Most of the new developments in Lake County occur in cities or through the annexation by cities of unincorporated “county” lands for high density subdivisions or apartments. The Board of County Commissioners cannot stop city governments from these types of “annexations” (e.g. the developments along SR 44B and CR 44 approved by Mount Dora and Eustis; on CR 48, CR 44, Dewey Robbins and Hwy 27 approved by Leesburg). Oftentimes, city governments make these decisions based solely on whether they have sufficient utilities to serve this type of new development.

Within the unincorporated area, the Board of County Commissioners is bound to honor land use designations or zoning designations that already exist on property, thus a property with an "Urban" land use cannot be denied a request that is consistent with that land use; however, property with a "Rural" land use is not entitled to more density than already exists (e.g. 1 unit to 5 acre). Failure to honor or recognize existing land uses or zoning will subject Lake County and taxpayers to expensive lawsuits.

There are times when the facts support approval of a new land use, but as a general rule, I try to follow the land uses that area already in place. I have voted against several developments while serving on the County Commission (Sorrento Pines, Heritage Green, Drake's Point, Crescent Pines, etc.). Regarding the ones I have voted in favor of, I can provide the details which I believed required and warranted a favorable vote (Hillcrest in Sorrento, Mount Dora Groves, Mount Dora N & S, and Lake Yale).

The road congestion we are experiencing in Lake County is the result of a combination of factors: First, there is a prohibition in Florida law against denying new projects because of infrastructure deficiencies. Second, there is insufficient transportation funding in Florida for State roads and local roads that relieve State roads. Third, there was a population explosion after Covid which has not let up. And fourth, State laws that have taken away local government authority to deny high density housing projects. Altogether, places like Lake County are experiencing a perfect storm of huge amounts of “pass through” traffic combined with numerous residential developments built after Florida’s transportation “concurrency laws” were obliterated.

Lake County currently charges the highest transportation impact fees permitted by State law.

I advocate for less reliance by our State agencies on the use of herbicides to manage invasive species choking our waterways. I support greater focus on alternative strategies and I believe herbicide use should be carefully monitored and contractors applying such herbicides should be carefully scrutinized and managed. Each water body has its own unique characteristics, but in the past, the State has taken a "one size fits all" approach (which was likely due to budgetary restraints). Our lakes and water bodies are paying the price now due to organic build up and these nutrients are overloading the waterways making many water bodies in Florida and Lake County very sick. Which is why it is encouraging and exciting to see our State agencies embracing strategies to lower phosphorous and “save” and “bring back” our lakes, rivers, and waterbodies in Florida and Lake County through carefully calibrated Alum treatments.