Neighbors urge Leesburg to review stormwater protections as Treasure Trove ownership shifts to a build-to-rent firm

Residents near the Treasure Trove site urged the City Commission to reconsider stormwater protections and asked the city to require a meeting with the incoming builder after they said the original applicant had effectively transferred the project to Southern Impression Homes.

Multiple speakers described repeated flooding and stormwater failures at nearby Silver Lake Point and Britt Road in Mount Dora and said the Treasure Trove property's low-lying wetlands and a newly created logging road could worsen runoff and close County Road 44 during storms. Speakers said the original applicant, Jerome Hennen, who had presented the project when the commission approved it, recently entered a memorandum of contract to sell to Southern Impression Homes, which several residents described as a company that specializes in build-to-rent communities. Residents said that change was not disclosed when the application was before planning and the commission and called it a "bait and switch." They asked the commission to require a public meeting with the new builder so neighbors could review construction plans and stormwater protections before construction begins.

Speakers pointed to recent failures, including runoff that has repeatedly covered CR 44, and cited two planning-and-zoning rejections of Treasure Trove (7-0 and 5-2) prior to the commission's 4-1 approval (Commissioner Knauss opposed at the time). Speakers asked whether liability for future roadway or private property flooding would fall on the developer, the city, the original applicant, or future homeowners' associations.

One resident also noted a petition filed with the St. Johns River Water Management District requesting a hearing to dispute the project's environmental resource permit. Residents requested formal city support for that petition and asked the commission to ensure that required mitigation, construction sequencing and stormwater improvements are adequate before site work continues.

The commission did not take an immediate action on Treasure Trove at the Aug. 25 meeting; residents said they wanted the city to convene a public meeting with Southern Impression Homes and to confirm oversight responsibilities for future stormwater failures.