I will call to order the appearance
review board meeting on August 4th,
2026. Let's stand for the pledge of
allegiance.
me.
>> Member Balcom
>> present.
>> Chair Grimes
>> present.
>> Vice Chair Gil
>> present.
>> Member Kettle is absent. Member Rain is
absent.
Is there anyone present who would like
to speak?
I will close the floor.
Um, approval of the minutes from June
2nd, 2026. Are there any questions or
comments on the minutes?
» Can I have a motion?
» I'll make a motion to approve the
minutes of the June 2nd, 2026 meeting.
Second.
>> All in favor?
>> I.
>> Any opposed?
Motion passes.
» Um the new business. This item it is for
ordinance 20265
Oakland Town Center resoning development
agreement and preliminary subdivision
plan.
Yes. An ordinance of the town of
Oakland, Florida, adopting a town
official zoning map amendment from C1
Commercial General within the urban
corridor design district to PUB Plan
Yune Development within the urban
corridor design district for certain
real property owned by Oakland Town
Center LLC, generally located on the
north side of State Road 50 at the
northwest corner of the intersection of
State Road 50 and Katherine Ross Road,
as more particularly described herein
with an approximate size of 14.80 acres,
approving a development agreement
between the property owner and the town
of Oakland, and approving a preliminary
subdivision plan, making findings, and
providing for conflicts, severability,
and an effective date.
Good evening, members of the ARB. It's
good to be back before you guys again to
talk about the Oakland Town Center.
Before we get into specifics, we'll go
into a little bit of background
regarding the actual property itself.
So, without going through all of the
actual numbers, this property is
comprised of five distinct existing
parcels of land totaling about 14.8
acres. It contains both a commercial
future land use classification and
zoning district. And it is located
within the town's urban corridor design
district. And as mentioned in the
reading of the ordinance, the purpose of
this is to
an all-encompassing package, but the
first and foremost is to reszone the
property from its existing commercial
zoning district to a planned unit
development. As part of that planned
unit development is the development
agreement which governs and creates the
regulations, standards, what is and is
not allowed on the property. And with
that development agreement then if we're
going down to the third layer is the
associated preliminary subdivision plan
which the purpose would be to um serve
as the template when if and when it
comes through for final construction
review by the town. So that's a little
bit of a background of what we're here
reviewing tonight.
Looking at the site location map, the
property is bordered on the east by
Katherine Ross Road. And the little
cutout here you can see is um just for
spatial references, the tractor supply
store there. And you can see the current
five parcel configuration.
So what actually comprises the Oakland
Town Center is 11 singlestory commercial
buildings that vary in size from
approximately 10,000 foot multi-tenant
buildings all the way down to a 12
approximately 1,200 foot drive-thru
building. In total all the buildings
comprise of 84,020
square feet and is accessed via five
distinct points. And you can see one off
of State directly off State Road 50, two
off of Katherine Ross Road, and one off
the side street directly in front of the
um tractor supply parking lot. You'll
notice here as part of and it is
indicated on the um provided preliminary
subdivision plan, part of this project
would comprise of the construction of a
connecting roadway here. And you can see
this red area to be constructed by the
developer and eventually once
constructed it would be dedicated to the
town as public rightway as a
transportation improvement.
So here is a general overview of the
plan. It will become important um in a
few slides but just take note of the
specific location and orientation of
buildings because we are going to go
building by building and discuss what
each of these is to look like. So, I'll
jump back and forth if needed, but just
get a general sense of the layout of and
configuration of the buildings you see
on the site plan.
And tying to that, we also have the
associated landscape plan. And it is
these two things together, including
details such as drainage, utility
connections, things such as that. All of
this together comprise the preliminary
subdivision plan that is before you and
subject to this ordinance development
agreement and associated plan
development.
So continuing on the overview, as
mentioned, there is a governing
development agreement which creates a
specific set of standards and
regulations that in some cases may
differ from what the general land
development code um requires or can be
more restrictive. As an example,
specific uses that are permitted within
the planned unit develop include, as you
can see here, commercial, retail, office
uses, restaurants with no more than one
drive-thru is all that's being permitted
within this developed project,
educational, and clinic uses. So, it is
a full gamut of potential uses that
could go into um this project as
governed by the development agreement.
There is also a specific prohibition on
a couple of uses. Both tobacco, smoke
shops, marijuana dispensaries, those are
in the agreement and baked in that they
cannot apologize for the pun cannot go
into the um the subject site. There are
also, which are separate from the
specific deviations that are being
requested before you as the ARB tonight,
certain standards, as I mentioned, that
do differ slightly from what the general
code requires and were negotiated as
part of the development agreement
drafting process. As an example,
the um the development agreement does
permit the maximum width of the
commercial buildings to go up to 240 um
liner feet as opposed to believe it's
150 as per regulated by the code. that
was negotiated and agreed to by the two
parties. And that is in the development
agreement that is included as part of
your packet.
And as mentioned, the the entirety of
the preliminary subdivision plan is
incorporated as an exhibit to this
development agreement and will be, as I
mentioned, the governing reference
document for final engineering and
construction plan review by the entirety
of the town review team. So I think
that's an important thing to note is the
this is a preliminary subdivision plan.
