAYING. HOW WE NEGOTIATE. I'M JUST SAYING. HOW WE NEGOTIATE. AND THEN SHE TURNED AROUND AND HOW WE NEGOTIATE. AND THEN SHE TURNED AROUND AND HOW WE NEGOTIATE. AND THEN SHE TURNED AROUND AND SAID 70. AND THEN SHE TURNED AROUND AND SAID 70. AND THEN SHE TURNED AROUND AND SAID 70. THE REASON WHY I SAID 50 IS AND THEN SHE TURNED AROUND AND SAID 70. THE REASON WHY I SAID 50 IS AND THEN SHE TURNED AROUND AND SAID 70. THE REASON WHY I I'm used to going I have to come up