- November 25, 2024
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For decades, Ormond MainStreet has advocated for a walkable downtown that not only has restaurants and shops, but homes too.
Now, a local developer has proposed a 24-unit condominium development to help fulfill the latter goal using one of the last vacant parcels in the district.
Dime Rock Properties, LLC, seeks to build a six-story condominium at 121 E. Granada Blvd. Architect William Chapin, speaking at a neighborhood meeting on Tuesday, March 14, said the condo will give the city “ a set of standards for new residences in the town.”
The property has been vacant since 2014. It is very narrow and just 0.75 acres, which made it a challenge for Chapin and developer Bryan Collyer to create a floorplan.
Though the developer is seeking a rezoning to a Planned Residential Development, the property’s current Central Business B-4 zoning allows multifamily residences as a conditional use.
The plans show a mixture of one- to three-bedroom units, each with an outdoor terrace. The first floor has been designated for parking.
Rob Merrell, an attorney with Cobb Cole, representing the developer, said the project will facilitate a pedestrian “urban-like” downtown environment.
“We truly believe this is going to be a place where you don’t need your car,” Merrell said.
The walkability is what makes the project exciting, Chapin said.
“You trade miles in for paces,” Chapin said.
While most of the residents at the meeting were in favor of the development, some expressed concern about creating an “urban environment” in the downtown.
One resident, who declined to provide her name at the meeting, said she lived in the nearby Ormond Heritage condos, and that very few people walk to the local restaurants and shops.
“Those people are not going to come out and walk up and down Granada Boulevard as though they’re living in some urban environment,” she said. “It’s a terrible concept and I totally, totally oppose it.”
Mike Rodriguez, a member of Ormond MainStreet, said the development fits in with MainStreet’s master plan.
“For the downtown to thrive without having huge parking lots ... we have to have people living in that area to support those businesses,” he said.
The Ormond Beach Planning Board on March 9 unanimously recommended that the City Commission approve a land development code amendment that would stop developers’ impact fee credits from degrading each year.
The City Commission directed city staff to pursue the amendment in February as part of its ongoing process to update municipal impact fees.
The Planning Board also discussed the impact fee update and the policy directions provided by the commission at its February meeting.
The board was in favor of updating the fees, but asked if the study took into account the trips into Ormond generated by development outside of the city.
Planning Director Steven Spraker said the study used a regional model, but explained that the city can only assess impact fees on local roads.
Board member GG Galloway cautioned that new residents will likely bear the brunt of the fee increase.
“If you want to know one of the reasons why housing and building costs are up high ... it’s because these impact fees continue to rise,” he said.
A 26-year-old Sanford man died in a head-on crash near Ormond Beach on Sunday, March 12.
The man was driving west on State Road 40 near Palmetto Pines Road when he lost control of his car on a curve, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
He struck the front of a pickup truck traveling in the opposite direction, and the truck turned on its side and hit a traffic sign.
The man died at the scene.
The truck’s occupants — a 32-year-old Ormond Beach man and a 45-year-old Orange City man — were taken to the hospital with serious injuries.
The city celebrated the renaming of the South Ormond Neighborhood Center after Joe and Elwillie Daniels on March 4.
