ORLANDO, Fla. — More than a year after shuttering an Orlando church’s unpermitted homeless shelter, Orange County commissioners approved a rezoning request for the church to build a new shelter on the same site.

So long as Kaleo Ministries can meet the county’s conditions, the church may move forward with its plan to build a 240-bed shelter on six acres of residential land it owns in east Orlando, the county board agreed Tuesday.

The church operated a makeshift shelter on the site for years, housing hundreds of people in repurposed shipping containers and a converted garage.

But the unpermitted shelter near E. Colonial Drive and SR 417 garnered 38 code violations resulting in $4 million dollars in fines before the county shut it down in a March 2024 court filing.

At the time, County Fire Marshal William Farhat testified that the location’s lack of fire suppression equipment was “an immediate and credible threat to the life, health, safety, and welfare of the public.”

In April, Pastor Marcos Diaz appealed to commissioners to rezone the church’s land so it could construct an 18,000 square-foot shelter and drug treatment facility.

After more than an hour of debate — which County Mayor Jerry Demings called “not a good use of time” — commissioners postponed the vote until June to allow Diaz more time to prepare.

At the time, Demings said Diaz was “somewhat inconsistent” in his answers to the county, including not being clear on how the church would fund the project or what agency would run its drug treatment program.

Commissioners also advised Diaz to resolve the millions of dollars in fines hanging over the property and bring it up to code before coming back.

Since that meeting, Diaz has brought the property up to code. He also hired an attorney that negotiated the church’s fines down to $130,000. So far, the church has paid $5,500 of that money.

Diaz also partnered with Asher Capital Investments, a New Jersey investment firm that said it is committed to raising the money needed to build and operate the project.

“I did preliminary underwriting. The project is fundable with no doubt. We already got some commitments,” said Edgardo Saldana owner of Asher Capital who stood at the podium alongside Diaz at Tuesday’s meeting.

Orange County needs more shelter beds, as the area’s homeless population continues to outpace its supply. And a new state law banning camping in public places that took effect in January has put even more pressure on the situation.

But city and county officials have been unable to find a location for a new shelter. Each time they zero in on a possibility, they’ve been met with strong opposition from residents worried that a shelter would bring crime to their neighborhoods. That happened on sites along West Washington Street near Camping World Stadium, and in Orlando’s SoDo district.

Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, the County received a petition against Kaleo’s shelter signed by 73 residents who live near the church’s property. Those residents claimed the unpermitted shelter brought increased crime, open drug use and trespassers to their neighborhood. They worry the new shelter will have the same negative impact on the area.

Despite those concerns, the commission voted 6-1 to rezone the land but laid out 24 conditions that the church must meet before the shelter can open.

Those conditions include paying the remainder of the $130,000 in fines owed to the county, having 24-hour security on site and building a 25-foot buffer zone between the shelter and its neighbors with landscaping, a ditch and a concrete wall.

Diaz and his partners erupted in cheer when the ruling was issued.

“We made mistakes but we’re looking to turn the page,” Diaz said.

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