- November 28, 2024
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The Volusia County Council will hold a special meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 23, to discuss the Belvedere Terminals' proposed fuel terminal in Ormond Beach — and whether or not the council will follow in the city of Ormond Beach's footsteps to file an appeal with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
The meeting, according to a county press release, will start at 5:30 p.m. at the County Council chambers on the second floor fo the Thomas C. Kelly Administration Center at 123 W. Indiana Ave. in DeLand.
The special meeting follows a discussion between council members on the fuel terminal during their meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 15. Councilman Troy Kent, during his closing comments of the meeting, said Belvedere Terminals' plans for Ormond — which is part of a $250 million multi-site fuel distribution system — was not a good fit for the site at 874 Hull Road due to its proximity to the Ormond Beach Municipal Airport, nearby residential communities and the Ormond Beach Sports Complex.
After receiving a text from Ormond Beach Mayor Bill Partington that the city would be pursuing an appeal to the FDEP permit, Kent made a motion for the county to file its own objection.
"This isn't about being reckless," Kent said. "This is about not missing the train on something."
On Aug. 1, Belvedere Terminals Company LLC received an air construction permit approval from the FDEP. Appeals must be filed by Aug. 31.
The facility, to be known as the Ormond Beach Terminal, will be used to load gasoline, diesel, ethanol and biodiesel into trucks. It will consist of “multiple truck loading bays, an aboveground tank farm, an engine-driven emergency generator, and fire protection system which includes an engine-driven emergency fire water pump,” according to the FDEP permit.
"Belvedere’s system will offer Floridians safer, lower cost and more reliable delivery of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel," a company statement reads. "In addition, Belvedere’s delivery model will help prevent the interruption of the fuel supply chain during times of weather disasters."
Belvedere's main hub is based in Mississippi and in Florida, the company plans to load fuel onto trains that travel along existing rail lines, including multiple spur locations in the state, a venture the company said will create over a hundred, high-paying jobs. The company is planning to construct three spur locations: The first in Jacksonville, to be followed by sites in Ft. Pierce and Ormond Beach.
The Ormond Beach facility is slated to have 16 storage tanks, and in June 2022, company representatives told the Ormond Beach Site Plan Review Committee that the fuel terminal would result in about seven trucks an hour, for a total of about 160 in a 24-hour period, using Harmony Road to Hull Road to reach U.S. 1.
Mike Benedetto, Chief Operating Officer of Belvedere Terminals, said in an email to the Observer that his company is engaging with communities in areas where it is considering locating facilities. When asked his opinion about the city's future appeal, he said, "We understand this is part of the process and we want the city to be comfortable with all aspects of the project."
Kent said at the meeting that he wasn't directing officials to pursue action that would necessarily result in a lawsuit, but because the site's proximity to the municipal airport — about a mile north — he believed the county should notify the Federal Aviation Administration.
"I'm not trying to be a fearmonger, you'll hear me all the time bashing people for that, but if there is a plane that hits those towers with all of that fuel in it, we are talking about a firestorm in this community," Kent said.
Not every area in town is unsuitable for a fuel terminal, but Hull Road is, he added. County Council Chair Jeff Brower agreed.
"I hope that this council, if we have an opportunity to have any input on it, that we will stop it in its tracks," Brower said.
The property, which is located in unincorporated Volusia County, has been zoned industrial since 2006. As it falls under the county's jurisdiction, County Manager George Recktenwald said he was surprised the county didn't receive notice about FDEP's air permit process, though he guessed it was because the county doesn't own property in the vicinity of the project.
No applications for the development of the property have been submitted to the county, and there haven't been any preliminary meetings between the county and Belvedere Terminals to discuss potential plans. But, according to a county email, Volusia's Public Works Department was recently approached with a request to evaluate a scope of service for a comprehensive traffic impact assessment.
While the majority of the councilmen expressed concern about the fuel terminal, they also wished to have more information about the proposal before making a decision on whether or not to appeal.
Johansson, who prior to Kent's motion said the city should be the one responsible for bringing the issue up to the FAA, said he wasn't sure on what grounds the county would file an appeal.
"I don't know what they're doing, so I don't know what they're polluting, so I don't know what part of the air permit I want to vehemently deny," Johansson said.
