Ormond Beach prepares strategic plan for 'sustainable growth' and 'small town charm'

Ormond Beach Observer
News

With an update to the city's strategic plan officially underway, Ormond Beach Mayor Bill Partington believes the city will be in good shape moving forward.

“The biggest takeaway was that the future of Ormond Beach is bright," Partington said. "I’m excited about the opportunities that lie ahead of us and with opportunities, obviously come challenges and we have to make sure we’re careful as we move forward.”

The Ormond Beach City Commission, along with city staff, held a workshop on Wednesday, Feb. 27, to update the city's strategic plan in accordance with the citizen feedback gathered at the six-part series of OB Life civic engagement workshops that started last summer. Ormond Beach began formally adopting a strategic plan in 2015, according to a city memo. Having a plan in place helps direct staff regarding where to focus resources, and instructs them on what to do moving forward.

Ormond Beach City Manager Joyce Shanahan said it's a good time of year to update the strategic plan, since it gives staff time to begin budgeting for the commission's outlined priorities.

At the workshop on Feb. 27, the commission identified 10 main goals based on citizen input gathered during OB Life, all of which fall under seven categories: Economic development, water quality and the environment, transportation, public safety, community development, quality of life and governance. Some of the top priorities included investing $1 million to transition 700 homes in the north peninsula from septic to sewer, the Hand Avenue extension and developing an annexation policy and strategy for future growth.

On OB Life and Granada Pointe:

The strategic planning workshop's moderator Marilyn Crotty called the OB Life series quite the undertaking.

She said this is a meaningful process for the city, unlike others that don't pay much attention to it. To other cities, strategic planning is just "lip service," she said.

“But for Ormond, it really is a way of doing business," said Crotty, who later suggested the city submit the OB Life series for a civic engagement award.

Though timing is important with budgeting for the next fiscal year getting started, so is following through with citizen input after holding a series of workshops like OB Life, she said. What she got from reading the summaries was that the citizens wanted to maintain small town character, and balance quality of life with appropriate growth.

“If you hear from a lot from your citizens about certain things, to ignore that then puts you up for criticism.”

Crotty pointed out the waning attendance at the meetings, and asked the commission what they thought about it.

Kent said the city held OB Life because the commission wanted citizen input, and that there was a "small group of people" that were upset about a development, which prompted the large crowd at the first meeting.

“Some of them didn’t like that there’s something called property rights," Kent said. "If they wanted to buy the property and keep it in its indigenous state, fine.”

Attendance dropped because people learned "another side to the story," he said.

“When you start listening to people, and hearing both sides of the story, the story changes," Kent said.

Shanahan said that despite the low attendance at the later meetings, it's still more citizen engagement than what the city saw in 2015 with its community conversations workshops. Those workshops were attended by about 125 people; OB Life had an overall attendance of 667, counting repeat attendance by several people.

“When you compare the overall participation of what we had to what we had in 2015, it’s like no comparison," Shanahan said.

The city is looking into submitting this for an award, she added. There are local ones within the City Managers Association, the Florida League of Cities and some civic engagement processes awards that OB Life could be eligible for.

“I think [Crotty] feels like other cities could replicate this process and be equally successful," Shanahan said.

Crotty asked the commission how it was dealing with "uproar" over the clear-cutting at Granada Pointe in regards to future development in the city. City Commissioner Troy Kent answered her with a question — which uproar? Granada Pointe or Ormond Crossings where he said twice as many trees were cut.

“Oh that’s right, there was no uproar for that one," Kent said.

Mayor Bill Partington said he believes that, other than leaving a buffer, there wasn't another way to develop the property due to the fill it required.

“I think, in all honesty, that’s how development is done these days," Partington said.

Since the economy and surrounding community has changed from 2015, Partington said the identified goals are reflecting the city wants to have "quality sustainable growth" while maintaining Ormond's "small town charm."

“When you see the big areas that we focused on — transportation, economic development, environment, all those things — behind them, you’re thinking about how do we keep our small town charm but still have a vibrant city with lots of opportunities for cultural, historical and artistic engagement?” Partington said.

One objective identified as a priority by the commission was completing a feasibility study for a new police station and emergency operations center, and identify funding. The current police station in the downtown is not in an ideal location during a storm because it's in a flood zone, Partington said. It's also in need of expensive repairs, he added, and building a new facility would make more sense.

Other objectives included the city working with the private sector to bring emergency services back to the beachside and updating the Parks and Recreation master plan, which hasn't been updated since 2004.

Also, even with Margaritaville pulling the plug on its 3,000-home phase 2, the city still needs another road alternative to Granada Boulevard, Partington said. The commission identified the Hand Avenue Extension project, estimated to cost $24.8 million, as a top priority.

“As the only true east-west alternative to Granada out there where it’s so congested at certain times a day, it’s something that I feel like we held off as long as we could doing it, but it’s time to do that," Partington said.

Shanahan said that the workshop process began with the citizens telling them what they'd like to see through OB Life. The commission reviewed it and identified overall goals, and staff will soon formalize a plan for the commission to adopt. She estimates it will reach the commission sometime in April.

“The leadership starts at the commission level, and many communities are afraid to ask for that input, but this commission is courageous and dedicated to this community," said Shanahan at the workshop. "I think it’s a worthwhile effort”