This is not a final approval. We if and
when it gets through the sequence it
will still need to go before the town to
ensure that all the design elements in
regard to engineering landscaping are
installed properly. all of those
elements including any outside permits
that are required whether it be with the
water management district panelis or
sorry it's my old life orange county
fire and etc etc.
So, as the appearance reviewer, as the
appearance review board, you are um
certain deviations can be asked of you
from the specific standards of the um
the town's design districts, certain
variances or dimensional changes. And
as the ARB, you do review propo
proposals to ensure that they confirm
conform to the intent and purpose of
each of the town's design districts. The
applicant group did provide a list of
specific requests and uh specific
deviations that they are seeking from
the code. And as I did mention to each
of you when you came in, the initial um
deviation letters that you received were
the were a previous draft of the of the
request and the final version is what
has been presented to you. The only
difference is the in terms of the
signage and we'll actually get into the
next slide and kind of transition that
better. So this remains the same. Um per
the LDC 60% of the building is required
to be transparent whether it be through
doors, windows etc. 60% of commercial
buildings are required to be transparent
and not just solid mass blank walls.
What has been proposed by the applicant
group is what's known as the pedestrian
uh transparency method which the stated
intent is to really facilitate that more
ground level design and change the way
that that calculation is um I guess is
perceived more from a pedestrian level
rather than you know somebody going by
on the turnpike for example.
And as you and now the next two are in
relation to signage. So, per the land
development code, each developed piece
of property is permitted a single ground
sign. Um, as part of the development,
the applicant is requesting three ground
signs. And I have a um I have a
rendering of one type of the sign. The
applicant group is intending to have
their own presentation. You will see the
a better layout than what is in my own
presentation.
And in addition to that, for each one of
those um two of those ground signs, the requested deviation would be to take
the minimum or the maximum sign area, I
should say, from 48 ft per the LDC
standards to a maximum sign area of 51
square feet. For the third sign, there
is no requested deviation from the code
requirements.
Now, we will go into architectural
design. So, as I mentioned, I will go
back and forth if needed, but
so building B1.
Actually, Kathy, would you mind if I get
the keyboard? That might be helpful for
this.
So, this building type is one of I go
back to the site plan. So, this building
here is one of these. If you guys can
see my mouse, it's one of the ones that
do not have direct frontage on State
Road 50 or Katherine Ross Road. It is uh
tucked in behind the primary frontage
buildings. And that one
is the first elevation set we're looking
at.
And again, it should be noted that these
are preliminary renderings. These are
not the formal official elevations that
would need to be reviewed as part of the
building permitting process.
So looking at this, this is B, this is
building B2. This is one of the two, uh primary
building masses that are going to be
fronting along State Road 50.
We have here building B3. This one is
directly adjacent to that first set of
buildings tucked behind the primary
fronting buildings on State Road 50.
This one is building B4. This is the
building to the east which is also
directly fronting State Road 50.
This one here is building B5, which is
another one of the buildings that will
be tucked in to the um tucked in behind
those buildings that are directly
fronting along State Road 50.
This is building B6. This is the
building, if you're looking at your site
plan, that is turned sideways and faces
Katherine Ross Road.
Looking at building B7, this is um guess
the only way really to show you is to go
back to the site plan. So B7
is apologize.
Building B7. This is seven and eight. So
just for reference points, these are
these two buildings that are facing
sideways with their sides facing
Katherine Ross Road.
I'll go back to those.
Let's get my number here.
60. Apologize everyone.
Okay. So then, as I said, that was B7.
And then B8. Very similar. They're these
buildings are right next to each other,
so they do have similar elevations.
And then finally, we get to B9. And this
is the building that has the most direct
frontage directly against Katherine Ross
Road.
And if you notice on the site plan,
there are the two um smaller standalone
buildings. These are the two um they're
listed, I believe, on the site plan as
OP1 and OP2. This is the first building.
You can see it's a two tenants two
tenant building. And this is also
fronting State Road 50. And as
mentioned, there is only one permitted
drive-thru um per the development
agreement. And this is the preliminary
rendering of that singular drive-thru
facility.
Thank you for bearing with me as we went
back and forth with the elevations on
there. I'm happy to go back and at any
of those once we're done with this
presentation.
And as I mentioned, this was the sign
subject to the original request that you
received for two monument signs instead
of one. These would be located, if
you're looking at the site plan, on the
primary entrance along State Road 50.
And then the second one would be on the
entryway to Katherine Ross Road. But the
applicant group during their
presentation will show you on their site
plan where that third um I guess you can
call it a keynote sign would be located
at the intersection of those two roads.
So as noted this project is proposed to
be located within the town's urban
corridor design district the with the
intent of AC which the intent of which
is to accommodate mixeduse projects of
and larger scale developments. Staff did
find during our analysis that the
proposed development is consistent with
the intent and purpose of the urban
corridor design district um by creating
com largescale commercial uses with
local and regional accessibility given
its proximity to a very busy commercial
thoroughare project would also
facilitate the redevelopment of an
underutilized vacant property with
difficult topography and terrain which
I'm sure the applicant group might get
into during their presentation and of
course the develment could promote
remote economic investment and support
job creation within the town relative to
a vacant piece of land.
