For more than a decade, volunteers have pedaled bicycles from Audubon Park Covenant Church to tend front-yard micro-farms scattered across the neighborhood. The church at 3219 Chelsea St. has served as home base for Fleet Farming, a program of the UN-accredited nonprofit IDEAS For Us that converts residential lawns into productive gardens, grows seedlings, stores farming tools, and sends volunteers on biweekly “Swarm Rides” to farmlettes within half a mile of the property.
Then came code enforcement.
The City of Orlando cited the church for violations related to the farming operation — a 6-foot fence built without a permit, open storage of soil and equipment, and a second storage shed on the property. City planning staff characterized the operation as a “not-for-profit residential landscaping operation” unsuited for the R-1A residential zone, and recommended that the Board of Zoning Adjustment deny all three variance requests filed on behalf of the church.
But after a deferral at the BZA’s Jan. 27 hearing, the case has taken a turn. The variance requests have been withdrawn, and the city has converted the case to a Conditional Use Permit — CUP2026-10003 — which will go before the Municipal Planning Board on April 21, 2026.
Both sides say they want Fleet Farming to continue at the church. But they tell very different stories about how the operation got here and what the law requires going forward.
The city’s view: a ‘corporation yard’ that outgrew the code
A City of Orlando spokesperson told Bungalower the issue started with “the installation and operation of a corporation yard–type use on a residentially zoned property.” The site contained “outdoor material stockpiles, commercial vehicle parking, and newly installed sheds and fencing,” and adjacent residents filed complaints with code enforcement because those activities are generally prohibited in residential zoning districts.
The city said the original variance requests addressed only dimensional issues — fence height and shed placement — but “did not resolve the fundamental land-use issue: the appropriateness and expansion of the operational use on a residentially zoned site.” That’s why staff recommended converting the case to a Conditional Use review, which allows the Municipal Planning Board to evaluate the expanded church-related activities and impose site-specific conditions to mitigate neighborhood impacts.
The city said its objective is “to support the church’s desire to host the Fleet Farming activity as a community-serving use as part of the Church’s sustainability initiatives; while ensuring it operates with appropriate safeguards in a residential context.” Through the CUP process, the city can impose conditions addressing storage, screening, fencing, vehicle parking, hours of operation, and overall neighborhood compatibility.
The church’s view: the farm was always legal
The church and its planner see it differently.
Heather Isaacs, a senior principal at Dix.Hite+Partners and former BZA chair who served from 2003 to 2012, is representing the church. In the church’s CUP application narrative — filed by Isaacs on behalf of the church — the fenced area used by Fleet Farming occupies approximately 6% of the overall site area and less than 25% of the principal building, figures the church says fall within what the zoning code allows for accessory service uses without special approval.
“Part of our position is that the conditional use application is not required for the use in place within the fenced area,” Isaacs said. “In order to be thought forward about how to implement the church’s full mission for sustainability, we are proactively requesting the CUP to accommodate the additional uses in the future which will push the accessory service use areas over the 10% allowance.”
The church’s application makes two specific requests: permission to build caretaker’s quarters on site, and approval for cumulative accessory service uses — including Fleet Farming and a planned solar carport structure over the existing parking lot — to exceed 10% but not more than 15% of the total site area.
In other words, the church says the CUP isn’t about fixing the current farming operation — it’s about planning for what comes next.
The city disagrees on the 10% claim
The city pushed back directly on the church’s interpretation. The spokesperson said no accessory use determination has been issued for the Fleet Farming activity, and that based on a preliminary review, the operation “may not meet several of the applicable accessory-use criteria” in the city’s code.
Among the city’s concerns: the farming activity does not appear to be “customarily incidental and subordinate” to a place of worship, the operation appears oriented toward serving the broader community rather than the church itself, and certain accessory activities are required to occur within the principal building rather than externally on the site.
“Allowing a corporation-yard–type function without clear operational limitations could create land use impacts inconsistent with the district intent,” the city said.
Built before the code
Audubon Park Covenant Church was built in 1954 — the first building in the neighborhood, according to the church’s filing — before the City of Orlando adopted its current zoning code, making it a legally nonconforming use, meaning it predates the zoning rules now applied to it.
“Although the sustainability and education initiatives have been part of the church’s mission for nearly 15 years, the expansion of the legally nonconforming use to fulfill the church’s complete mission and strategic plan is required,” the church wrote in responses to Bungalower.
The church says the multiple code violations it initially received have been reduced to one, stemming from a fence installed without a permit after a contractor hired by IDEAS For Us failed to obtain one in advance. According to the church’s filing, it plans to apply for a building permit and move the 6-foot fence to meet the 15-foot street side yard setback line. The city confirmed there is one zoning code case with a single violation, which it said covers both the fence height and the shed.
