- April 23, 2024
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In response to many false claims, CANDO 2 seeks to set the record straight.
CANDO 2 was formed to be a liaison between the current City Commission and citizens displeased with intense development. We attended meetings, made public comments, and wrote letters expressing the need for stronger development rules. These requests were ignored, and the current commission refused to work with us. Frustrations mounted from April to June as five individuals we had never met stepped forward independently to run for the five commission seats.
We have never attacked Mr. Paul Holub or his family, as he claims. We have denounced malicious tactics and done our best to present facts to the public. At the same time, a Holub family member has subjected us and candidates to harassment. Our focus is not on Mr. Holub but is directed at the City Commission, which approved a development that is not proportional or compatible to existing development values and conservation recommendations in the Land Development Code. That development, Granada Pointe, has drawn overwhelming disapproval from a large number of citizens.
Granada Pointe facts not in dispute: The land was rezoned from residential and B-9 Boulevard (primarily low-density professional offices) to Planned Business Development (allowing high-density commercial-retail).
The commission approved Granada Pointe, combining three separate parcels and granting a loophole to the standard requirement of 15% natural vegetation on each property: A nearby 10-acre parcel was purchased on the north side to count as conservation and allow the clear-cutting of 2,061 trees on 23 acres.
Gas stations and drive-thrus are considered “special exceptions.” As such, these require separate approval by the City Commission. These special exceptions were granted by the commission.
Pre-2009 wetland rules severely limited impacts to wetlands. But under today’s rules, a one-acre wetland on the north side of Granada was destroyed; $180,000 was paid into a state mitigation bank for the privilege.
The old rules held four classifications, with Class IV being defined as any area underwater for two months a year. When the classifications were eliminated to one definition, the determination of what is a wetland became blurred and subjective, and developers were able to destroy land that should have been protected.
Granada Pointe required four feet of fill, a rationale for clear-cutting trees. Two methods could have saved trees. The first is the canopy-well method seen at Office Depot, less than a quarter-mile away in the same floodplain. Second, some trees were in locations only a foot below the grade required by the development, and the fill could have been sloped to save them. Elected officials should have done more to seek solutions that would have avoided the clear-cutting of the 2,061 trees.
A car wash request was recently added to the development. This is an addendum to the original PBD, and there will be a new public hearing process on the project. The commission would need to vote on the car wash. This is an environmental concern as this is also on our floodplain. A car wash is complex, and there is no way to guarantee that pollutants won't end up in the Tomoka River, an “impaired waterway” according to the State of Florida. (See Editor’s Note.)
We have been communicating Low-Impact Development principles to the City Commission for years. Current Commissioners claim to advocate LID, but their record speaks otherwise, approving clear-cutting, extensive fill, massive retention ponds, and asphalt surfaces.
In closing, we must make it clear the CANDO 2-endorsed candidates — Rob Bridger (mayor), Kathy Maloney Johnson (Zone 1), Joe Dugan (Zone 2), Sandy Kauffman (Zone 3), Barry du Moulin (Zone 4) — are running independently on separate platforms and ideas, while calling for reforms in the city’s management of growth and development.
CANDO 2 advocates much more than responsible development.
Responsible governance requires transparency, fiscal responsibility, support for first-responders, and a fair tax system where the developers pay their fair share. We believe the citizens should have a seat at the table and be listened to by their elected representatives.
Ken and Julie Sipes are co-founders of CANDO 2.
Editor’s Note: The following email was sent to the Sipeses from Ormond Beach Planning Director Steven Spraker on Oct. 15 to describe the proposed car wash plans to address its water usage:
"The car wash system utilizes a water reclaim system of three 2,000-gallon reclaim tanks. The ultimate discharge from these tanks is into an oil-grease separator tank prior to being discharged into the sanitary sewer system. In summary, there is no discharge of wash water into the stormwater collection system.
"Based on the plans, the stormwater collection system captures the surface water flow from the car wash parking lot only. ... The Granada Pointe project discharges less stormwater than before development, and there is no direct discharge to Laurel Creek or the Tomoka River because all stormwater is held within the stormwater pond first.
"The project would require a Planned Business Development amendment with a neighborhood meeting, Planning Board review, and City Commission action."
