- January 21, 2025
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Echoing residents' concerns about flooding, the Ormond Beach City Commission denied the proposed Tattersall at Tymber Creek residential development at its meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 18.
It's an action that for the 84-acre parcel, located at the northwest intersection of Tymber Creek Road and Airport Road, is not unprecedented; Two previous requests by developers have also been denied by the commission, and this most recent vote of 4-1 against, with only Commissioner Dwight Selby voting in favor, marked the third denial for a development.
"It's a tortured piece of property," Mayor Bill Partington said. "It's had its difficulty over the last 14 or 15 years of trying to get some kind of approval."
In 2006, the City Commission approved a 68-lot subdivision for the parcel, but it was never built. The approved development order expired in 2014, a year after the commission denied a request by the developer to up the number of lots to 163. Then in 2018, the commission denied the Marshside Village project, which sought the construction of 144 lots. The former developer filed a petition to repeal the commission's denial, but it was upheld by a Volusia County Circuit Judge in June 2020.
The Tattersall project was proposing the construction of 143 single-family lots, with homes to cost around $500,000. It came before the commission with a 5-1 recommendation to deny by the Planning Board, per a vote that took place on Dec. 9, 2021.
Partington said that when he was reviewing the application, this time submitted by local homebuilder Trey Paytas of Paytas Homes, he was looking for improvements in the development from the last request in 2018.
"Surely, there's some big improvements out there that are going to sway me and I can finally support this," Partington said. "I thought I'd hear less density. It didn't have to be 68 — maybe that was a little low when I voted for that 14 or 15 years ago, but it came in at 143, one less than where Marshside was, so that to me doesn't really equate to less density."
He also didn't see traffic or road improvements, and said he was disappointed at that.
Five residents spoke at the meeting against the project, though one, Clay Beazley, presented the commissioners with a petition of over 30 names to allow him to speak for them at the meeting to be granted extra time. Though the public is typically given three minutes to speak, the commission allowed Beazley 15 minutes by way of a 3-2 vote, with Commissioners Troy Kent and Susan Persis voting against.
Beazley honed in on the flooding issues of the area, illustrating with maps how the water tends to flow from the Deer Creek subdivision into Groover Branch, one of the two wetland systems that runs across the parcel, which has 14 acres of wetlands in total. The Tattersall project was planning to preserve 11 of them.
"It's impossible to line that much housing across that property right there and expect for it to go somewhere," Beazley said.
Attorney Matt Watts, of Cobb Cole, represented the developer at the commission meeting. He said that all lots were subject to change once the site was engineered. Dwight DuRant, president of engineering firm Zev Cohen and Associates, said he sympathized with the residents but assured the project would mitigate existing flood concerns and not worsen them.
"They're completely right about the things that they're seeing, that they're experiencing," DuRant said. "I ask you to give me the opportunity to go get those permits to make things better at the end of the day."
The commission adjourned for five minutes, and upon their return to the dais, their minds were already made up.
Commissioner Rob Littleton was in favor of the project, but was against the developer's waiver request to allow a 16-foot entry feature, so he voted against. Selby was the only one who voted yes, saying that when he reviewed the application, he had been looking for reasons to turn the project down and was unable to find any.
Based on the Planning Board's denial, and the testimony by the residents, Partington said he felt confident in denying the project. He also found the fact several of the proposed lots were in a flood zone troubling.
"I thought, 'Who would buy in FEMA flood zone?'" Partington said. "And even worse, 'Who would sell somebody a home in a FEMA flood zone?' That's disturbing to me."
The City Commission unanimously approved a request to rezone the former Regal Cinemas property at 215 Williamson Blvd. from B-8 Commercial to a Planned Business Development.
The property was recently purchased by local developer Paul Holub, who seeks to redevelop the 1996 movie theater and surrounding land, which spans about 12 acres. Though specific uses were not identified, he did ask for the commission's approval to allow RV and boat storage.
However at the meeting, Holub alluded that other types of businesses would instead be coming, saying that he "didn't think we'll be talking about boat storage in a couple of months."
On Wednesday, Jan. 12, the Florida Department of Transportation held a meeting to present its plans to enhance pedestrian safety along a 1.5-mile stretch of State Road A1A.
The $3.3 million project is proposing the construction of eight mid-block crossings, seven of which will have a rectangular rapid flashing beacon, from Milsap Road to Granada Boulevard. The crossings are proposed for: Milsap Road, Benjamin Drive, River Beach Drive, Rockefeller Drive, Arlington Way, Ormond Parkway, Osceola Avenue and Bosarvey Drive.
The crossing at Rockefeller drive will be equipped with a pedestrian hybrid beacon, which operates like a stop light.
In addition, FDOT is planning to construct three raised islands to encourage slower driving speeds. These will be located north of Wren Road, north of Northshore Drive and north of Byron Ellis Drive.
FDOT estimates it will complete the project this spring.
