Continuing its growing presence in Minneola, developer Richland Communities has filed plans for a major mixed-use residential project along the Florida Turnpike.
The community, known as Shepherd’s Landing, would be developed on 261 acres south of the Florida’s Turnpike and include up to 1,095 residential units.
Portions of the property would be bisected by Scrub Jay Lane headed north to south and Sullivan Avenue headed east to west. The project site is approximately 1.25 miles east of US 27.
Richland has applied to annex 193.5 acres into the City of Minneola and is seeking to change the future land use designations from Lake County Rural and City of Minneola General Commercial to Mixed Use Residential Development. The developer, through attorney Brent Spain, also applied to rezone the entire project to PUD, planned unit development.
Current plans for Shepherd’s Landing, from project applicants Spain and RVi Planning + Landscape Architecture, indicate the project will include over 47,000 square feet of commercial use.
The residential neighborhoods would include a mix of options for various household sizes and income levels. Approximately 652 of the proposed single-family units within Shepherd’s Landing are expected to be detached homes, while 443 units will be attached.
RVi Planning has requested a mix a rear-loaded and front-loaded townhomes — which are prohibited under the City of Minneola attached dwelling and townhome standards — be permitted as part of their design plans for the community. City planning staff asked for a revision that would eliminate the front-loaded product, but the applicants argued that it offers a more attainable price point. Having both front and rear-laded design options would allow for more flexibility and thoughtful site planning, they said.
Along with just over five acres of commercial space, Shepherd’s Landing would contain over 25 acres of open space and a dedicated 10-acre utility tract set aside for a future city-owned wastewater treatment facility.
Designed as a pedestrian-friendly community, the project will include sidewalks, pedestrian trails and a 12-foot multi-use path along Scrub Jay Lane to accommodate pedestrian and bicycle traffic for accessible routes throughout the community.
The property for Shepherd’s Landing is just north of the adjacent Citrus Grove community, a proposed mixed-use neighborhood-style development from Celebration-based architect Geoffrey Mouen.
Initially known as Founders Ridge and approved in 2004, Mouen and his company Geoffrey Mouen Architects have reimagined Citrus Grove as a 325-acre development set to include 296 single-family homes and over 1,000 multi-family and condo units.
Amenities for Citrus Grove would include up to 458,000 square feet of commercial space, an 800-student charter school, 72,000 square feet of space for undefined civic uses and 20,000-square-foot church.
To the north of Shepherd’s Landing, on the other side of the Turnpike, Richland is developing its mixed-use Minneola Ridge PUD. The project has been approved for 1,758 residential units and approximately 1.2 million square feet of commerce park, along with associated infrastructure and open space amenities.
After initial concerns about the size of the project, Richland revised its plans for Minneola Ridge in December 2023 from 1,188 single-family detached lots to 693 and cut the number of multifamily units from 1,163 to 841, a reduction in density from 20 units per acre to 14.5 units per acre. The project also includes a 224-lot townhouse community on 30 acres next to the Hills of Minneola’s Del Webb community.
Richland has other projects in the works across Lake County, including the 550-acre Wolf Branch Innovation District in Mount Dora that received land use and zoning approval earlier this year.
Located along the Wekiva Parkway spur (S.R. 453) and north of S.R. 46, Wolf Branch will be split into two planned developments in Mount Dora North and Mount Dora South.
The north section would include a mixed-use town center with over 2 million square feet of office and retail, a regional park and the majority of the residential development — a mix of 3,329 single-family homes, townhomes and apartments. Mount Dora South would contain mostly employment uses such as a commerce park entitled for 10.4 million square feet of light industrial, office and flex space.
In Minneola, Richland is prepping another 412 single-family homesites for its Sugarloaf Mountain PUD after selling the two residential pods within the PUD for record prices last year.
The next phase of the master-planned community will include development of 369 lots on 145.5 acres just off County Road 455 across from Bear Spring Road.
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