Johns Lake Urban Village: What Winter Garden Approved for 613 Homes
Winter Garden has signed off on the Johns Lake Urban Village, a 613-home master plan on the former McKinnon citrus groves near the Lake-Orange county line. The approval pairs lakefront estate lots, townhomes and a small resort district with phasing limits and road conditions that control when anyone can move in.
The approved plan wraps the south shore of Johns Lake between Marsh Road, Williams Road and the Lake County line. Conceptual rendering only; the final design may change.
Image: Provided by AGMCi Planning & Design
What to Know
The Johns Lake Urban Village in brief
The rezoning is final at the city level, but occupancy is tied to a regional road opening, so this is a long, phased build rather than a quick one.
613 homes on about 337 acres. Townhome and cottage lots up to lakefront estate lots at least 90 feet wide, at roughly 1.82 homes per acre.
A 31.6-acre resort district. Plans call for an inn of up to 40 rooms, at least 6 cottages, a reservation-only restaurant, event space and a non-commercial dock.
Approved May 28, 2026. The vote was unanimous, but no home can be occupied until New Independence Parkway opens or January 1, 2028, whichever comes first.
The Johns Lake Urban Village is a 613-home master plan on about 337 acres of former citrus groves along the south shore of Johns Lake in Winter Garden. The City Commission unanimously approved the rezoning on May 28, 2026, adding a 31.6-acre resort district, a future city park and limits on how fast homes can be built.
In his reel on the project, Jared Jones pointed to the resort district as the piece worth watching, since an inn, event space and lakeside dining turn the plan into more than a typical subdivision. Since that video was posted in April, the plan has changed in one notable way: the school site is gone, and a city park site has taken its place.
What is the Johns Lake Urban Village?
The Johns Lake Urban Village is a planned unit development on 17729 Marsh Road and 1400, 1401 and 1756 Williams Road, on the southern edge of Johns Lake north of Amber Sweet Lane. The land already carried an Urban Village future land use designation but had no zoning. Ordinance 26-12 rezoned about 337.25 acres to Urban Village Planned Unit Development.
The developer is McKinnon Corp., the family company of former Orange County Commissioner Scott Boyd, a longtime citrus grower in the area. Boyd’s family has held the property for generations, and he lives on the site and plans to keep about 3.36 lakefront acres for his own home. The same company sold 358 acres across the county line in Lake County to Taylor Morrison, which is building Esplanade at McKinnon Groves in the Wellness Way growth corridor.
City planning staff said the design team used Oakland Park as its benchmark, the low-impact community elsewhere in the city. That approach fits a pattern already visible in recent Oakland and Winter Garden development, where open space and lake access carry as much weight as lot count.
What homes are planned at the Johns Lake Urban Village?
The plan allows a maximum of 613 attached and detached homes, ranging from small townhome and cottage lots up to lakefront estate lots with a minimum width of 90 feet. At about 1.82 homes per acre, city staff said the density is less than half of what the land use designation would allow.
About 85.26 acres are set aside as open space, including 16.86 acres of active recreation. Construction will run in phases of no more than 50 homes each, with multiple builders. The stated focus is semi-custom and custom builders, with perhaps 1 or 2 national builders, to avoid repeating elevations street after street. Homes have not been designed yet, and no pricing has been published.
For context on what is selling now nearby, the Winter Garden new construction roundup for 2026 covers active communities, and the HOA fee ranges across Winter Garden and Horizon West show how widely ongoing costs vary by community. The Johns Lake fee structure has not been announced.
What is in the Johns Lake resort district?
The resort district covers 31.6 acres. The approved plan allows no more than 40 rooms for overnight guests across a main bed and breakfast building and at least 6 cottages set among the existing trees. A restaurant and the lodging would operate by reservation, though both may be open to the public.
Earlier filings described an event barn, a wedding chapel, a walking trail and a boardwalk with an observation deck. The approved description refers to event space and accessory buildings, so the final mix of structures may shift during site planning. Amplified sound must stay inside buildings, and a dock will let lakefront residents arrive by boat for dinner, but it cannot operate as a commercial marina.
Because the property sits in the Wekiva Study Area, the resort district must meet open space design standards and keep a continuous 75-foot buffer from neighboring residential lots, with trails allowed inside that buffer. Boyd has described the inn as a business his family would own and run while preserving much of the natural land.
What happened to the school site at the Johns Lake Urban Village?
Early plans set aside a roughly 13.65-acre special district for a future Orange County Public Schools elementary school. At a January 2026 community meeting, school traffic was the most common concern from neighbors, and Boyd agreed to dedicate that land to the city for a future park instead.
City staff estimated that removing the school cut about 1,816 daily trips from the projection. The project is now expected to generate about 5,411 daily trips, with roughly 408 in the morning peak hour and 538 in the evening peak hour. School assignments for any future homes would follow district zoning at the time, so confirm assignment with the district.
How will traffic on Marsh Road be handled?
