CLERMONT, Fla. – Cities across Central Florida are working to keep up with our growing population, but few places are booming more than Clermont.
Like much of Lake County, Clermont was once a premier citrus-growing city. In 1956, leaders opened the Citrus Tower to give guests a better view of the hundreds of thousands of acres of orange groves that lined the rolling hills. The tower still stands nearly 70 years later, but the views are much different.
Clermont’s natural beauty, miles of trails and small-town charm are all reasons Darlene Bell and Colleen Phillips moved there more than two years ago. Bell relocated from North Carolina and Phillips hails from Michigan.
“We have this walking trail that Colleen and I do every day,” Bell said. “We try to walk three to four miles a day. It’s an active community. The walking is fabulous. I also have a boat, so I live over here in a community that’s over 55.”
Clermont’s population has nearly doubled in the last decade and the development has followed. From the new Costco, car dealerships and apartments along State Road 50 to the revitalized downtown corridor, the city is sprawling.
“Even though they want to expand, it still has that small-town feel,” Phillips said. “It’s welcoming.”
Amanda Walsh owns the award-winning Cheeser’s Palace Cafe, a fixture in downtown Clermont for nearly 20 years.
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“Business is exceptional,” she said. “We’re thrilled, but we’re busting at the seams. I can understand the need for building more. My concern is when that need is over, have we oversaturated?”
One of the most recent projects to get approved will be built on a former lumberyard near Victory Pointe. Plans for the 12-acre property, fittingly named the Lumberyard District, will feature hundreds of apartments and 50,000 square feet of commercial space.
“We already have trouble with parking,” Walsh said. “That’s the number one negative issue with our historic downtown. We can approve putting in the Lumberyard District, but we can’t approve getting a parking structure built. We got to park somewhere, and we’re running out of room.”
Each new strip mall, apartment complex and subdivision that’s added to keep up with Clermont’s rapid growth, is another loss for long-time locals.
“I used to love opening my front door and hear the cows from the neighboring acreage next to my house,” Walsh said. “I can’t hear them anymore.”
Development is happening throughout South Lake County. News 6 told you last month about the 15,000-acre Wellness Way community that’s taking shape just south of Clermont, which will feature 20,000 homes when it’s fully built.
“It’s a different feeling than it used to be, but I think the people are what makes it home,” Walsh said.
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