- November 20, 2024
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Whether Volusia County will pursue a moratorium on new development remains to be seen, but the County Council is looking at another way to address flooding: Members directed staff to bring back a plan — containing financial parameters — on how to fix existing canals, stormwater systems and pipelines.
"Our residents expect us to lead," County Councilman Troy Kent said at the council's meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 19. "They expect us to address this major problem that many of them are affected with in a hugely negative way."
Canals, stormwater systems and pipes are within the county's responsibility, he said. It's fixing what the county already has.
Kent's motion passed 6-0; Councilman Matt Reinhart was absent.
This vote came after County Council Chair Jeff Brower's agenda item for a discussion on a development moratorium was postponed on the agenda in favor of holding it during a special meeting instead, one that will be held within the next 60 days. Council members said they needed more information from staff on a proposed moratorium — such as legal implications and input from engineering and public works — before making a decision.
"We normally get a lot of background information," County Councilman David Santiago said. "We get statistics. We get all of the reports that we need and we have time as a council to meet with staff, some internally, some externally, to discuss and ask questions regarding each topic. Well, we weren't given that privilege here."
County Council chambers were packed with people looking to speak for and against a development moratorium, with many having to watch the meeting from the building's atrium. Brower proposed the idea for the moratorium during a press conference on Oct. 29.
Santiago originally made a motion to remove the discussion from the agenda and schedule a workshop. Councilmen Jake Johansson, Don Dempsey and Kent agreed that more time would be beneficial.
Santiago said he didn't have a problem listening to the residents who showed up to speak at the meeting (public participation lasted almost three hours), but that without having concrete information, he felt they were wasting people's time.
"If it's important to them, they'll come back," he said. "And I encourage them to come back, but let's have conversations with good data and information and experts that we can make questions to and then make a decision."
Dempsey said everyone in the county recognizes flooding is a "major issue" in Volusia, and one they all want to fix.
"To me, a building moratorium, that is a very drastic remedy," he said. "There's going to be a lot of jobs lost."
Brower said that he had read the letters from various chambers of commerce and attorneys warning that a moratorium would result in job losses, but that he thought it was a "fear tactic." They're the same concerns raised every time a moratorium is proposed, he said, and every day a decision is delayed results in added cost to the county's residents, which is why he opposed a workshop.
"There's no flames to fan — there's only floodwaters," Brower said. "And it is county wide and the cost, the human cost, is incredible."
Santiago alleged that Brower didn't speak to the county's legal department before placing the item on the meeting's agenda, which Brower said was a lie. Santiago said that Brower sent an email to all the cities asking them to "fill the chambers" to support a moratorium.
"I respect everybody's flooding issues ... but our jobs are much more responsible than that," Santiago said.
Brower said Santiago was accusing him of nefarious actions from the dais. He did send a letter to the cities asking for their support, he said, but that's because he wants all 16 cities to be "on the same side of the desk as all of us."
"I don't want to impose something on them," Brower said. "I want us to work together. That's the only way this is going to work."
The County Council only has oversight over unincorporated land. A development moratorium would need the support of all Volusia municipalities to be able to span countywide.
Ormond Beach resident Elena Krafft, who volunteered for Brower's reelection campaign, said she considered it "negligence" when the council chose not to discuss the moratorium, which she described as "real solutions to the devastation many Volusia County residents have experienced over the past two years."
"Controversial has been used to describe this temporary moratorium," Krafft said. "There is nothing controversial about pausing development in order to ensure all future developments meet specific conditions to prevent and minimize flooding."
On the other side of the argument, Ormond Beach resident and city Planning Board member GG Galloway said the county should be open to look at what factors are contributing to flooding. He's lived in Ormond for 42 years, he said, and he has seen flooding in his neighborhood the entire time. The county should investigate what ditches and ponds aren't working properly, particularly those under the jurisdiction of the Florida Department of Transportation.
"We need to take a slow process and look at all the people involved," said Galloway, who works in commercial real estate. "It's just not developers."
County Manager George Recktenwald suggested a special meeting would be better than a workshop. A special meeting would allow public participation and the ability for the council to vote.
The council agreed a special meeting was a better choice.
Kent said he applauded Brower for bringing up the moratorium discussion, considering the amount of residents who experienced flooding during and after Hurricane Milton. He also appreciated Santiago's suggestion to have staff bring back more information before the council made a decision, he said.
"I had someone yesterday call me and they wanted to know where am I on this issue, and I said, 'I don't ever tell anybody how I'm going to vote before I'm going to vote, and I don't know where I am, because one of the biggest pieces is the public input,'" Kent said.
Santiago said he took "little pleasure" in bumping heads with Brower, and amid comments made in the crowd, said "We've got the circus, that's OK."
"That's how you're acting," Santiago said to the public. "I listen to everyone here, so you need to behave too as much as I would."
Brower called a point of order, admonishing Santiago for his remarks toward citizens.
Santiago said Brower often talks about the need to work together, but then he hears in the community that Brower is calling the majority of the council "corrupt."
"It's difficult to work together when we do that," he said, adding that he is willing to participate in a discussion in a professional manner.
Brower said that's why he placed the item on the agenda.
"So to have you come up and say that's exactly the opposite, it's what we just went through with the entire campaign when your purpose seemed to be to disrupt this meeting so that then you could go out and say that 'Brower is not a leader and he can't conduct a meeting,'" he said. "I'm sick of hearing it. So let's work together."