Winter Garden does not plan to widen Marsh Road, citing site limits. Instead, the developer must fund a roundabout at Marsh Road and Williams Road, bring Williams Road up to city standards and connect it toward the Waterside community, pay 31.2% of a new northbound turn lane at Marsh Road and Stoneybrook West Parkway, and build Amber Sweet Lane to city standards while paying 21% of its extension and dedicating 12.5 feet of right of way toward the Lake County line.
The biggest condition is timing. No home can receive a certificate of occupancy until New Independence Parkway is open and operational or January 1, 2028, whichever comes first. According to Orange County’s project page, that 4-lane extension runs from Avalon Road to the Lake County line, with construction scheduled from September 2025 through early 2027.
The development team also pointed to the State Road 516 expressway and a wider State Road 429. Neither is finished. The State Road 516 project page lists a partial opening in spring 2027 and final completion in early 2029, while the SR 429 widening from Schofield Road to Tilden Road is still in design, with design completion listed for spring 2027 and no construction dates posted.
The Johns Lake Urban Village by the numbers
The approved figures show a low-density plan that will arrive slowly, 50 homes at a time, with occupancy tied to a regional road.
When could homes be built, and is the approval final?
Boyd has said groundbreaking is likely about 2 years after approval and that buildout could take at least 10 years. At the January community meeting he described it as a 10 to 15 year project. Either way, the 50-home phase cap means the community will fill in gradually.
The city vote is not the last word yet. In July 2026, a neighboring homeowner filed a petition asking the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court to quash the rezoning, arguing the city created a custom zoning arrangement and approved the plan ahead of road, utility and school capacity. As of this update, no ruling on that petition has been reported.
A light real estate read
This is a lakefront pocket on the western edge of 34787, where Winter Garden meets Lake County. The draw is the lake itself and a low-density layout. The friction is Marsh Road, which city leaders say already carries heavy Lake County traffic and which the city will not widen.
For owners near Marsh Road, Williams Road and Stoneybrook West, the practical outlook is a decade of phased construction, a new roundabout and roadwork timed to regional projects. For buyers, new lakefront estate lots on Johns Lake are rare, and Jared has also toured Johns Lake and other Winter Garden lakefront areas on video, along with Esplanade at McKinnon Groves across the county line. For a wider view, the Living in Winter Garden guide, the Horizon West villages guide and the Hamlin town center guide cover the areas buyers usually compare.
The Takeaway
The Johns Lake Urban Village is approved at the city level as a 613-home, low-density plan with a 31.6-acre resort district and a future city park in place of the original school site. Its pace is set by conditions: 50 homes per phase and no occupancy before New Independence Parkway opens or January 1, 2028.
The milestones to watch are the circuit court petition, the first site plans and plats, and the opening of New Independence Parkway in 2027. Buyers weighing a move west should read what to know before moving to Winter Garden first.
FAQ
What is the Johns Lake Urban Village?
The Johns Lake Urban Village is a 613-home master plan on about 337 acres of former citrus groves along the south shore of Johns Lake in Winter Garden, near the Lake-Orange county line. It is being developed by McKinnon Corp., the family company of former Orange County Commissioner Scott Boyd.
When was the Johns Lake Urban Village approved?
The Winter Garden City Commission unanimously approved the rezoning, Ordinance 26-12, on May 28, 2026, after a unanimous first reading on May 14. A neighboring homeowner filed a petition asking the circuit court to review the decision in July 2026.
What will the resort district include?
The 31.6-acre resort district is planned for an inn of up to 40 rooms with at least 6 cottages, a reservation-only restaurant, event space, trails and a dock for lake residents that cannot operate as a commercial marina.
Is there still a school site in the plan?
No. A roughly 13.65-acre site once set aside for a future Orange County Public Schools elementary school was replaced with land dedicated to the city for a future park after neighbors raised concerns about school traffic.
When can people move into homes there?
No home can receive a certificate of occupancy until New Independence Parkway is open and operational or January 1, 2028, whichever comes first. Construction is capped at 50 homes per phase, and Scott Boyd has said full buildout could take about 10 years.
External Links & Related Reading
These references include the original reporting, official road project pages and related Winter Garden guides.
- Jared Jones Team on Instagram: Johns Lake Urban Village
- West Orange Times & Observer: 613-home development clears first hurdle (by Liz Ramos)
- West Orange Times & Observer: Johns Lake development approved
- GrowthSpotter: Commission advances Johns Lake UVPUD to final decision
- GrowthSpotter: Johns Lake UVPUD prepares for city consideration
- Orange County: New Independence Parkway extension
- Central Florida Expressway Authority: State Road 516
- Central Florida Expressway Authority: SR 429 capacity improvements
- Winter Garden and Horizon West real estate hub
- Living in Clermont in 2026
Watching Johns Lake and west Winter Garden?
Projects like this one change traffic, timing and inventory around the lake for years. When a move is on your radar, call 407-706-5000 or email info@jaredjones.com for property-level context.