So based on this, staff does find the
proposed Oakland Town Center as
presented substantially compliant with
the town of Oakland's land development
code and the design district
requirements. Um and do recommend
approval of ordinance 20265
and provide that as is provided with
this agenda item. Apologize, it's really
hot in here. And um the applicant group
also has their own presentation that
they're that they um have queued up, but
before we get to them, if you have any
questions for me, that concludes staff's
presentation. And thank you for your
time.
I I don't have anything. I'm going to
wait for their presentation and then
go from there. Thank you guys.
Well, good evening. Thanks y'all for the
record. Logan Obsol Lounge Law Firm, 215
North Yola Drive. Uh we we brought the
whole project team for you and so really
appreciate Taylor going in depth with
staff presentation. We intend to do the
same. hopefully kind of anticipating
your questions um and so we can get all
those answered at the forefront. Um but
before I begin, I just want to bring up
Alex Ree uh the applicant who uh wanted
to just introduce himself as well.
>> Hi, my name is Alex Ree and uh I've
thoroughly enjoyed working with your
town on this project. This project has
been a long time coming. It has been a a
monster project really. Uh, I think that
we felt like there was a vision here off
of uh, Highway 50 10 years ago and we
saw the growth with Winter Garden and
Claremont and some of the towns that
you're surrounded by. We felt like that
there was a a real possibility that this
area could uh could grow into an area
where people would want to lease product
here. And
we went through this process with St.
John's water management. And uh I
digress here, but it was a very long
arduous process because we had to
mitigate an acre and a quarter of land
on the on the site. I tell you guys this
because over the time period, this area
has gotten more and more and more robust
in terms of what we can build here. Now,
so what kind of started out is as is
maybe something that would support well
something very much like Schmidt
Construction has across the street,
which was it was never really all that
glamorous to me. The rents now in the
area plus uh just the just the trips per
day support something quite different,
something that I'm very excited to bring
to you guys today. Um it's going to be
an incredible project. I mean, we're
trying to do something very much like a
winter garden feel or a winter park feel
to this. Um, it's uh we've I think the
biggest thing that I'm the most proud of
is the team that we've assembled. Okay.
So, uh Brent who's with Kimley Horn, who
I believe works with your town, is just
in incredible. He's an incredible
partner for us. He's done an incredible
job working with St. John's Water
Management. Bobby who works with Gemini
is not here tonight, but I think you
guys know him through Steve Healey and
some of the projects that he's done.
He's another incredible incredible
asset. Alexi is uh just a leasing and
guru. I mean, she deals with a lot of
different
tenants that we think are going to fit
very nicely here from an organic craft
feel that I think is going to give you a luxurious kind of feel to the town
center. You know, we're not looking to
do a cookie cutter town center here. And
then I would like to also point out uh
Costell Benurro who is uh in-house
design with me. He handles a lot of our
in-house stuff and and has done just an
exceptional job working with this. Logan
behind me works with a a young woman
named Tara Tedro who's also just an
incredible part of our team. Just
incredible. And then Amanda Sheffield
who's our superintendent. So it's been a
real process getting here. I've really
though thoroughly enjoyed working with
you guys and I look forward to
presenting the the project to you
tonight and hopefully you guys will like
it as much as we do.
>> Thanks, Alex. So, I hate it when that
happens, right? We'll we'll we'll dive
in. Um and and again, appreciate the
depth since we're here at ARB. Wanted to
give you some appearances and give you
some of these pictures. So, over the
course of the next three hours, you'll
hear from I'm just kidding. So, uh want
to give you some renderings of the
project itself. Um, I think Alex did a
great job of touching on the quality in
which we're trying to instill, but this
is the Oakland Town Center. I mean,
Oakland has its own unique brand, and
this is an opportunity to capture that.
Um, and so this is a what we've done. We
have an assemblage of 11 different
buildings, almost 50, more than 50 uh
tenant opportunities. And you'll see
throughout these pictures kind of a
thoughtful design of breaking up what we're used to seeing, providing
courtyards, connectivity, uh the type of
things that Oakland's become accustomed
to. And here's some of those features
that you have with the fountains and
some gathering places. We're not just
foc focusing on, you know, the proper
traffic and vehicular uh
safety and and how those all interact
with the buildings, but also
walkability.
And how we're doing that is is having
things like these unique lightings,
umbrellas, you saw some of the water
features designed around the movement
and, you know, people utilize their golf
carts, a lot of connectivity with the
town. And so this project really focuses
on those characteristics that make
Oakland special.
Um, we're going to talk a little bit
about the signage, but I think this is a
good place to just hand over briefly to
Alexi. You can talk a little bit about
the tenants and what we're looking to to
gather in this place. Um, if you want
to.
» Hi guys, thank you for your time. Um so
we are really trying to you know bring
tenants in that are going to be
community centric right so not just all
your national brands but we want to
create a really curated mix of tenants.
So new tomarket restaurants but then
also local brands that are you know very
popular that people know of. Um fitness
health and wellness is a really
important category I think for Oakland
in general but in general health and
wellness category is a huge category now
that's growing a lot. Um, and then you
know your not just your basic coffee
shop, but something that makes you want
to sit there and work for a couple hours
and it's really community centric and
where people meet and spend time. And
that's the whole idea behind Oakland
Town Center. We're not just creating,
you know, another shopping center, but
it's a sense of place, right? We're
placemaking. And so in order to do that,
we need those outdoor spaces, those, you
know, beautiful facades. Signage is
super important for these brands that
we're trying to bring into the market.
