Toll Brothers wants 39 acres on Avalon Road, just north of Horizon West, certified as a farm enclave. County staff recommend denial at a hearing Tuesday, Nov. 10.
Toll Brothers has asked Orange County to certify 39 acres of rural land on Avalon Road, just north of Horizon West, as an “agricultural enclave.” County planners say the land does not qualify and recommend that commissioners deny the request on Tuesday.
The Board of County Commissioners hears the case at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, in the County Commission Chambers at 201 S. Rosalind Ave. in Orlando. It is item VI.B.2 on the Nov. 10 agenda.
What the request would do
An agricultural enclave is a category created by Florida law, Section 163.3162. It covers farmland that development has grown up around.
Certification matters because of what can follow it. The county’s staff report says that if the land is certified, the owner may later submit plans for single-family homes that match the land use of an adjacent parcel or development. The report says such homes must be treated as a conforming use “notwithstanding” the county’s Comprehensive Plan, its future land use map or its zoning.
The request itself contains no site plan, home count or rezoning. The staff report says the board is deciding only whether the land meets the state’s test.
The site, according to the county’s request for a public hearing:
- is one parcel of 39.23 acres at 5477 Avalon Road
- sits on the east side of Avalon Road, north of McKinney Road and south of Phil C Peters Road
- lies inside the Lake Avalon Rural Settlement, a rural area on the county’s land use map
- is owned by Gerlero Properties LLC, with Toll Brothers as the applicant
Why county staff say no
One of the state’s tests is about the neighbors. At least 50% of the parcel’s boundary must touch land with existing homes, measured as of Jan. 1, 2025.
County staff measured 2,036 feet of the parcel’s 5,343-foot boundary next to single-family homes. That is 38.11%. The rest borders:
- county water reclamation basins (660 and 576 feet)
- Duke utility land (750 feet)
- a Horizon West planned development to the south (1,290.6 feet)
- a vacant 30-foot strip
The disagreement is over that southern edge. Toll Brothers’ own perimeter table, attached to the staff report, lists it as residential land in a Horizon West village planned development. Adding up the residential rows in that table gives about 61% of the boundary.
The county’s Planning Division said the preliminary subdivision plan for that development, the Diocese Subdivision, was approved March 26, 2024. But aerial photos showed only earthwork there on Jan. 1, 2025, not homes. Because the law fixes that date, staff counted the edge as vacant.
“The application, as submitted, does not comply with the requirements of section 163.3162(4)(a), Florida Statutes,” the Planning Division wrote in its Oct. 16 report to the applicant.
The deadline
State law puts the county on a clock, and the staff report sets it out:
| Step | Date |
|---|---|
| Application received | Sept. 16, 2026 |
| County’s written report to the applicant | Oct. 16, 2026 |
| Board hearing | Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026 |
| Last day for the hearing under the statute | Nov. 15, 2026 |
| Certification automatic if the board has not acted | Dec. 7, 2026 |
If the board denies the request, state law requires a written decision with detailed findings of fact and conclusions of law. No community meeting was held. The county said the statute’s expedited timeline left no room for one.
The hearing is quasi-judicial. The agenda says any contact with a commissioner about the case before the hearing should be disclosed on the record at the hearing. Residents can speak during the hearing itself.
What it means for you
If you live on Avalon Road, Alps Street or Red Bird Road, or in the new Horizon West neighborhoods to the south, this is the parcel next door. Approval would not by itself put homes on it. It would let the owner bring a single-family plan that the law treats as conforming, whatever the land’s rural settlement designation.
The board’s decision is limited to the state’s test, not whether homes there are a good idea. Any later plan would come back to the county as a separate application. You can follow other cases near you on our building permits and zoning page.
Questions about the case go to the Orange County Planning Division at 407-836-5602.
Have your say