Council approves rezoning for Palm Gardens site; owner says mixed-use zoning needed to market property

The Tavares City Council voted Wednesday to rezone about 20.83 acres known as the Palm Gardens property from an expired planned development (PD) to the city's mixed-use (MU) zoning district under Ordinance 2025-09.

Planning staff presented the request and recommended approval, saying the rezoning would align the parcel with the city's adopted future land-use map and the 2040 comprehensive plan. Staff reported the parcel is bounded by the Dead River to the east, U.S. Highway 441 to the south, jurisdictional wetlands to the north and commercial land use to the west. The property has been cleared of a former RV park, and staff said environmental and a traffic assessments were provided in the packet.

The Planning & Zoning Board denied the owner's rezoning request earlier; board members told staff they would have preferred conceptual renderings before recommending approval. City staff said the mixed-use district is consistent with the comprehensive plan and zoning matrix and noted mixed-use development must include a commercial component; the city's neighborhood-commercial definition limits that commercial use to under 5,000 square feet.

The applicant and property representative, Trey Beck, addressed council and said the owner does not currently have a detailed concept plan and does not intend to use the state's Live Local program. "We have 0 intentions of using Live Local here," Beck said. He described the request as an effort to establish a clear zoning framework so the owner can market and responsibly develop the site. Beck said likely uses would include multi-family residential with neighborhood-scale commercial fronting U.S. 441, but no definitive site plan has been prepared.

Council members asked whether a straight MU zoning would allow primarily residential development with only a small commercial component; staff confirmed mixed-use zoning requires both commercial and residential components but that a neighborhood-commercial use could be a small footprint (under 5,000 square feet). Staff said some future actions (subdivisions, variances or a preliminary subdivision plan) would return to council for review; a straight site-plan to build to code without subdividing the land would not necessarily come back to council.

The council approved Ordinance 2025-09 on second reading by voice vote with the mayor announcing "Aye," and the ordinance was adopted that night. Staff packet materials included a traffic-impact analysis, environmental assessment, school concurrency review and the expired PD for reference.