- February 1, 2025
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A new nonprofit group has risen up in the north peninsula to fight back against Ormond Beach's recent decision to move forward with converting homes from septic tanks to city sewer.
The Ormond by the Sea Association started a Facebook group on Aug. 1, to highlight concerns about a "backdoor" annexation and the resident costs associated with the city going outside its municipal boundaries to push for sewer in the north peninsula. The Facebook group has since grown to over 350 members.
Ormond-by-the-Sea resident Leo Vidal, the founder of the group, there is a lot of passion and emotion behind the issue. He said other residents have told him that, if they wanted to live in Ormond Beach, they would've bought a house within the city limits. The group is concerned about the costs for hooking up to sewer, the monthly availability fee residents will face should they choose not to convert, as well as what accepting city sewer will mean in terms of being annexed.
“There’s a lot of unanswered questions," Vidal said.
Ormond Beach City Manager Joyce Shanahan said in an email to the Ormond Beach Observer that there is no estimate available on the cost for residents yet. The city just released the request for qualifications for professional design services, and those will be returned on Sept. 10. The city aims to submit a bid award for the design service staff chooses at the commission meeting on Oct. 15.
"Then the design work begins," Shanahan said. "Until the design work is complete in 10-12 months, we can’t estimate the total costs."
One fee is somewhat known at this time — impact fees. Those will be a one-tome cost and dependent on the number of customers that hook up to the sewer, as well as when they choose to do so, Shanahan said. Those dollars will be directed back to the cost of the project, and the current phase 1 impact fee is $2,720 per home, though Shanahan said "the city will aggressively pursue grant funds to help reduce this cost."
The city will submit a grant application to the St. Johns River Water Management District, due in early spring of 2020, Shanahan said. This is a "competitive grant program" and has a 50% matching program with a cap of $1.5 million in grant dollars, she explained.
"If the parameters of the grant program do not change, it could be possible to submit for future grants for future phases of this project," Shanahan said. "The city has been successful in the past with similar projects, successfully reducing the direct costs to impacted residents."
Other possible partners include the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Volusia County.
Vidal said that the Ormond by the Sea Association isn't "anti-environment." However, Vidal said the group isn't convinced that this will help the river's water quality.
Ormond-by-the Sea resident Rashida Hakeem said the north peninsula's septic tanks can't be so bad, if Volusia County is allowing the Vista Della Toscana neighborhood across the Halifax River off Old Dixie Highway to install septic tanks in the new homes.
“So we all need to tear up our homes and throw away all this money while they get brand new septic tanks each day," Hakeem said.
Vidal said he would like the city to provide a study on septic tanks just in Ormond-by-the-Sea, and how much effluent and nitrogen is discharged into the river from their tanks.
Shanahan said a study has already been conducted — the 2013 Florida Department of Health report on Volusia County septic systems that identified Ormond-by-the-Sea as unsuitable for septic tanks.
The city of Ormond Beach is investing $1.1 million for the permitting and design of phase 1 of the septic to sewer conversion, which will impact 700 homes from Plaza Drive to Longwood Drive. There are 10 phases in total.
Rick Nedescu lives in the first house in Plaza Drive. He's lived there for the past 5 years. He said the cost of the conversion isn't his top concern, but he doesn't like "being forced" to hook up to sewer.
“We call him ground zero," Vidal said.
Nedescu said he suspects there is an ulterior motive to take on the large-scale conversion in Ormond-by-the-Sea, and part of that motive he believes is annexation.
“Simply to annex us makes no sense unless there is a financial gain," Nedescu said.
Shanahan, however, said the city is just focused on improving the Halifax River.
"The city’s sole goal is simply to improve water quality by reducing nutrients migrating from septic systems into the Halifax River from homes on the north peninsula," she said.
He said he understands that his property taxes will go down if the north peninsula is annexed, but his water bill will still increase. He also questioned whether the city could handle the north peninsula's sewage if the conversion went through.
Shanahan said the city's wastewater treatment plant has a capacity of 8 million gallons per day, and its current annual average flow is 4.61 gallons per day. As for the water bill increases, she said monthly fees for sewer are based on metered water usage. The base rate is $28.94 for usage of 2,000 gallons per month.
Hakeem said the majority of the residents haven't come to the city asking for sewer.
“The county didn’t even come to them on our behalf," Hakeem said. "They (the city) just decided on their own.”
She's concerned about the fact the city's comprehensive plan states that the city provides utility service beyond the municipal limits, but requires that any connection to the city utility system either annex into the city or enter into an annexation agreement if not contiguous. On the July 30 City Commission meeting, there was annexation agreement between the city and an Ormond-by-the-Sea property.
In response, Shanahan said there is no legal requirement by the city code of ordinances that forces annexation in the north peninsula. The City Commission continues to express no desire for this either, she added.
Vidal said the Ormond-by-the-Sea Association will be communicating with the Volusia County Council about this issue, and their desire for Ormond Beach to leave their septic tanks alone.
“We’re saying it’s not about water," Vidal said. "It’s all about annexation. Once they annex and put in sewers they can develop the north peninsula.”
This story was updated at 12:46 p.m. on . Thursday, Sept. 12, to correct Rick Nedescu's name. A previous version of this story reported his name was Nick Nedescu.
