November 3, 2026 Town Council Meeting — Agenda Breakdown
Election night, and not at Town Hall. Both meetings are at the Denton Johnson Center again. The 6:30 workshop reviews the agreement for the 2027 ZORA! Festival, with handwritten edits that a note attributes to the festival's organizer, and hears reports from department heads. At 7:30 the Council tries again for a final vote on farmers markets in the C-3 commercial district, after the October 20 hearing was tabled.
At a glance: Election Day, at the Denton Johnson Center
What it is. The Council's first meeting of November, on Tuesday, November 3, which is also Election Day. Both agendas put the meetings at the Denton Johnson Center, 400 Ruffel St, not Town Hall. On October 6 the Deputy Town Clerk said Council meetings would be held there during early voting and the election, which covers October 20 and November 3. Unlike the October 20 meeting agenda, these two do not carry a "Location Change" note. The new address is simply in the heading.
The 6:30 workshop has two presentations: reports from department heads, and an update on the ZORA! Festival with a draft agreement for 2027. The 7:30 meeting has one presentation and one ordinance on second reading. The consent agenda and Council decisions sections are empty. The workshop packet is 9 pages and the meeting packet is 15. Both files' creation stamps are October 28, six days before the meeting.
| Section | Item | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 6:30 · III.1 | Department head reports | Presentation |
| 6:30 · III.2 | ZORA! Festival update and 2027 agreement | Presentation, Council direction |
| 7:30 · IV.A | Dr. Phillips Charities: Hungerford update | Presentation |
| 7:30 · V | Citizen participation | 3 minutes each |
| 7:30 · VI.B | Ordinance 2026-7: farmers markets in C-3 | Second reading, public hearing |
Worth watching. The written report on water and sewer billing that the Council ordered on October 6 is not in either packet. Neither is HostDime or the Town's audit. See the last section.
Workshop: the 2027 ZORA! Festival agreement
What it is. The Town and the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc. (P.E.C.) sign an agreement each year for the ZORA! Festival. The cover sheet says "The 2026 agreement has been updated with edits" and that the presentation includes "updates from N.Y. Nathiri on the festival and revised terms." Staff asks the Council to "review the agreement and provide direction." A workshop is for discussion only, so there is no vote on November 3. The cover sheet lists no sponsoring department and gives the fiscal data as "N/A."
What is in the packet. The exhibit is the signed 2026 agreement, scanned, with handwritten edits in red. A note at the top reads "Marked up by N.Y. Nathiri (P.E.C.)," dated October 28. The signature page shows Ms. Nathiri signing as P.E.C.'s Executive Director. The signature page is the old one: P.E.C. signed on January 13, 2026, and the Town signed in January 2026 under former Mayor Angie Gardner.
What the edits change. Most of them roll the dates forward a year:
- The festival becomes the 38th, held Friday, January 29 through Sunday, January 31, 2027 (it was January 30 to February 1, 2026).
- P.E.C. may begin setting up as early as Monday, January 25, 2027.
- Kennedy Boulevard, from Calhoun Avenue to Wymore Road, closes at 3:30 PM on Thursday, January 28 and reopens by 6:00 AM on Monday, February 1, 2027.
- Eatonville residents with proof of residency still get free entry all three days, and free admission to the concert stage on Saturday and Sunday. Reserved V.I.P. seating is still full price.
- The deadlines for paying the Town for police and other staff time, for traffic plans, and for P.E.C.'s insurance certificate all move to the matching points in the 2027 calendar.
One edit does more than update the calendar. A "whereas" paragraph saying P.E.C. "has notified the Town's Administration" that Orange County Public Schools "has granted permission" for P.E.C.'s access to the Hungerford campus for the 2026 festival is crossed out. As the meeting packet notes, the school board approved transferring the Hungerford property to Dr. Phillips Charities on September 30, 2025. The edits add nothing in that paragraph's place.
What stays the same. P.E.C. keeps the exclusive right to hold the festival inside town limits, and the Town issues no other vendor permits during the festival. P.E.C. must still pay for Town staff and police who work the event, with a 10% penalty if it is late. It must still carry $2,000,000 in liability insurance naming the Town. And the agreement still warns that missing the payment deadline "will result in no law enforcement for the event which will then void the contract and cancel the event."
Department head reports. The workshop also has an item where the Chief Administrative Officer has asked department directors "to be prepared to report out on the respective Departments." No written reports are attached.
- A note says P.E.C. made these edits. Has the Town's staff or the Town Attorney reviewed them, and will the Council see a clean draft before it votes?
- The paragraph about the school board's permission to use the Hungerford campus is struck, but Section 1.2 still places part of the festival on the "Hungerford Field/Wymore Road Parking Area." Who controls that area now, and has P.E.C. arranged to use it?
- The cover sheet lists the fiscal data as "N/A," but the agreement has P.E.C. pay for police and other Town staff. What did the 2026 festival cost the Town in staff time, and was it repaid on schedule?
