![\"\"](\"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Talbot-House.webp\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe board denied a zoning change for a 72,000-square-foot facility at the southeast corner of Memorial Boulevard and North Ingraham Avenue, leaving the project\u2019s future in doubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Board members influenced by public opposition<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the staff endorsement and legal warnings, several board members said they were influenced by neighborhood objections and concerns about the site\u2019s suitability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had overwhelming opposition to this project from the residents,\u201d said board member Susan Seitz. \u201cThese folks have their money invested in their businesses, in their homes, in their schools, and they do not want a transient facility in their neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Board Chair Terry Dennis said the board is not required to approve every project that meets technical guidelines. \u201cWe have also disapproved hotels and other things because we did not feel like they were the best option to go into the surrounding area that they were going to,\u201d Dennis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Board member Jolian Rios said his primary concern was the proposed facility\u2019s proximity to Lakes Church Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Board member Jeri Thom said she felt the proposal would simply move \u201cwhat\u2019s become an issue in one location of the city, a mile or two away to another area of the city.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Talbot House has 30 days to appeal the board\u2019s decision to the Lakeland City Commission, which would make the final determination after a public hearing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lakeland\u2019s Planning and Zoning Board voted 4-1 on Dec. 16 to block Talbot House Ministries from relocating its homeless shelter to Memorial Boulevard. The board denied a zoning change for a 72,000-square-foot facility at the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60546,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDFcL1RhbGJvdC1Ib3VzZS53ZWJwP2ZpdD0zMTAlMkMxNjMmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJcdTIwMThOb3QgaW4gbXkgbmVpZ2hib3Job29kXHUyMDE5OiBMYWtlbGFuZCBQbGFubmluZyBCb2FyZCBCbG9ja3MgVGFsYm90IEhvdXNlIE1vdmUgdG8gTWVtb3JpYWwiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.oR8dqSUEbsQ5c7qgB8LMheiZ__ilsUyjbcQJ2fDont8MQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":60546,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Talbot-House.webp","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[13070],"class_list":["post-60545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-not-in-my-neighborhood-lakeland-planning-board-blocks-talbot-house-move-to-memorial"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60545"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60547,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60545\/revisions\/60547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}