Despite the project’s lack of road access, the Lake County Planning & Zoning Board recommended approval of land use and zoning changes for a 77-acre warehouse park set to rise in unincorporated Mount Dora.
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The property owner — identified as the William J. Benham Life Estate — is proposing a warehouse office park with 55 warehouse office buildings, four indoor storage areas, an outdoor storage area and two barns. The site is north of the Lake Lena Lane and County Road 448 intersection, straddling Lake Lena Lane on both sides.
But the property owner does not have legal access to Lake Lena Lane, leading to questions at the Wednesday board meeting about whether now is the time to rezone the surrounding property from Agriculture District to Planned Industrial District and change the future land use from Rural to Industrial.
Attorney Madelyn Damon, representing project applicant Bret Jones, said the property owner does not have imminent plans to break ground.
“We’re not trying to develop right now and we understand we have to go through and get all the site plan approvals,” she said. “That goes for drainage, stormwater, access and some of the other concerns that were brought up. Those will all be addressed at the site plan stage.”
According to Damon, the initial application for the project was submitted in April 2024 and was amended from its original request of Light Industrial zoning at the recommendation of county staff.
“We’ve had to obtain a boundary survey and we’ve worked with the engineer on the concept plan, so all those things take a lot of time,” she said. “That’s why we wanted to have it in place so that when and if the property owner is ready to sell, or if he wants to develop according to that concept plan, he can do so rather than having to wait additional time.”
The 77 acres in question are adjacent to Hurley Lake Jem Farms, owned and founded by state Rep. Keith Truenow.
Board member Judith Fike said she felt the request was “putting the cart before the horse” in rezoning the property without formal contact with other land owners along Lake Lena Lane or ownership of the roadway.
“We’re being asked to approve an industrial future land use today with no ownership of the road, no roadway improvements, anything of that effect,” Fike said.
But board chair Laura Smith noted that the property owner does not need ownership of the Lake Lena Lane roadway to go through the zoning and land use process. However, no building can take place without access.
“If they can’t get [roadway approval], the land is going to sit there with this [industrial] use on it,” she said. “…If it never gets developed because there’s no legal access, then it never gets developed because there’s no legal access.”
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After an initial motion to recommend denial of the project failed by 3-2 vote, planning board members unanimously recommended approval of the project under the condition that no development order or site plan is approved until the property owner has legal roadway access and has constructed any required roadway improvements.
“As Lake County grows, part of the growth objectives of the county are to accommodate for jobs,” Damon said. “A lot of people travel to Orange County to go to work or warehouses and offices. It’s time for Lake County to have the space for us to grow and to do that and not have to travel to Orlando.”
The proposed development along Lake Lena Lane is one of several warehouse projects making progress across Lake County.
Developer Scott Brockie recently received unanimous approval from Tavares City Council to build a mixed-use light industrial warehouse park on nearly 20 acres along County Road 561 in Tavares.
Brockie is the President and CEO of Accu-Cut, a carpet cutting machine and synthetic turf solutions business.
The proposed property for the project — dubbed Interlake Commerce Park — is the site of an Accu-Cut machine workshop that will be re-designed to add a mix of light industrial, manufacturing, indoor and outdoor storage, retail commercial, professional offices, and recreational commercial uses across five warehouse buildings.
Last month, Groveland City Council approved the future land use and rezoning for a proposed industrial flex business park set to rise on Sampey Road.
According to Haven Property Group broker Aaron Blake, Orlando-based investment firm Parkway is set to develop the Groveland Commons Business Park on 31.9 acres near downtown Groveland.
The project, which would straddle both sides of Sampey Road, will include 12 flex warehouse and office buildings totaling 90,000 square feet.
Jon Jones, CEO of Jones Builders Inc., a land development and construction firm in Clermont, bought the land for $605,000 in 2021. Jones is partnering with Parkway on the project.
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