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Clermont commissioners flag housing shortfall and public-safety concerns in opening reports
Summary
Commissioners opened the first Planning & Zoning meeting of 2026 with staff and commissioner reports that highlighted a 1,945-unit workforce housing deficit in the region (Sheinberg Center 2025) and local public-safety concerns sparked by a Clermont Sun interview describing long emergency response times and a rise in traffic fatalities; commissioners referenced mobility/impact fees and design-code tools used by neighboring cities.
At the start of the Jan. 6 meeting, staff and commissioners used their reports to highlight two recurring policy concerns: housing affordability and public safety.
Ms. May called attention to the Sheinberg Center for Housing Studies’ 2025 annual report, which the commission was told documents a 1,945‑unit deficit in workforce housing in the broader Orlando area (including portions of Lake and Osceola counties). Ms. May summarized how the Live Local Act’s middle‑market tax exemption — which can provide a 75% ad valorem exemption to qualifying developments that include 71 or more workforce units — interacts with local taxing-authority opt-out decisions. She offered to circulate the study to commissioners for further review as the commission heads into 2026 housing discussions.
Commissioner Tedon cited reporting in the Clermont Sun and relayed concerns expressed by the city’s fire chief (named in the article) about response times that he said exceeded 10 minutes in some cases. Tedon also cited county crash statistics presented in his packet, saying Lake County recorded 73 traffic fatalities in 2025 (up from 51 in 2024) and noting increases in pedestrian and bicycle fatalities. Tedon urged attention to mobility and impact-fee policies and referenced examples from Groveland and Oviedo where municipalities used fee structures, split-fee agreements and revised design codes to manage growth and negotiate with developers.
No formal action was taken during these reports; commissioners used the items to frame local priorities as the commission moves into a year that will include design-code updates and land-use decisions.