Um, and we've had to do that on several
other projects, too. but to be able to
get their attention on projects like
this. These are the things that we kind
of need. For example, some of the
tenants that we're talking to that we're
looking at bringing is concepts like
Motech and Man out of and Pure Vita.
Those are all out of South Florida, New
York, but they're actively looking in
Winter Garden right now and there's very
little space in Winter Garden. So,
Oakland is a great opportunity for them
to kind of service that Winter Garden
need and the Claremont need when there's
very little space. Oakland fills that
for for these brands. Um, and so as
they're actively looking, this is our
chance to present to brands like that.
Um, Health and Wellness Concept, you
know, Solid Core Pilates is a great
brand, uh, very well known. They're
actively looking in the market. U
Barry's Boot Camp, we just did a deal
with them, so they're going to open
their first location in Winter Park, and
naturally, they're going to be looking
for their second and third option. And
Winter Garden is hot on their list as
well. Um, Pause is another one. and it's
one of those like hot, you know, hot uh
sauna places, cold plunge. So, again,
catering to that health and wellness
concept. That's another brand that's
constantly looking at opportunities. And
these are new to market, which is great
because we're getting, you know, the
attention that Oakland will get with
these new tom market brands and that
they chose this location for their, you
know, for their next door is huge for
us. Um, Glow 30 is a med spa, facial
space. Um, and then of course, you know,
breakfast is huge with the church being
next door. We know breakfast is a big
deal and so we want to bring in a really
cool breakfast concept. I mean, of
course, everybody loves a Kiki's, you
know, and First Watch, but we'd love to
bring in something like Snooze Eater,
um, which has been looking in the
market, and that would be new to market,
and they have not only, you know, a
breakfast concept, but they're also a
bar. So, you've got more of that bar
component. It's a little bit different,
and it's more of a full service versus a
cafe. Um, and then Pure and Simple is
another one, which our team actually
represents. Um, and they're always
looking in the market as well. Um, and
Motech actually fills that category. And
then some healthier concepts like, you
know, Naked Farmer and Purveto. Those
are healthy salad bowl, you know,
concepts, you know, organic, you know,
brands. And then some of our local
favorites. Good Salt Group. A lot of
people know Good Salt Group. They did
Rya's Mascaria. Um, they've got, um, uh,
in downtown um, oh my god, I just drove
like Sparrow Sparrow Wine Bar and a
couple others that they own in town.
sushi. They a sushi concept as well and
they're always looking at opportunities.
So, and they really like to come into a
market and they will create a brand like
the Monroe that they did in downtown
that's based off of the area and what
the area was. So, the Monroe, you know,
is named after a professor that um that
was the first black school in downtown
Orlando and they created the whole
concept around that. So, they'll do
things like that. Like, they'll come
into Oakland and see what Oakland's all
about and create a concept that really
feels local to the city, to the town.
Um, and then some of the dessert
concepts, we'd love to get in here. You
know, Salt and Straw, Mayday Ice Cream,
Kelly's Ice Cream. I know they're
already in Plant Street, but they could
actually get a, you know, their own
brick-andmortar location here. So, those
are some of the brands that just to give
you an idea of what we're trying to
target here for this project. Thank you.
>> Thank you. So, just a couple more slides
and a couple more minutes. Um, I I just
want to ground the important work in
what we're doing today and and that is
we talked about the PUD request, the the
development agreement in the PSP. Of
course, the PUD zoning designation is a what they call a negotiated zoning
district. So it gives a real opportunity
to work with the unique challenges and
constraints of this site to allow the
flexibility to make something like this
come to life while also making sure we
don't have knucklehead stuff going on
here and and allow for the type of
design that that can really see this
thing effectuated. you know, uh, one of
the things that that came up in the
discussion, um, about how it's designed
in the courtyards and the way the glass
and canopies is, I'll show that in a few
slides. Um, that's a real opportunity
through this vehicle of the PUD, the
development agreement, which will govern
it. And so, I just like grounding the
pictures into what we're actually doing,
um, because it's it's important and
allows things like this to to happen.
Um, so this is just another view and I I
think this says it all of of kind of a
conclusion of what we've been selling to
you, which is this is a landmark. This
is a this is a welcome center of Oakland
and this is an opportunity to provide
some really top-notch tenants and
architectural detail in a way that that
Oakland again has come to be recognized
for.
Uh, and and this is just a visualization
of what I outlined. uh varied heights
projections allowing a uniqueness of
each tenants space and the buildings
between them and not just the outside
pedestrian connections that we talked
about particularly in the opportunity to
provide some off-site improvements but
also the the sidewalks and the bicycle
friendly nature and just having that
interconnectivity.
Here's another view of the canopies and
how that those spaces are broken up. Um
and so we'll end on this slide that has
some pictures. I know we threw a lot at
you and I'm thankful for your patience
and for being here making quorum tonight
and we're happy to answer any follow-ups
you have. Thank you.
I have a question. Um,
in one of the slides it says that it is
pedestrian and bike friendly.
Um, how how does it you think it's bike
friendly? Are there certain things that
are catered bicycle?
