- April 4, 2025
Your free article limit has been reached this month.
Subscribe now for unlimited digital access to our award-winning local news.
Now that Belvedere Terminals is looking to construct its fuel farm in Palm Coast, what will happen to the property at 874 Hull Road?
Should the county pursue a zoning change? Should it, with help from the city of Ormond Beach, purchase the unincorporated property from Florida East Coast Railway?
County Councilman Troy Kent brought the discussion to the council at its meeting on Tuesday, April 1.
"I do think that it is definitely trending in the right direction, and my goal is for this council ... to stop it from happening again with the same company or a different company," Kent said. "We're in the same boat again. We need to fix it. Right now, it's on our shoulders."
Kent initially made a motion to add a discussion to the council agenda within 60 days, but later withdrew it after two councilmen expressed trepidation due to Belvedere not yet having pulled its filed conceptual site plan application with the county.
Councilman Danny Robins asked whether the county has had any contact with Belvedere to indicate they would be willing to sell the property. County Manager George Recktenwald said the county has made "multiple attempts" to contact the company, including certified letters and phone calls, none of which have been acknowledged.
With that in mind, Robins said he wanted staff to give them legal direction before making any moves toward the property at 874 Hull Road.
"I don't want to be nailed to the wall again, step on ourselves," Robins said. "I think there's a way to do this if we work together, but at the end of the day, we need to do it within the proper process."
Taxpayers have already paid $10 million to get Belvedere to relocate, Robins said. How much more is the county willing to pay?
Councilman David Santiago said he's not opposed to having the conversation, but that he's worried about the application on file.
"We jumped fast last time — turned into chaos," Santiago said. "I would like to see the Ormond Beach city council step up and let them vote and say, 'Hey, we want this property.'"
County Council Chair Jeff Brower said he recently spoke with Ormond Beach Mayor Jason Leslie, who said he had spoken to City Manager Joyce Shanahan and that there was interest in working with the county to purchase the property.
"I'm asking everybody in the public to be silent about this, because I don't want to poke [Bevedere] in the eye," Brower said. "I want to wish them all the luck in the world where they're going, but I think we need to move quickly."
The fuel farm is one that caused Councilman Matt Reinhart to lose sleep, he said. Having a conversation doesn't mean the county would go ahead and purchase the property immediately, he added.
"I think we've all read the same thing — Palm Coast, from the from the chairman down — are all in favor of this," Reinhart said. "So that speaks volumes to me, in an area that is not like Hull road in any way, shape or form."
Kent said he believes, if the council had a magic wand, they would have never allowed Belvedere Terminals to consider a fuel terminal in Ormond Beach.
"The motion is making a couple members uneasy, and I know it's not my job to make them feel easy, but it is my job at the end of the day to get a consensus and get a majority and get a good vote for the residents of Volusia County," Kent said. "That's what I'm working on now. I'm just helping water those seeds."
Your free article limit has been reached this month.
Subscribe now for unlimited digital access to our award-winning local news.