Cocoa council approves Windward Preserve final plat but rejects updated house elevations, asks developer to return

The Cocoa City Council on Dec. 9 approved the final plat for the Windward Preserve subdivision, moving forward a long-running residential project roughly 212 acres in size that will be divided into 385 single-family lots with tracts set aside for roads, open space, wetlands and stormwater. Staff said most amenities and tracts will be owned and maintained by the HOA or the community development district; the city will only own and maintain a pumping lift station.

Planning staff told the council the plat aligns with prior settlement and PUD approvals and Florida’s platting statutes but identified a few remaining ministerial items: an existing FPL easement notation, cleanup to the tract ownership table and recorded conservation easements for wetlands to be executed simultaneously with the plat. The staff recommendation to approve the final plat was supported by the applicant’s team and carried unanimously.

Later in the meeting the developer presented a separate request to replace the architectural elevations that were included in the PUD approval granted in December 2023. Taylor Morrison representatives said the company had updated its regional plan lineup and proposed a new set of models and elevations intended to increase variety. The developer described the new lineup as offering "more diversity, more variation, way less monotony," and said the two model elevations they wanted to start with were the Longboat and the Key West.

Council attention focused on exterior design details: porch depth, use of stone and other facade materials, the presence of covered entries and the relative massing of front garages. Several council members said front porches and pronounced entries foster neighborhood interaction and reduce monotony; others noted builders can offer porch options as an upgrade. After discussion, council members did not accept the proposed replacement elevations. The motion to approve the new elevations failed, with three members recording nays, and the council directed the applicant to return with revised options that better align with the PUD’s intent and the city’s prior approvals.

Council preserved the original PUD conditions — such as minimum living area, non-repetition of elevations across adjacent lots and stamped concrete driveways — and asked staff and the developer to work together on revised elevations that respond to the council’s feedback. The developer said they would work with staff to produce updated options and reiterated that structural porch options exist though they can be an added cost to buyers.

What’s next: The council approved the final plat, allowing recording after the applicant addresses the listed administrative items. The architectural-elevation request was not approved and will be brought back for further council review.