>> Yes. Certainly infrastructure like the
bike racks and things like that, but the
wider sidewalks as well allow for more
pedestrian access, allow the bikes to to
safely traverse in and out of the
sidewalk areas. And then, as you'll see
here, this isn't just one big strip area
that all looks the same. the fact that
you have areas that are broken up with
and you see some of the crosswalks and
pedestrian safety features that allows
for to to break up these long alleyways
of cars uh that can get up to a certain
speed. So all those types of things go
into a shared space from pedestrian to
bicycle and then of course vehicular as
well and golf carts. Let's not forget
the golf carts.
>> So would there be
wide sidewalks connecting all of the
Yeah, I think it's hard to see on the
site plan
of the sidewalks, but I would assume
they're connecting all the
main road.
>> Sure.
» Um if you look at the um um the area
Katherine Ross, right, because we know
we're in about a half a mile, not even
to let's say Orange Trail, right? So,
and that's just the main bike. So,
there's a couple of things. First of
all, you know, if you would make it here
to u to Catherine Ross on a bike, um we
would provide in just about every
amenity and courtyard, you'll have bike
racks so you can, you know, place your
bike. From there on, the sidewalk
actually has con connectivity all the
way really to the well, I wouldn't say
to the church because you'd have to
cross that street, but certainly to the
far end of the property. Um, and I know
it's hard to see on the plan, but
everything that's kind of sort of dotted
that's around the buildings. And if you
start at that point in Katherine Ross,
you can walk along building seven and
eight and then six and four and two. Of
course, there's be going to be a couple
of crosswalks, but you can certainly
walk that whole entire center. And, uh,
those are the wider sidewalks that we're
talking about. Um, of course, we don't
think the traffic in the center is going
to be, you know, insane because it's
very well laid out and everything. And
we thought of that because, um,
Oakland's known for biking. So whether
you come on a bike or on a um you know
whether you want to leave your bike at
building 7 or you want to ride it all
the way to perhaps buildings one and
three you'll have a little position
there where you can put your bike. So I
don't know if that answers your
question. Yeah. Okay.
>> Question of the renderings there
retaining wall along.
>> Yes. And that's a um Brent that's a
Brent
So, as uh Brent Lensen with Kimley Horn,
200 South Orange Avenue, sweet 600. Um,
but as Taylor briefly mentioned before,
the topography of the site's a bit
challenging. We had some storm water
nuances with St. John's as well. So, if
you look at the plan, the northwest
corner where that large dry pond is,
it's like elevation 114 and the bottom
right southeast is about a 97. So
there's at least 17 feet of fall across
the site from northwest to southeast and
that's really happening along the state
road 50 frontage which made it really
difficult um from an overall master
infrastructure grading and drainage
standpoint. And then on top of that
unfortunately the initial development
that happened within that affects these
parcels was the tractor supply and they
built the large dry pond immediately
adjacent to it. Several of the parcels
included within this project are
benefited by that storm water. The
negative is the storm water's at the top
of the hill. So physically getting the
water to the dry pond is not achievable
without raising finished floors and
hydraulically being able to drain the
water. Oops, I did that. I'm sorry. Um,
so with the dry pond up there, we have
Apakka basin for storm water recharge,
which requires dry pre-treatment and
infiltration before you get to a wet
pond. Sorry for the storm water jargon,
but all that to say based on storm
water, it demanded the buildings being
set at a certain elevation and what's
being set at a certain elevation, which
had to drain to the dry ponds first to
get to a downstream wet, which is why
you kind of see a cascading deal with
that large rectangular white space as a
dry pond. A lot of our basin goes to it.
The basin that can't get there goes to
that boomerang, we'll call it, around
the wet pond. That's kind of a dry
upstream pre-treatment which then goes
to the lower wet pond that's at that
bottom southeast corner. So with all
those nuances, we have a retaining wall
near that storm water pond along 50
that's about 10 ft tall.
So
little bit of sight constraints kind of
drove that design and that's kind of
what you'll see within the waiver
request. Some of the building separation
from 50 was due to that nuance of having
to build a wall, having the structural
integrity of a wall and a building
adjacency and really trying to
centralize the focus of the development
more internalized because of that
elevation change off
» that basically the retaining wall and
then sidewalk.
It's going to be the basically state
road 50 turn like their travel lanes.
You'll have a sidewalk running along 50
that's still at road grade. Then you'll
have an elevated wall and then there's
going to be landscaping up above on top
of the wall and then the building facade
up there. I think the best picture, I
don't know where it was in the
presentation was the one that showed the
pedestrian down at the street level with
the monument sign there.
Probably the best example.
this going to be a like a good example
of what the landscaping is going to look like on
that corner that intent.
» So obviously, you know, the the
renderings and everything. So our
landscape architects are going to work
very hard and everything, but our our
goal is to have because that's going to
be the way we see it. It's it's
certainly our our main entrance, right,
from from most of the vehicles and and
we want that to look very nice. And
that's why we created even the the
monument, you know, we made it a lot
more architectural to actually integrate
with the center rather than just be, you
know, a little billboard looking thing.
Um, and the intent is yes to landscape
it as nice as possible. Is it going to
look, you know, tit for tat like that?
Um, you know, probably not, but it's
going to be the same exact feel. So,
that's really the u the intent of the um
the renderings. And um and we want to
make that wall, you know, as pretty as
we can. Um, good news is that wall is
not 10 feet everywhere, but you know,
that's just what we had to work with.
