Screen Enclosures in Lake Forest: HOA and ARC Approval

Lake Forest is a gated, 24/7-guarded master-planned community off SR 46A west of I-4, built around a 64-acre lake, with a high share of private pool and screen-enclosure homes. It is governed by the Lake Forest Master Community Association under Florida Chapter 720, with its own Architectural Review Committee — which makes it the clearest example in Sanford of a permit question and an HOA question that run on entirely separate tracks.

A permit and an HOA approval are different processes

Getting a building permit, where one is required, from the City of Sanford or Seminole County — see the permit guide for which desk covers your parcel — does not clear a project with an Architectural Review Committee, and clearing the ARC does not substitute for a permit where one is required. In a community like Lake Forest, both can apply to the same job.

What an ARC typically reviews on exterior work

Architectural review committees under Florida Chapter 720 generally exist to keep a community’s exterior appearance consistent, which for a screen enclosure commonly means frame color and sometimes mesh type or tint — the visible parts of the job, not the structural engineering. Requirements vary by association and are set in that association’s own governing documents, not by this site.

Ask before you order

The practical takeaway for Lake Forest, and for Sanford’s other gated communities — Buckingham Estates, Retreat at Wekiva, Preserve at Astor Farms, Kensington Reserve, Wyndham Preserve and Lake Markham Preserve among them — is to request the association’s architectural standards in writing before a frame color or mesh is specified, not after material has been ordered.