- When does the 2027 agreement come back to a regular meeting for a vote?
Ordinance 2026-7: farmers markets, back for a final vote
What it is. The second and final reading of Ordinance 2026-7, which adds farmers markets as a permitted use in the C-3 commercial district. They are already permitted in C-1. The Council passed it on first reading on October 6. Section 7 says it "shall become effective upon its adoption," so a yes vote makes it law that night. The October 6 breakdown covers what the rule says, including its parking standards.
What happened on October 20. The cover sheet adds one sentence: "The 2nd hearing was tabled at the October 20, 2026, Council Meeting to bring back at a later date." The packet does not say why it was tabled. The October 20 breakdown had pointed out that the hearing notice and newspaper ad for that meeting named Town Hall, while the agenda put the meeting at the Denton Johnson Center.
The ordinance has not changed. Cheatonville compared it with the October 20 packet, and the text and exhibit are the same, word for word. That includes the line "the foregoing Ordinance was approved upon its second reading on October 20, 2026," which the cover sheet says did not happen.
A new notice, naming the Denton Johnson Center. The packet has a new hearing notice and a new newspaper ad. Both put the hearing on Tuesday, November 3, at 7:30 PM, at the Denton Johnson Center, 400 Ruffel Street. The Town's request to the Orlando Sentinel is dated October 27 and asks for the ad to run October 28, "and in no event later than Thursday, October 29, 2026." The ad preview in the packet is dated October 29. For an ordinance that changes the uses allowed in a zoning district, state law, §166.041(3)(c)2.a., says the second hearing "shall be advertised at least 5 days prior to the public hearing." October 29 is five days before November 3. The packet has the preview, not a proof of publication.
Worth watching. Whether the Council takes the vote this time, and whether anyone corrects the second-reading date in the ordinance.
- Why was the October 20 hearing tabled, and has anything changed since?
- The ordinance still says it was "approved upon its second reading on October 20, 2026." The cover sheet says that hearing was tabled. Will the date be corrected before the Mayor and Clerk sign it?
- The packet shows a preview of the newspaper ad, not proof that it ran. Did it run on October 29, and will the proof of publication be added to the record?
- The signature block still reads "TG LAW, PLLC as Town Attorney." The Council hired Endow Law on September 15. Who will sign the ordinance as to form and legality?
Dr. Phillips Charities: the standing Hungerford update
What it is. The charity's update on its plans for the Hungerford School property, which it has asked to give "during every town council meeting." Sponsored by Council Member Mack. Exhibits: "N/A." The cover sheet is the same as October 20's except for the date.
Where things stood. At the October 6 update, the charity said it has asked Orange County for $60 million from the tourist development tax, toward an $85 million project, and that a site plan is still "a little ways away." Background on the county request is in Cheatonville's TDT brief.
Worth watching. Whether the ZORA! Festival's use of the Hungerford grounds comes up, since the workshop's draft agreement drops the paragraph about permission to use the campus.
What the record still leaves open
The water and sewer billing report. On October 6 the Council passed Resolution 2026-52, giving staff and counsel 14 Town business days to deliver written findings. If Town Hall was open every weekday, that deadline was Monday, October 26. The resolution has the Clerk place the report on "the agenda of the next practicable public Council meeting." On October 6 the Town's counsel said the response would go into the packet for the first meeting in November. That is this meeting, and it is not in this packet. It could still come up during the staff reports. The CAO also said on October 6 that members would get a dollar figure by email.
HostDime is not on the agenda. The CAO said on October 6 that HostDime "will be at the next meeting." It was not on October 20's agenda, and it is not on this one. Amendment No. 2 to the development agreement sets a $250 charge for each day after July 31, 2025 that the building lacks a final certificate of occupancy. If none has issued by November 3, that is 460 days, or $115,000. The packet does not say whether one has issued.
The audit is not on the agenda. The CAO said on October 6 that a draft of the Town's audit had arrived, with some parts still to come, and that he hoped it could be presented at the next meeting. It is not in this packet either.
The CRA fee waiver. Resolution 2026-51, the waiver of Town fees on four CRA homes, was pulled on October 6 and is not back. On October 15 the CRA Board agreed to proceed with two homes and consider a new bid for the other four, after all construction bids came in over budget.
Two chances to speak, at the Denton Johnson Center.
Both meetings are at the Denton Johnson Center, 400 Ruffel St, not Town Hall. The 6:30 workshop opens with citizen participation (Section II), before the staff reports and the ZORA! Festival item. At the 7:30 meeting, citizen participation is Section V, after the Dr. Phillips Charities update and before the farmers-market hearing. Each speaker gets three minutes, which both agendas say is 'strictly enforced.' The farmers-market ordinance also has its own public hearing, where residents can speak on that item. You can also email the Town Clerk ahead of time to have a comment read into the record.
The ZORA! agreement is only up for discussion on November 3. The workshop is the time to ask questions about it before any vote. The Town does not broadcast its workshops or post minutes of them.