So, um, I don't know if that answers
your question.
>> So, the that the wall, the retaining
wall.
>> Yes, sir.
>> Corner will be about 10 ft high.
>> Yes, sir.
>> The western end of the property. Does it
go
>> It goes lower. Yeah, that's the highest
it ever is. So, it kind of go Sorry. It
kind of goes both ways that way. So,
it's not going to be as high as
possible, but uh that's all we, you
know, we try to make it as pretty as
possible. You know, we have the
buildings that are very nice, you know,
in the elevations that we we haven't
really skipped on anything, so we can I
don't want to say distract from it, but,
you know, just really make the the best
of it.
>> All right. So, one of the things that I just wanted to ask about was um being
able to see back of house from all three
roads.
>> So, the renderings show a lot of
architectural detail.
>> Yes, sir. So that's going to be pretty
>> Yes, sir. Yeah. Yeah. We did that
intentfully and and um you know, we
wanted to offer obviously even on the uh
the
>> not a blank wall.
>> Correct. Yes, sir. Yeah. Exactly. And
you know, we'll do the best we can with
the landscaping as well. Just we'll try
to make it as uh as obviously as nice as
possible. The idea was that it was
elevated. So, um you know, it's a little
less visible to begin with. We're going
to add some uh landscaping, but we added
the articulation on purpose so it's not
a flat wall like you would see normally.
Just to touch on that, just to expand
upon that too, John, you know, once it
gets through this portion of its review
sequence and it goes to the final
instruction, at that point, that's when
it goes beyond just renderings. We have
the actual architectural elevations to
show even more detail than what you're
seeing here to ensure that that, you
know, the breakup of that massing does
occur and you're not, as you say,
looking at the back of a house or
essentially a cinder block wall.
Well,
as a developer, right? We when we when
we saw this, we were like, "This is this
is horrible." Um because it's very
expensive to build. This is extremely
expensive. This isn't something that you
would go out and buy a piece of land and
start building walls and building
raising land. That's crazy. Um there was
really no way around it in order to
develop it. But the the takeaway from it
from our perspective is it gives a real
intimate feel to the center. It's going
to give a very private intimate feel
almost like an oasis in a way because
you're you're raising the center up and
you're kind of buffering out 50. So from
a perspective of being in the center I
think it's going to make the center you
know quite attractive to be honest with
you.
>> So you would have a 10ft wall at the
highest point and then a railing on top
of that
» maybe like 13 14t tall. at some point
» at the highest point which is at the far
eastern near the storm water pond it is
about 10 feet and that at this entrance
is it was around seven or eight feet
here but yeah if the the fall distance
is more than 30 inches you need to have
a railing on it for safety reasons yeah
it'll have at least a 42 inch railing on
top of that obviously we want it to look
good we'll pick some material and color
and product to look as good as it
So, [clears throat] um
I do I do like that it's going to be
like one story, a whole complex. Um is
that by design or is that by the land
development code?
Okay. So you could actually
go up. Okay. Because I mean to have some
of the eeries that y'all want there um
wasn't like a second story open patio
for some of the restaurants
proposed.
But is it an actual total second story?
Just like the patio talk more about
>> Yes.
» We all love rooftops, but here in
Orlando, Central Florida, it's just not
as common yet. It's not like people
can't think like like the consumer
doesn't think, you know, con like
vertically, right? So like, I'm going to
go to a second floor. It's just, you
know, they want to be able to park right
in front of their space and go right
into the business that they're going
into. I would love to get rooftops in
here or like a second story patio, but
it's just not, you know, it's also very
expensive. So, even for these
restaurants for their buildout, like
we're delivering, let's say, a shelf
space, right? And then they have to do
their buildout, they have to then
account for vertical transportation, so
an elevator and stairway. And it's just
very expensive. And with construction
costs right now, it's just not, you
know, it's not as as possible to get
something like that approved. Although,
we would love to see it.
I guess this question is for the lease.
Um
Oakland's name like this.
Is that allowed to be put on any
business like
the Oakland Town Center?
>> So So you going to have your own
rendering or can they incorporate?
They they cannot without our permission
because it's it's actually a protected
logo.
>> Okay.
>> Um but I mean what they're doing is it's showing it's not a town
space, right? But it also serves
so it's a private it's a private
development. It but to me it also serves
as an entryway into the town of Oakland,
right? So, it's showing I appreciate
them using Oakland Town Center because
it's you're entering and we've been having a hard time with this
for a long period of time. Our placem
for for our town is when do you know
when you're in Oakland? And to me, this
is like perfect, right? I mean, there's
one other little development on the on
the um east side, but other than that,
you're coming into Oakland. And so,
yeah,
>> this this shows you you're in Oakland
now.
And I just want to say um they've worked
like Alex said a long time with us to to
get to this point. So we've talked
through it a lot of times internally
staff um with staff to get to this point
that they've that they've been able to
come forward with.
>> I like it a lot actually.
» Um
you talk about the administration
Yeah. Was was is there a question in
particular or
>> Yeah. So the way that I understand it um
is that the town code is 60%
administration
um an all public path.
>> Is that right?
