Not that the environmental groups weren’t concerned already. But as The Beacon editorial pointed, now they’re downright mad.
Joe Jaynes, former County Council member, told the County Council why they should vote no, and like other speakers at the Feb. 18 Farmton hearing, was insulted for his concerns.
It’s smart growth, County Chair Frank Bruno said.
Jaynes responded in a e-mail, “Smart growth? Oh yes…the type of “smart” that means to feel a sharp, stinging pain or to suffer keenly from wounds! This type of “smart” growth is the kind that will leave every resident and taxpayer of Volusia County smarting from the stinging pain and wounds of untold environmental impacts and increased taxes to support the most atrocious example of corporate greed and urban sprawl yet seen in Florida. The cloak of “smart” growth must be seen for what it is, the kind that hurts and causes pain, leaving the corporate land owners, bankers and lawyers laughing all the way to the bank with their pockets full of money, having fooled the politicians and public with a clever package of fancy footwork and terminology. They can cloak urban sprawl and environmental destruction with the term “smart”….but some of us can see “the emperor has no clothes on!” 23,000 new homes, 69,000 new residents, millions of square feet of commercial space, no infrastructure, no roads, no schools, in the middle of nowhere? Smart? More like crazy smart. Here, take a dose of this “smart growth”….Ouch…that hurts!”
Conservationist and Soil & Water person Michelle Moen took the council members to task, writing them:
February 22, 2010
Re: Miami Corporation Farmton Local Plan Large-Scale Comprehensive Plan Amendment
Greetings Volusia County Council,
I am a landowner and resident of Volusia County. Please enter my comments into the public record.
From the February 18, 2010 county staff report:
On October 15, 2009, the County Council voted six to one to transmit the Farmton Local Plan amendment to the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) for compliance review and the Volusia County Growth Management Commission (VGMC) for a consistency determination.
County Ord. Sec. 90-78. Comprehensive plan amendments.
(a) After September 30, 2007, all local governments who desire to adopt a comprehensive plan amendment shall, in accordance with this article, include a finding of school adequacy provided by the applicant prior to transmittal of said amendment to the VGMC and the department.
Proposed amendment FG 6.2: At the time of adoption of the Farmton Local Plan, the Interlocal Agreement for Public School Facility Planning (ILA) recognizes that there is no school capacity.
The Volusia County Council unlawfully transmitted the amendments to VGMC .
Moen’s arguments could have interesting implications.
In a more forceful manner, she wrote:
Dear friends,
We, the taxpayers of Volusia County, have been ripped off by our government.
Corporate Greed will feed in Volusia for decades!
Approx. 30,000 new homes
80,000-100,000 new residents
4.7 million square feet of commercial
On Thursday, February 18, our elected Volusia County Council betrayed us. They did not lead but followed the direction of Corporate Greed. They were not courageous but knelt before Avarice. They partnered with deceit and abandoned the public good.
BROKEN PROMISES
Councilwoman Joie Alexander
Councilwoman Pat Northey
Chairman Frank Bruno
Councilman Josh Wagner
Councilman Jack Hayman
When they needed our votes, they all promised protection of our essential Natural Resource Management Area (NRMA) from urban growth.
But on Thursday, February 18, they all drooled and quivered in anticipation of fulfilling Miami Corporation’s profit plan to destroy 15,000 acres with a direct hit and the rest of it with the pollution and cars of 100,000 new residents.
THE CRIMES THE LIES THE FOOLS
AND THE DANGER!
Crime: Negligent waste of tax dollars
Our Director of Growth Resource Management, Gregg Stubbs, stood before our elected Volusia County Council and admitted that county staff had expended 1500 hours promoting this ludicrous and dangerous project.
And the 1500 hours was just a drop in the bucket of tax dollar waste!
It did not include hundreds of hours of county legal staff!
It did not include the pre-application process lasting another year.
We are losing jobs. We are losing our homes. Our schools cry for funds.
AND OUR COUNTY SPENDS OUR MONEY AND THEIR TIME CATERING TO MIAMI CORPORATION’S GREED!!
LYING to the people who elected them and pay their salaries. This is what we have been told for over one year: If we don’t allow Corporate Greed to build an unincorporated city in the wet woods, they will build ten acre ranchettes over the entire 47,000.
But when confronted with the truth by EDGEWATER CITIZENS’ ALLIANCE FOR RESPONSIBLE GROWTH, (ECARD) our county legal staff admitted that ranchettes are an OPTION.
FOOLISHNESS: The taxpayer should be grateful to Corporate Greed. If it wasn’t for Corporate Greed, we would never be able to buy this land for conservation. Corporate Greed is willing to cut us a deal “Give us a city and we will give you conservation lands – lots of it”
THE TRUTH: 24,323 acres of this land lies within the wetland mitigation bank. They cannot develop that. Even if they wanted to take it out of the mitigation bank, it is just too sodden. That is why it is called a WETLAND mitigation bank. That leaves about 23,000 acres left to develop. They are legally entitled to 2,300 clustered homes on 23,000 acres. And under our own good law, those 2,300 homes must be clustered or grouped together out of environmentally sensitive areas (like the WETLAND mitigation bank) and near existing infrastructure.
FOOLISHNESS: County Council: “The taxpayers will never be able to buy the land!” Well, the fools we elected made sure of that. Thanks to them, they have increased the value of this land beyond comprehension for the benefit of Corporate Greed.
MORE FOOLISHNESS:
WATER
ROADS
SCHOOLS
THIS IS WHAT THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY AFFAIRS HAS TO SAY:
. . no additional infrastructure is planned to serve the proposed development through the Capital Improvements Element, the Future Transportation Map and the ten year water supply plan of the County and/or potable water and sewer providers.
Furthermore, the size of the development areas, their sprawling configuration across one of the most environmentally sensitive areas of the county, their fragmentation of the natural environment, the lack of meaningful and predictable development controls to achieve the desired urban form, and the lack of planning for public facilities, result in the amendment not meeting the requirements of Ch. 2008-191, Section 2, Laws of Florida
County Response: There are no capital improvements necessary for the Farmton Local Plan
Seriously, that is their response. I am not joking.
This is a plan that is not planned. It can be condensed into the following statement:
“We will figure it all out later”
DANGER TAXPAYER! DANGER!
Our elected county council has set a treacherous path for us. Not only have they wasted our money and will waste so very much more they have set a Precedent for other bordering landowners to follow. Landowners who salivated in anticipation, represented by the same attorney who represents Corporate Greed. They know, and our elected know, that once this door is open, there will be more new unincorporated cities for us to build.
LURKING DANGER. While Corporate Greed will begin building Phase I ASAP, the major new city would not begin until 2060 – OR when the market revives - bank on that date getting revised!!!
MORE DANGER! This property is dangerously low lying. Over half of it is in the floodplain. By destroying it, our elected is placing us all in harm’s way!
WHAT CAN I DO?
Send money. This is the most immediate and best action you can take. This will be a court case. Without money, we have already lost.
If you have already donated, donate more.
Ask your friends and family to donate to:
ECARD
465 Wildwood Drive
New Smyrna Beach, FL 32168
Good luck Volusia!
Michele
The even worse news is, we’re in for more of this stuff. Earthquakes and tidal waves are being accelerated by global warming. As the ice sheets melt, pressure on the earth’s surface is released. The result – the earth’s surface readjusts, and brings about these quakes and tidal surges.
Governmental officials and developers seem to want to get together and make decisions about our future, without consulting the public.
