- October 10, 2024
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What about a dock to offer river cruises on the Halifax River?
That’s the idea local broker Jim Cooksey floated by the city’s Site Plan Review Committee on Wednesday, Sept. 27, regarding his 0.87-acre submerged parcel of land next to Cassen Park. Cooksey purchased the property in 2015 with Bill Dodson, a historic preservation advocate who was involved in the Ormond Beach Historical Society and helped preserve the MacDonald House. He died last year.
Initially, Cooksey and Dodson were thinking of building a floating riverboat restaurant on the property, but Cooksey told the SPRC that he knows building a structure is off the table. The land is zoned SE “Special Environmental” and has a land use of “Open Space/Conservation.”
“Originally, we bought it envisioning a dock offering cruises with a small structure,” Cooksey said. “... Well, I realize that’s really pushing a big boulder up a hill to get a building on piers out there — not that it couldn’t be done — but our request now is to investigate constructing a dock.”
Planning Director Steven Spraker said that when the city looked into riverfront dining in the previous master plan, it found that its comprehensive plan stated properties surrounding the Halifax River should be limited to single-family homes and passive parks.
“That’s an overriding philosophy that hasn’t changed in directions that have been provided to me,” Spraker said.
Cooksey could seek to amend the policy, Spraker said, but the city has voiced no desire to put a commercial entity on the river.
Because the submerged parcel is next to city-owned land, an easement would need to be granted to access the privately-owned property.
Cooksey said his property has been impacted by the city’s recent dredging and work to the Cassen Park boat dock. People have parked boats on his parcel and used it to access the park, he added.
Spraker suggested Cooksey reach out to Ormond MainStreet to determine an appropriate use and encouraged him to attend the commission’s workshop on the Cassen Park redesign on Wednesday, Oct. 4.
Jane Dodson, Bill Dodson’s wife, said that they had thought the park could be enhanced by their property, and that perhaps they could find a way to tie in the city’s history.
“I just think that it’s a unique concept — something that we would have to think out of the box,” she said. “We would really like the city to be in partnership.”
Starting on Thursday, Oct. 5, Highbridge Road will be closed as the county repairs the L.B. Knox Bridge.
The closure will be in effect until Oct. 14, according to a press release.
Highbridge Road will be closed from John Anderson Drive to Walter Boardman Lane. Residents can use either the Granada Bridge or State Road 100 in Flagler Beach as a detour. Boat traffic on the Halifax River will not be impacted during construction. The L.B. Knox Bridge was built in 1955. It is one of the 50 bridges maintained by Volusia County.
A substance abuse clinic could open soon at 1050 Ocean Shore Blvd., the former Seaside Manor assisted living property.
Frank Braider, owner of J.D. Winston, a behavioral health care consulting firm, met with the city’s Site Plan Review Committee on Sept. 27 via Zoom. He disagreed with city staff’s decision that his application would need to get a special exception by the City Commission, saying a substance abuse clinic should be allowed in the current zoning district as a hospital use. The property is zoned B-1 “Professional Office/Hospital.”
The previous assisted living facility obtained a special exception for its use in the 1990s, according to the meeting’s minutes.
City staff told Braider that he could submit a rebuttal regarding staff’s determination, to be reviewed by the city’s legal department.
The Volusia-Flagler Sierra Club has declared its opposition to Belvedere Terminals’ proposed fuel farm in Ormond Beach.
In a letter by Alex Zelenski, conservation chair for the club’s chapter, he stated that the fuel terminal’s environmental impact, public safety risk, lack of transparency and community opposition were among the reasons the club felt Belvedere should seek an alternative location for its development.
“Around 5,000 people live within a 2-mile radius of the proposed site, and an estimated 165 tanker trucks per day are expected to traverse Hull Road, which does not even have a traffic signal at U.S. 1,” the letter states. “These facts underscore the substantial risk to life and property, and our local fire departments and hospitals are not adequately equipped to handle a potential mass casualty incident, especially when considering the planned buildout for the greater Ormond Crossings DRI and ‘Scenic Loop’ areas”
The club also noted that the north U.S. 1 corridor floods significantly today.