>> Correct. Yeah. The your land development
code. Yeah. I believe it's it's written
that I guess I'm wondering like as I'm
looking at it,
the building two and the building four,
the faces that
are towards Highway 50, that I can
understand because it's going to be like
10 feet in the air see it. Um but
building eight and nine
the faces that are Catherine Ross Road
um they say 0% administration so it
would look like a back of house but um
to me that would be a public primary frontage
I'm wondering like why
>> Sure. Yeah. Yeah. No it's a good
question. So the building A for
instance, you know, it's it it only its
side that actually butts up to um so and
then we do have some fenestration on
that side. Um and as far as um you know,
building 9, which is, you know, the one
on Katherine Ross right up on the top
right corner. Um there was there were
several reasons, right? And and one of
them was, you know, we wanted to stay
consistent with the center. Um the
second is you know we found that tenants
um and also guests you know if they park
in the back like if you look at this one
and if the access is on both sides in
other words it would look the same on
both sides where we would have same type
of fenestration on each side. um one it
gets a little bit confusing you know um
second the tenants you know they want to
have a little bit of a delivery area
right because you know they're bringing
in whatever they're bringing so they
might just want to keep it out of the
site or you might have in a restaurant
you know employees going out back and
you know have taken a break and stuff
like that so they kind of want to you
know want they want to use those areas
so as you know um to keep with the
consistency and to make it you know um
flow and actually it's a matter of cost
as well you know because we we really do
have to stay within reason. What we
thought was a nice thing is if we did
not provide, you know, that flat wall in
the back. So, we actually kept the front
and the back of the building look
completely the same when it comes to the
articulation. So, we're spending the
same exact money and, you know, um we're
going to put the landscaping buffer
behind it and that will allow us to save
a little bit of money, provide the
tenants, you know, with an actual space
that they can use. and our guests, you
know, we believe that um they're going
to really come in from the center um
whether on a bike, whether you know
they're going to turn that corner, come
on in and they're going to access it
probably through the parking lot. So um
we wanted to make it as beautiful as
possible because you know most centers
and that's why I think the gentleman
asked you know is it going to be a flat
wall because that's what you normally
see on the back of the house. So um I
hope that answers your question. You
know we try to stay consistent. We, you
know, try to, you know, keep our cost in
line as well and um but still provide
with some, you know, provide you with
something
>> aesthetically
>> does
and understand
>> um you have the tenants and you know the
functionality of the space.
Um I live on the other side of Oakland
Avenue, so I love that we're connecting
the 50 here. I I do wish or I I hope
that um there's a focus for the
pedestrian traffic on Catherine Ross
Road
um and how those buildings interact
sidewalk. Well, yes, and we we do have
and of course, you know, the the city
sidewalk, it's a little beyond our
control, but as far as our center uh
walkability and pedestrian everything
was designed to to pedestrian scale, our
penistration or everything, you know,
the articulation, everything everything.
So, you know, we want you to feel good
in there. And that's why Alex's point, I
think we made that wall work in our
favor because now everything faces
inwards rather than, you know, 250. And
as much as we love 50, it's really not
that pretty regardless. So now you're
going to have this walkable and that's
why we sacrificed a lot of um uh square
footage for open areas. You know, we we
split up all these buildings and um and
even to the variance that Taylor spoke
of um up to what was it 250 ft um
actually if you look at I don't believe
any of our buildings are even close to
that. I think our largest one it's 170
because we've cut them up and we've
added you know 17,000 square feet of u
of green space. So
that's uh the long and the short of it.
>> So with the fenistration uh like
building one, three and five, there's a
lot of parking behind that. So it's not
a closed book right now. There could be
entrances to some of those buildings
back there or there.
Do you have to walk around?
>> No. If you park there, you would walk uh
well, if you look at buildings one and
three, they have that courtyard. So
that's specifically designed for
pedestrian access. Um you I think it's a
25 or 30 foot wide courtyard and the
same length because we wanted um guests
when they park back there to be able to
walk.
>> Building five. Yeah, sure. They'll have
to walk a little bit around it. But um
uh yes, and even in those buildings,
just so you'll know, although they're
facing the dry retention, we still have
the pretty same articulation on front
and back. So even if you park back
there, you're still not looking at this
ugly flat wall.
>> No, I didn't. Yeah,
>> that definitely or no.
Um, also looking at the map, um, it
looks to me that this is at the rear of
the school. And I don't know if this is
on the town side or the developer side,
but
um I I do think there should be more
vegetation
because
from the rear of the school, you would
be you would be looking into this
commercial area and I think it kind of
kills like
the courtyard of the school. Um
>> I believe there's a road between us too.
Perhaps you can
>> there there's so all of the fields are
between the school and Saddler and
Saddler eventually will go through and
we want to use that potentially to loop
the cars around a bigger loop to get
some of that traffic off of off of the
other roads. So um you know this is kind
of a master plan, right? Um so there
will be probably some vegetation more on
the school side, but we'll be working on
that.
makes sense. I I think I'd like to
see like more of a visual barrier
between the school and the commercial.
