- April 17, 2024
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Ormond Beach resident Joe Jaynes cannot endorse the upcoming Ormond Central development which will be built across his neighborhood, but after the developers listened to citizens' concerns, he also can't object.
“Something is going to be redeveloped there," said Jaynes, who is the president of the Reflections Village Homeowners Association. "We don’t get to pick what it is. So what we did is we sat down and said: 'here are our major concerns.'"
The City Commission unanimously approved on first reading a development order and a rezoning to a planned business development for the parcel of land along W. Granada Boulevard that will soon be known as the Ormond Central development. Thanks to citizen activism, the development has changed a lot since its original concept presented in a neighborhood meeting back in late August. After 13 revisions by local developers Paul Holub and Lewis Heaster and a long planning board meeting in October, the development will no longer include a gas station and will have a border wall along S. Old Kings Road.
Jaynes said he believes a rezoning to a PBD is the right way to go for Ormond Central.
“This is the correct way to develop this piece of property," Jaynes said. "We get to control everything that’s going on all in one fell swoop and I think it’ll be a better project in the end for that.”
City Commissioner Rob Littleton said he had been against the project for a long time, but he changed his mind after the gas station was removed from the development's plan.
“But because of citizen activism, which should be commended, and the developer being a good neighbor and a good steward of the community, citizen concerns were addressed," Littleton said.
Still, citizens voiced two major concerns they weren't ready to table.
Ormond Central is expected to almost double the trips in that area, data from a traffic study showed. According to the study, there will be about 330 new trips added during peak morning and evening hours. Total pass-by trips will increase from 4,962 to 9,562.
“With this project, it’ll get worse,” Planning Board Director Ric Goss said during his presentation.
Regardless, the item was recommended for approval by city staff. Holub said if the parcel was developed as office/professional, which was its zoning prior to the approved change, the peak hour traffic impact could be up to five times stronger.
He also said the real problem causing traffic is the more than 8,000 homes being built on LPGA, not retail development.
“The actual business does not create the traffic," Holub said. "It’s the residential neighborhoods that make the rooftops, it’s the residents in our community who are going to use these facilities.”
It's a statement City Commissioner Troy Kent later brought up, adding that the influx of nearby new Daytona Beach residents create more traffic in Ormond, and with the construction of Latitude Margaritaville, it's only going to get worse.
“Newsflash," Kent said. "Ormond Beach is built out. It is.”
One resident pointed out that traffic isn't that bad on Granada Boulevard when compared to Dunlawton Avenue in Port Orange. Howard Smith said his job requires him to drive all over the city, and while driving from A1A to I-95 using Granada usually takes him eight to nine minutes if he hits all the green lights, driving from A1A to I-95 using Dunlawton takes him anywhere from 20-25 minutes.
“Everybody in this room will be buried dead before Granada has as much traffic as Dunlawton has right now," Smith said. "I do it everyday.”
Though residents were dead-set on not having any commercial truck traffic using Ormond Central's future entry point through S. Old Kings Road, this was one concession that was not entirely granted.
While the City Commission voted to bar semi-trucks from using S. Old Kings Road, they amended the motion to allow straight trucks to enter the southern entrance of the future development for deliveries.
“I can’t stand that we’re basically going to make it difficult and make people drive all over this town to get in and make a delivery," Kent said.
Earlier in the meeting, resident Tom Barfield was surprised to hear the issue brought up again.
“I thought we were past the point that there would be truck traffic going in and out of that southernmost entry," Barfield said. "Apparently not, we’re now still considering that.”
He said that the problem with allowing trucks into S. Old Kings Road was their width, since the road is narrow. Littleton later would say that if any semi-trucks did happen to make the turn, they would soon realize their mistake.
