- March 9, 2025
After voting in favor in January, the commision voted against it Feb. 5.
BY MATT MENCARINI | STAFF WRITER
Residents packed the Ormond Beach City Commission Chambers. They voiced their opinions, applauded and some left before the commission voted on the item.
But after two hours of discussion Feb. 5, including opinions of about 18 residents, the City Commission voted 4-1 to deny a request to amend the Planned Residential Development plan for the Marshside Subdivision, reversing its 4-1 decision Jan. 8.
The amendment sought to change the subdivision’s lots from 80 feet to 60 feet, and increasing from 68 to 163 the number of single-family homes. The original plan passed in 2006, but the subdivision’s developer, Edward Speno, president of Orlando-based White Falcon Land Development Inc., wanted to increase the number of homes in addition to rezoning 37.9 acres into the development.
The rezoning portion of the ordinance passed unanimously, but the amendment for the proposed subdivision at the northwest intersection of Airport Road and Tymber Creek Road was denied.
The residents in attendance strongly opposed the 60-foot lots on the basis of increased density and the negative traffic implications. Many of the residents who spoke said they had no problem with the plan if it included the originally proposed 80-foot lots.
The commission denied the amendment after discussing potential alternatives, like keeping the land with the original plan at 80-foot lots and allowing Speno to build homes on 60-foot lots on the new 37.9 acres.
However, because such a plan required major adjustments, it couldn’t be finalized by the commissioners. By voting down the amendment, Speno can make changes and resubmit the plan, taking under consideration the commission’s comments.
Mayor Ed Kelley was the only commission member to vote in favor of the amendment, although he voted against it in 2006. Commissioner Troy Kent was the lone vote against Jan. 8, and also voted against Feb. 5, with commissioners James Stowers, Bill Partington and Rick Boehm.
The concern voiced by residents was that the additional homes would make an already congested traffic area, as a result of Pathways and Pine Trails elementary schools being so close to the intersection, even worse, and potentially impacting traffic in other parts of the city.
“I don’t blame you for being concerned about this,” Kent said. “I’m a little concerned as well. I work out there. I drive it five days a week. … The traffic is hellish.”
Some of the residents who spoke to the commission, including Lou Lumaghi, who lives in Ormond Lakes, wouldn’t be immediately impacted by the increased traffic, but still saw it as a larger potential problem.
“If Ormond Crossings develops … and as Mainstreet is developing, you’re going to have a major traffic problem on both (U.S. 1) and (Granada Boulevard),” Lumaghi said. “There’s no way to avoid it. And throwing more traffic onto those roads, with this development, as small as it is, with as many houses as it’s going to be, is a big problem.”