The church directly challenged the staff report’s characterization of the operation. “It’s important to share that Ideas for Us isn’t growing food and operating a food distribution program from the church property. Nor is Ideas for Us using the church property as a landscaping business,” the church wrote. “They have been supporting the local Fleet Farming plots in our neighborhood through teaching urban agriculture techniques onsite and at each farm plot.”
How Fleet Farming works
IDEAS For Us has partnered with the church since 2015, when its Fleet Farming operations outgrew the home of co-founder Chris Castro, according to Alex Luna with the organization.
Fleet Farming was born in 2014 from the IDEAS Hive, a monthly think-and-do workshop held at East End Market. The program converts residential front lawns into productive micro-farms, or “farmlettes.” According to its website, Fleet Farming currently operates 15 farmlettes in the Audubon Park neighborhood, maintains more than 45 school gardens across Central Florida, and has built more than 477 edible gardens through its Edible Landscapes service. The program has been featured in a National Geographic documentary and highlighted by the United Nations Foundation.
The church’s central location is key: all of the farmlettes sit within half a mile, and volunteers bike to them during Swarm Rides. The organization grows all of its vegetable seedlings on site and stores essential farming materials at the church.
Luna said an AdventHealth grant active since late 2024 has produced concrete results: as of December, the program had fed 2,146 people, educated 2,586, and grown or distributed 2,952 pounds of food to families at Title I schools including Jones, Evans, Memorial Middle, Oakridge, West Lakes Early Learning, and ACE School. The organization has also helped install gardens at more than 40 schools over the past five years.
“Running our Fleet Farming operation out of the church is not completely essential, but it is absolutely integral to our work in the Audubon Park community,” Luna said.
How the fight started
Clayton Louis Ferrara, CEO of IDEAS For Us, said the trouble began after the organization consolidated operations to the church and built a fence to protect equipment following a robbery at its previous headquarters.
“We left our past headquarters at Kaley Square after we had a break in robbery that stole over $11,000 of farming equipment and tools,” Ferrara wrote. “We then consolidated our operations to the new location and built a fence to protect our tools and plants. That is when the issue started. There were zero issues before.”
The property’s unusual configuration fueled the dispute. The church sits on approximately 1.2 acres bordered by three public streets — Chelsea Street, Cardinal Road and Lark Place — which under Orlando’s zoning code makes virtually the entire property a “front yard.” Front yards have stricter rules: fences are capped at 4 feet, and open storage is prohibited.
Isaacs questioned that front yard determination, arguing that the portions of the property facing Cardinal Road and Lark Place function as side and rear yards based on building orientation.
Neighbors divided
Public comment submitted to the BZA was divided. John Stevens, who lives at 1302 Cardinal Rd., described what he characterized as a commercial operation, citing trucks, heavy equipment, and large piles of mulch and soil.
But supporters outnumbered opponents in the written record. Julianne Robinson, who lives at 1304 Tanager Dr. adjacent to the church, called the operation a nonprofit community benefit. Stacy Bursuk of 3920 Wren Ln. wrote that Fleet Farming’s presence was a driving factor in her decision to purchase her home in the neighborhood. Karen and Doug Anderson, architects and 26-year residents at 1525 Cardinal Rd., also wrote in support.
What happens April 21
The shift from a variance to a conditional use permit changes the question before the city. A variance requires proving that unique property conditions create a hardship — a standard city staff said the church could not meet. A conditional use permit allows evaluation of whether a use can work in a zoning district with the right conditions attached.
The city and the church agree on one thing: they want to find a way to keep Fleet Farming at the church. But the city sees the CUP as necessary to authorize an operation it says was never formally approved, while the church sees it as a proactive step for future expansion of a use it says was already allowed.
The church’s filing also cites the city’s own Growth Management Plan policies in support of the application, including provisions that call on Orlando to promote environmental stewardship by partnering with nonprofits and to retrofit existing neighborhoods with community-serving civic uses.
Isaacs said the city and the church’s sustainability mission are aligned. “My goal is to assist the parties in ensuring the correct code interpretations are applied and proper processes are followed,” she said.
The staff report for CUP2026-10003 has not yet been posted. How the city frames the farming operation in that report — and what conditions it recommends — will determine whether the April 21 hearing produces a path forward or a new round of disagreement.
Updated Feb. 25, 2026: This story has been updated with details from the church’s Conditional Use Permit application narrative (CUP2026-10003), including the specific requests in the filing, the church’s proposed fence remedy, and its Growth Management Plan arguments.
This story was developed using AI analysis of public records, official transcripts and interview responses from sources. See our editorial standards for more information about how we produce coverage.