07-28-2021 Skorman MinutesCity of Clermont
MINUTES
Special Magistrate
July 28, 2021
The Special Magistrate hearing was held on Tuesday, July 28, 2021 beginning at 9:01 p.m.
Special Magistrate Lewis Stone was present. Attorneys present were Tara Tedrow, Deborah
Mitchell and Dan Mantzaris. Witnesses present were: Will Bosserman, Marvin Puryear, Chuck
Hiott, James Taylor, Stephanie Shealey and Kevin Skorman. City staff present: Planning and
Development Director Curt Henschel and Planning manager John Kruse.
Esquire Stone gave a brief explanation for the reason for the hearing. He stated that he will ask
those who speak to take an oath even though this is an informal hearing. He asked if the
attorneys had anything to say preliminarily before getting started.
Tara Tedrow, Lowndes, Drosdick, Kantor & Reed in behalf of the applicant, explained the
allowable requirements and explained the grading challenges on the site. She stated that staff
supported the cut and fill that is needed for the property in question. She stated that City Council
denied the project based to location, traffic concerns and impact of surrounding area. She
expressed her concerns for that decision.
William Bosserman, 634 E Harwood St., Orlando, stated that he acquired the properties when his
father passed away. He stated that he engaged with a broker in 2018 to list the property as
multifamily. He stated that he understood that multifamily uses was allowed.
Marvin Puryear, 6612 Wind Lane, Groveland, stated that he has been in real estate since 1996.
He has been a broker for 2 different brokerages here in Clermont. He stated that he has evaluated
numerous properties for subdivisions and other properties. He stated that he has also done
evaluations for banks. He stated that he has testified previous before County Commission. He
stated that he discussed with property owner what they expected to happen to the property listed.
He stated that speaking with City staff he was given the impression the request would be
approved. He stated that multifamily is the best use of this site.
Planning Manager John Kruse, 685 W. Montrose St., Clermont, stated he has been employed
with City of Clermont since 2013. He stated that he has previous experience from Lake County
and water management district. He stated that he is licensed with American Institute of Certified
Planners. He stated is associated with Florida Planning Organization. He stated that he reviewed
the application supplied by the petitioner. He stated that he reviewed the comprehensive plan and
codes for this project. He stated that he did recommend approval. He stated that the Planning and
Zoning Commission recommended approval of the project. He stated that there was a concern
about the morning school traffic. He stated that the future land use is residential office. He stated
this property was brought into the city by the original owner and they requested residential office
with urban estate zoning and typically applicants do that to take tax advantages of their property.
Chuck Hiott, 902 N Sinclair, Tavares, stated that he is a civil engineer since 1998. He stated that
he has a professional engineering license and has a bachelors in engineering. He stated that he
created that concept plan. He stated that the concept met the land development code. He stated
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that there are gates on the plans. He stated that they were able to minimize the cut and fill. He
stated that there are four areas on the site that will exceed the 10 foot cut and fill. He stated the
maximum cut and fill requested by petitioner is 13 feet. He stated that the cost of building the
apartments is going to be high due to working with the topography. He stated they will have to
meet all ADA requirements. He stated they would like to cut by 30 feet, however they can't so
they worked with staff to make it functional.
Stephanie Shealey, 355 Robinson St., Orlando, stated that she is a senior engineer with Kittelson
and Associates. She stated that practice is mainly in development and planning for cities and
counties. She stated she does analysis for roadway projects and general transportation and
pedestrian projects. She stated she has a bachelors in engineering. She stated that City of
Clermont has hired her to perform traffic studies and specifically for the Skorman's. She stated
that she did provide comments to the city based on her conclusions.
James Taylor, 189 S Orange Ave., Orlando stated he works for Kimley-Horn and Associates as a
transportation engineer. He stated that he serves private and public sector clients. He stated he
does traffic studies, long range planning, and travel man modeling. He stated that he has done
one review for the City of Traffic. He stated that he has a bachelors in engineering. He stated that
he has prepared probably over 500 traffic studies throughout his career. He stated that exhibit 10
was his traffic study that was required by the City. He stated that they look at how much traffic is
on the road today, in the future and if the project is actually developed. He stated the City and
County reviewed his traffic study. He stated the City provided a staff recommendation on his
traffic study that he adequately addressed. He stated the driveways were to have two accesses to
Excalibur Road, however from the County's recommendation they went to a right in, right out
onto Excalibur due to the school. The other direct access is on Hooks Street which is a full
access. He stated that the schools were taken into consideration for the traffic study for this
project. He stated that the traffic impact is low. He stated that if 100% of the traffic went to the
Hooks Street driveway in an event of a closure of the Excalibur Street driveway that the Hooks
Street driveway would operate at an acceptable level of service. He stated that the traffic increase
would have to be below 1 % to be considered deminimis.
Kevin Skorman, 1473 Cassel Boulevard, Windermere, stated that he is real estate developer. He
stated that a general contractor license and third generation real estate developer. He stated that
he has done several other apartment projects in Florida. He stated the apartments in Minneola are
directly across from the Minneola High School. He stated that they look to develop apartments
near schools because they complement each other greatly. He stated that all applicants are
required to do a background check prior to leasing. He stated that one of the requests was to keep
the topography of the property. He stated that they requested less units due to the topography. He
stated that there is no demand for an office project for this location and an office project would
be more challenging due to the topography. He stated that there is no other demand for this
property based on the market and all the calls and interest on this property was multi -family.
Special Magistrate Lewis Stone stated that they would break until 12:30
Planning and Development Services Director, Curt Henschel stated he has worked with the City
for 19 years. He stated that he is familiar with the property in question. He stated that other types
of applicants would also have to go through a rezoning process. He stated that when a property
annexes into the city the default zoning is Urban Estate. He stated that John Kruse reviewed the
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application and he reviews John's notes pertaining to the application. He stated that staff makes a
recommendation and it's up to City Council to determine if the application should be approved.
Dani Page 2422 Lincoln Ave. stated that her children walk to school and her child almost got hit
while walking. She stated that the applicant did not request workforce housing. She stated that
the applicant's project in Ocoee is a smaller project than what is proposed for the subject
property. She stated that most of the proposed development is on Excalibur, not on the Hooks
Street corridor. She stated that they strong armed their way into Ocoee as well as they are doing
in this case. She stated that the traffic during school backs up from the East Ridge Middle School
down Excalibur into the Citrus Tower/Steve's Road intersection. She stated it backs up from the
other direction from the school down Excalibur all the way to Hooks Street.
Attorney Deborah Mitchell provided her closing remarks.
Attorney Tara Tedrow provided her closing remarks.
With no further comments, Special Magistrate Lewis Stone adjourned the meeting at 2:38 P.M.
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