- April 17, 2024
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The Ormond Beach City Commission unanimously voted against approval for the Marshside Village residential project on Tuesday, Oct. 16, citing flooding concerns and a "side agreement" between the developer and CANDO 2 as reasons for denying the development order request.
Had it been approved, Marshside Village would have been a 144-lot subdivision in the corner of Airport Road and Tymber Creek Road spanning 84.15 acres. The proposed development would have only impacted 12.4% of the total 26.06 acres of wetlands. However, nearby area residents raised concerns about the flooding that is already happening on Airport Road, and how Marshside could further worsen the existing issue.
“We’re talking about preservation, and trees and stuff like that—that’s not the problem," Ormond Beach resident Clay Beazley said. "The problem is water.”
Beazley suggested the property should be bought by the city and condemned as a wetland. Ten other Ormond Beach citizens spoke about the project; nine against, and two in favor. The residents who spoke in favor have previously identified with CANDO 2, one of which was one of the political action committee's leaders, Ken Sipes.
The Marshside development request did not arrive to the City Commission in good standing — the city's Planning Board had voted 3-2 to recommend the commission deny the proposal due to traffic concerns, a cluster of seven isolated lots in the development's fourth phase and the agreement with CANDO 2.
Peter Heebner, who represented the developer, Edward Speno, of Edward James Corp., said they have attempted to resolve these issues. Plans for a new site plan without the seven isolated lots were presented, but several of the commissioners felt those plans would have to be revisited by the Planning Board before they could consider approving anything.
As for the traffic concerns, Heebner said he understood the citizen's concerns.
"However, they’re not really of our doing, not of our making, and these are issues we have simply done everything we can to resolve," Heebner said.
City Commissioner Dwight Selby said the city has been put in a bad spot relating to traffic in that area thanks to the School District building two elementary schools in close range, as well as Volusia County not widening Tymber Creek Road all the way to Airport Road.
City Commissioner Troy Kent, who worked for a number of years at nearby Pathways Elementary, said he had seen the water rise over the curb of Airport Road, which city Planning Director Steven Spraker confirmed was higher than the land for Marshside. The
project's engineer explained the drainage issue to the commission was a result of the "unprecedented" amount of rainfall over the last year and a half.
The developer's request for a reduction of the city's standard 40-foot perimeter setbacks to 25 feet was also considered problematic by members of the commission. Selby, who met with a group of residents affected by the proposed development, said they told him they saw no benefit to the city for bending the rules for Marshside.
“I feel the same way," Selby said. "I don’t see any reason to reduce the side setbacks and I don’t see any reason to reduce the lot size, and I don’t believe that the developer can get more than 144 lots with those requirements.”
In late August, the developer entered into an agreement with CANDO 2 which included instating a financial penalty of $25,000 per acre of wetlands damaged within the project's protected area. CANDO 2 have stated those fines would go directly to the city. However, the agreement is not enforceable, a fact all parties acknowledged at the meeting.
Planning Board member G.G. Galloway said before the commission that this agreement was his chief concern with the project. He said he had a problem with a non-elected group believing they had the authority to charge a fee to a developer, which he said isn't legal.
“That is not the way our government is founded," Galloway said. "If they want these seats on the planning board, run personally, get elected."
Kent said he has never seen something "so wild and outrageous" in his 15 years as a commissioner. Mayor Bill Partington acknowledged the agreement as well, calling it "very strange" and troubling.
He said his decision to vote against the project was based largely on the Planning Board's recommendation for denial, a board whom he feels has been "beat up" in the last couple of months.
“They’ve been portrayed as development-crazed individuals that will approve anything, and yet here’s a project with a lot of issues and they said no," Partington said.