» Yeah. And naturally, I think we'll have,
you know, the required, you know, trees
and everything that's per code. So,
there will be, it's not like it's going
to be bare, so don't picture that. um
you know there are requirements and I
don't know off the top of my head
because I don't specialize in
landscaping but you know you have to
have trees every certain feet and you
have to have so those obviously will be
in place you know as part of our
agreement and everything so it's not
like it's going to be like a you know
like a bowling alley or just an empty field in any stretch and that goes for the center in general you
know what I mean as a whole not just
that
>> Matthew would you actually mind
switching over to the landscape plan
just to get a sense these are there is
per there are particular requirements
for um commercial for buffering of
commercial properties and you can see um
every circle yeah 12t wide landscape
buffer there between that drive aisle
and the proposed public road that's
>> then we clustered plantings within the
dry pond in those pockets
is there a particular area that's
>> um
>> missing in your your vision on this
>> no I just think along the north side to
me like I would prefer like a full row
of trees, you know, and from what I
could tell on the agenda, it looks like
they're taking out all of the existing
trees. So, these would be new new plant
new planted trees. Um, so I guess when I
see this, I'm picturing like smaller
trees, you know,
>> and the tree removal is the topography
we talked about earlier. It's just
physically impossible to save the
changing grade.
I don't I don't think there'd be any
issues with us continuing the planting
row there. See where there's a gap
before it gets to where the driveway
connection is by that L104 label. I
think we could add a few there. when we
move towards final design, just
obviously site visibility. There's a
driveway entry there, but beyond that,
not
>> and certainly something, you know, we
would have to during a final engineering
review be mindful with our landscape
architect team because there is a point
where you saturate too many trees to
create a row and now all of a sudden
none of them can survive because they're
competing for similar resources. So we
it is something we can consider if the
applicant group does propose a more
robust tree line along that northern
boundary, but it would be done in a way
to ensure that the survival and the
function of that area reaches its full
potential.
>> Like for you to consider the view from
the school, from the playground, from
the courtyard.
Um I think their main parking is
the north west of this site. So yeah, I
think just as long as you're mindful of
their view
>> certainly
just um I guess one question about the
signage. Um
when I was reading through it, uh having
the two signs made total sense um
because they're two different roads.
You're coming in from Cir. You're coming
in on 50.
>> But the third one, um
I'm not opposed to it, but we haven't
really heard any reasoning
why other than just is this going to
have tenant names on it also, or is it
just going to say Oakland Town Center 7?
So the way we have it proposed that only
has four tenant names and we thought you
know if we have u some anchor tenants
and I'm just throwing a name here like a
let's say Trader Joe's or whatever I
don't know something like that. Um you
know we would offer that. Um but the
main reason we actually put that um that
there is is to be more like a gateway.
it it's uh it's more of like you know
welcome to it's like welcome to the to
the town center to Oakland Town Center
and also welcome to to Oakland because
the point made earlier I think you know
you could probably agree that that's
going to be one of the main access
points into Oakland once Katherine Ross
is completed. So um it will announce our
center but it will announce your town
too. And you know we wanted to put
something that you'll be proud of that
we'll be proud of. It's not something
that's gonna bring us a lot of,
you know, what should I call it?
>> Yeah.
» Not assigned,
>> right?
that sign
>> and it's going to be at a 45.
>> That's the plan. Yeah. At about a 45 and
it'll be, you know, set back a little
bit from the intersection and, you know,
that's why we wanted to be a little more
prominent, too. So, when you drive
there, you can see it and it's a
reference point as to Oakland, a
reference point to the center. Um, and
we thought it would be a benefit, you
know, for for for all of us.
Well,
>> it would sit back.
>> Yeah, back.
>> Yeah, it's exactly
>> above the
» old black line. That's where the the
retaining wall that runs along 50. It
turns north and then heads east to
connect to Katherine Ross. So that keeps
the whole site and that dry retention up
high. But that triangularish storm water
pond, that's really down at grade
because that is an actual wet pond. When
you get to that corner where Kathern
Ross meets 50, that's all all those
improvements in that wet pond are going
to be down at grade.
Yeah, basically. Yeah. So
when you come in,
yeah, you'll see
as you're heading westward on 50, you'll
see Katherine Ross intersect. You're on
50 at grade. You see a a pond at eye
level, signage at eye level. Then you'll
see the the on bordered with the
retaining wall and the site above it.
Anybody else have anything?
Thank you. Thank you.
» Do any members have any questions or
comments?
Is there anyone present who would like
to speak on this item? I will close the
floor.
>> Do any members have any further
comments?
» Um I guess yeah. But this is more for
police. Um it's So it's going to be
Saddler Avenue.
>> Yes. Yes.
>> Um so is it going to stop or is it going
to connect to Saddler Avenue? West
Saddler.
>> I don't think it can go all the way
there. I think it'll stop, but it'll
pick up on the other side then.
>> Okay.
>> There's no way to get them connected. I
don't think we have property to connect
it over there. We'll continue to look at
it, but right now I don't think there's
a way to
>> I still would like to see hull
connected.
>> Yeah, I understand.
>> It makes total sense for everything
we're trying to do in that whole
corridor.
>> Yeah,
>> makes total sense. But okay, I have
nothing. I I like it. I like everything.
>> Can I have a motion?
I'll make a motion to accept uh
ordinance number 2026-05, the Oakland
Town Center resoning development
agreement and preliminary subdivision
plan
uh as presented.
>> All in favor?
>> I.
>> Any opposed? Motion passes.
This meeting is adjourned at 7:30 p.m.