- October 13, 2024
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Members of the public seeking to speak on issues not included in the Planning Board’s agenda will now be able to speak at the end of the meetings.
Based on city staff’s recommendation, the Planning Board unanimously voted to approve this addition at its meeting on Thursday, Feb. 9. The Ormond Beach City Commission holds a period of public comments at the beginning of its meetings.
“I like it at the end,” Board member Mike Scudiero said. “I think it makes more sense.”
He added that most people who come to the Planning Board meetings to speak do so in relation to an item on the agenda; this change would avoid having people comment on issues on the agenda outside of the public hearings.
“I do believe that we should do it, regardless of where it is,” Board Chair Doug Thomas said. “I think that we need to have the public input on items like that.”
Neighborhood meetings
The board also unanimously approved an administrative amendment to the city’s Land Development Code concerning the Site Plan Review Committee. The amendment assigns the city’s planning director as the coordinating liaison for applications and updates to the code to strengthen requirements for neighborhood meetings.
These updates include requiring written approval from city staff to hold a neighborhood meeting five business days before notices are mailed; requiring meetings be held Monday through Thursday between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.; requiring that a written summary of the meeting be provided to city staff; and adding a posting requirement for neighborhood meetings.
“We’ve had other property owners try to hold meetings like on a Friday evening,” Planning Director Steven Spraker said. “This isn’t really in the spirit of trying to get people to come to neighborhood meetings.”
Thomas said the update also highlights a need to have a community center in town that can seat 500-750 people. He mentioned the Feb. 8 neighborhood meeting for Tomoka Oaks, and how it had to be split up into two sessions because of the number of people expected to attend.
“I think that it’s time that we move into the modern day age and have a community center that ... can service such a need,” Thomas said.
Board member Angeline Shull said she liked the addition of requiring a site posting for neighborhood meetings because of the number of residents who come before the board to speak about a project and say they weren’t aware a neighborhood meeting had been held before the public hearing.
City staff suggested that the signs be 2 feet by 3 feet — smaller than the signs placed for Planning Board and City Commission hearings.
Shull suggested that they be bigger, and Scudiero agreed. After some discussion, the board moved to increase the neighborhood meeting sign requirement to 4 feet by 4 feet.
The board also approved a special exception for a garden shed at the Ormond Memorial Art Museum and LDC amendments on utility installation fees, as well as fences and walls.
Florida Rep. Tom Leek will run to represent District 7 in the state Senate in 2024.
Leek, of Ormond Beach, currently represents District 28 in the Florida House of Representatives. He filed to run for Senate on Jan. 4.
Sen. Travis Hutson is the incumbent.
If you could become one of the four natural elements, which would you become and how would you interact with the environment?
This is the prompt for the Joyce Ebbets Scholarship Fund essay contest, which will give two children the chance to attend one session of the Environmental Discovery Center’s Enviro Camp 2023 at no cost.
The contest is open to children ages 7-10. Enviro Camp is composed of two four-week sessions. The first session will run June 5-30; the second session will run July 10 to Aug. 4.
For the contest’s official rules and more information, visit bit.ly/3E9HHlP.
The Volusia County Council is seeking applicants to serve on county advisory boards.
Due to expiring terms, applicants are needed for the following 17 boards:
Visit volusia.org/advisory.
