Being on the doorstep of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing retirement community has made Leesburg a magnet for new residential development. But city leaders say it’s been too much of a good thing, and now they’re considering a pause on all residential rezonings and annexations in the city until 2027.
The City Council will vote on April 14 on a moratorium that could even halt projects that were submitted ahead of the meeting. The moratorium would pause virtually all new residential projects from later this month until January 1, 2027, a period of over 20 months. It would not apply to land that already has residential land use — only to projects that require a comprehensive plan amendment and rezoning.
As justification for the drastic measure, the resolution itself points to the surplus of 30,000 undeveloped, approved single-family residential lots within the city limits. The goal would be to balance the area’s residential development ambitions with more robust commercial offerings.
“The city wishes to cultivate a community that does not rely solely on residential but instead is sustainable through a balanced mix of uses within the city,” it reads.
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James Dicks, CEO and founder of Dix Developments, said he believes the moratorium would be an overcorrection to an abundance of lots and that developing the backlog of approved lots could take years due to lengthy permitting processes.
“People don’t know how the development side works,” he said. “Nothing happens. It takes nearly three years to get to the entitled lot side.”
Dicks said he and other developers are scrambling to get applications submitted and prepared in advance of a ruling on the moratorium later this month. One of his planned projects, the 597-acre Oak Ridge neighborhood, was submitted for approval in a haste last week after Dicks said the “surprise” of the proposed moratorium forced his team to move quickly.
“For a project that size, it takes a lot to get the application submitted and prepared,” he said. “We were close enough to be able to get everything done and they accepted it, but I don’t know if the date they accepted it would be within what they decide.”
For concerned developers and builders, the ordinance creates ambiguity over how the city plans to slow the pace of residential projects already in the works.
Lee Steinhauer, director of government affairs with the Greater Orlando Builders Association, said he’s worried what the moratorium could mean for those developments.
“It appears, when you read this ordinance, that they’re not just talking perspectively about stopping future applications over this period related to rezoning,” he said. “They’re actually talking about projects that are still in progress or applications that are related to rezoning that are actually in progress and stopping them as well.”
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Updating the land development code is a logical step for the city to take in response to residential growth, Steinhauer said. But a moratorium through 2026 could be problematic for development in Leesburg.
“Almost two years is a long time to begin with for a moratorium,” he said. “Why not just go through the normal processes without a moratorium to make the changes they seek?”
In most cases, Steinhauer said, businesses want a consistent consumer base before setting up shop in a new neighborhood or part of town. Beyond an intentional decision to slow the pace of residential growth in Leesburg, Steinhauer said the moratorium contradicts the city’s stated goal of generating more commercial development.
“If they want more commercial [development], they need the residential to support it,” he said. “Cutting off the residential and just expecting the commercial to just come back is really backwards when you look at it.”
Leesburg officials could not be reached for comment.
Several other counties in Central Florida have also weighed the benefits of development moratoriums in recent months, with Orange County voting to extend a pause on select development applications last October.
The county’s Zoning in Progress ordinance temporarily suspends applications for “small and large-scale future land use map and text amendments, rezonings, and special exceptions” until June 3, over 8 months after it was set to expire.
A development moratorium in Volusia County, proposed in response to extensive hurricane and flood damage in the area, was rejected earlier this year.
The pause would have enacted a temporary countywide ban on residential development in unincorporated areas of Volusia County for up to one year.
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at jwilkins@orlandosentinel.com or 407-754-4980. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.
