The Land Planning Agency of the City of Eustace voted to forward two proposed ordinances to the City Commission that would assign a future land‑use designation of General Commercial to two adjoining properties at the corner of County Road 44 and County Road 44A, moving them from their current Urban Low designation.

The change would apply to two parcels: a roughly 10‑acre parcel and a roughly 2.8‑acre parcel, both shown in staff materials as proposed to be assigned General Commercial under Ordinances 25‑21 and 25‑24. Agency members moved to send both items to the City Commission for further consideration; both motions passed on roll call (see actions below).

Staff said the requests had been reviewed against Florida statutes, the City comprehensive plan, and the city's land development regulations, and that utilities and facilities exist or are reasonably available to serve commercial development. Staff noted the properties lie within the Wekiva Basin recharge area and reported generalized recharge of about 8–12 inches per year; staff also said no wetlands or 100‑year floodplain were present on the parcels and that required water‑management‑district permitting would apply at the site‑plan stage.

The applicant, Travis Sawchuk, who lives adjacent to the parcels and identified himself as the owner/applicant for the properties he manages, told the agency he and a co‑owner envision a low‑density service plaza with a few outparcels on the 10‑acre site and a low‑intensity business‑park use on the 2.8‑acre site. "A service plaza is something that is not going to fail during different recessions," Sawchuk said, adding he planned buffers and design treatments and said he has removed pine trees on the site that he described as beetle‑infested.

Several nearby residents urged caution. Cindy Newton, a resident near Clear Lake, said drainage from the corner flows toward Lake Swaterra and that nearby homeowners are already seeing increased runoff; she asked that drainage impacts be addressed in later design review. "I want to make sure that doesn't happen to them," Newton said. Donald Doyle, who lives across County 44A north of the parcels, said the applicants' submittal did not state a specific intended use and called several commercial uses potentially incompatible so close to houses. "I believe that none of these uses should be allowed this close to our neighbors," Doyle said, and he pointed staff to Lake County Ordinance 2020‑71 (the Lake Swaterra PUD amendment) as a existing County zoning document that, he said, lists limited uses for the property.

Trina Marquez, who said her backyard faces the parcels, told the agency she did not want bright lights or increased traffic adjacent to her home. Paul Perkins, who owns property on the corridor, said he supports commercial development at the intersection and said the corridor needs services.

Staff and the applicant clarified several technical points during the hearing: advertisements for the land‑use hearings had been published July 28 and August 4 and mailed notices were sent July 25; staff said the parcel owners' names on some public materials were reversed and that would be corrected; site design, stormwater, and water‑management permitting will be considered at the site‑plan stage; and park/unit density and actual development types will be determined by market demand and later approvals.

The agency did not adopt zoning or site plans at the meeting; members only voted to forward the proposed future‑land‑use ordinances to the City Commission for public hearings and final action. If the City Commission approves a future‑land‑use change, subsequent approvals (e.g., design district, site plan, water‑management permits) would address buffers, lighting, drainage and specific allowed uses.

Notes: the applicant said he removed approximately 41 dead or beetle‑infested pine trees from the site; buffers on the property currently include a six‑foot fence and planted trees, and the applicant said he would be willing to discuss an eight‑foot fence and layered plantings to provide sound and visual screening.