Deltona, Volusia County spar over water

BEACON PHOTO/PAT HATFIELD
Looking for solutions — At an Oct. 22 workshop set up by Volusia County Environmental Manager Steve Kintner, representatives from local governments around the county and other interested people met with representatives of the St. Johns River Water Management District for a visioning session on ways to supply a growing population with water. In the background, the City of Deltona and the county already were at odds over Deltona’s plan to provide water services in the unincorporated area east of the city.

By Pat Hatfield
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Nov 9, 2009 - 8:39:01am

While municipal suppliers of water in West Volusia talk publicly of working together, a skirmish is brewing between Deltona and Volusia County over the right to sell water and sewer.

Deltona has staked out the right to provide water and sewer services in the unincorporated area five miles east of its city limits.

“It’s a right granted under Florida statute,” Deltona City Manager Faith Miller said.

The right is spelled out in Chapter 180 of state law. The plan is called “the Deltona 180 service plan.”

The County of Volusia objects.

Deltona Director of Planning and Development Chris Bowley said he is writing a response to the county’s objection. He will mention that Deltona’s plan is nothing new.

(Read Who owns the water beneath us anyway?)

“Back in 2004, the city adopted an ordinance to create a Chapter 180 service area,” Bowley said. “It’s been in existence for five years.”

Now, Bowley said, the county wants an inter-local agreement, which Deltona wants, too. However, the county wants Deltona to keep its future supply area within the city limits.

While Deltona has no current plans to run water or sewer lines east of State Road 415, the city wants the right to do so in the future, as the population grows.

The Deltona 180 plan would give the city a first right of refusal if a developer requests water service.

The county and the Volusia Growth Management Commission (VGMC) would review any Deltona proposals to establish waterlines east of S.R. 415, Bowley pointed out.

The county is not happy.

Deputy County Manager Mary Anne Connors called Deltona’s 180 plan a declaration of intent to be the retail supplier of water in the unincorporated area east of Deltona. The statute allows a planning area if there are capital projects in the works, but Deltona has identified no capital projects. Connors said the city is exceeding what the law allows.

“It’s not just planting your flag five miles around you,” Connors said.

Volusia County Planning and Development Services Director Kelli McGee laid out the county’s objections to the Deltona 180 service plan in an Oct. 21 letter to the VGMC.

McGee said the county objects to an element in Deltona’s plan “that requires annexation in exchange for urban services within the 72,000 acres of non-urban areas of unincorporated county lands because it promotes urban sprawl.”

The letter from the county asks that Deltona reduce its service area to its existing city limits.

Nearly all of the area encompassed by Deltona’s plan lies in unincorporated rural or environmentally sensitive areas within the county’s Natural Resource Management Area. About half is within the county Environmental Core Overlay. The Volusia County plan limits water and sewer extensions into these areas, the letter states.

Deltona’s water plan is part of its comprehensive plan, which goes to the VGMC for review.

The county’s objection means there will be a public VGMC hearing on the plan, with public comment. The VGMC will determine the plan’s consistency with neighboring jurisdictions. In this case, that’s chiefly the county. The hearing will be scheduled for January or February.

Comprehensive plans dictate the big picture of how land will be used in the future, and how much and what kind of growth will be allowed. Providing utilities for anticipated growth, along with traffic planning and other elements, is part of a city’s or county’s required comprehensive planning.

DeLand land-use attorney Mark Watts said while Deltona cites Chapter 180, Chapter 163 of the Florida Statutes gives the county a voice in decisions affecting unincorporated lands. Asking for an inter-local agreement would be appropriate.

“That’s really the way to resolve things,” Watts said. “All our interests are best served when they can work together.”

Anticipating Farmton water?

Supplying water to the Osteen area as it is developed under a joint agreement between Deltona and the county is one reason Deltona wants the 180 plan. Deltona wants to run utilities to Osteen.

But all eyes have been on Farmton in recent months.

Miami Corp. attorney Glenn Storch said the landowners he represents could provide several million gallons of water a day to Deltona and the county when the Farmton tract, owned by the Miami Corp., is developed.

Storch said there is a vein of fresh water running under the 59,000-acre Farmton tract, which stretches from Edgewater south past Deltona to the Brevard County line.

In October, the Volusia County Council approved Storch’s clients’ plan to build nearly 29,000 residential units on Farmton in the years to come, beginning with a gateway area next to Edgewater.

Connors said the county is studying an area of the Deep Creek water basin, north of the Farmton tract, to see if there’s “groundwater potential” there to augment Volusia County’s water supply.

County Council Member Andy Kelly, who represents the DeLand area, said if Deltona or the county sinks wells near Farmton, that would be a case of the west side going east for water.

Over the years, east-side cities have sunk wells in West Volusia to supply sufficient potable water for their populations.

The Deep Creek basin is the same source from which Farmton would tap its water.

“It has no effect on us,” Miami Corp. attorney Glenn Storch said.

He thinks the county and Deltona should be able to work out their differences. Miami Corp. is planning to work with both, he said.

According to the minutes of a Sept. 15 City of Deltona workshop on the 180-service plan, city staff said Miami Corp. is aligned with the county in wanting Deltona to draw its service-plan area back to the city limits.

County Council Member Kelly noted extending service lines five miles east of Deltona’s current city limits would bring the lines right to the Farmton tract, and through environmentally sensitive lands.

Connors didn’t want to speculate about whether Deltona is trying to position itself to be the retail supplier of water to west-side cities, using the Deep Creek basin, or to supply services to Farmton.

When asked if he thought the county was worried Deltona might be trying to set itself up to be such a retailer, Bowley said, “I hope Volusia County is more sophisticated than that.”

Bowley said he hopes water-supply planning will be done in a regional context.

On Oct. 10, West Volusia cities came together in Deltona and made a pact to stand together and work together on water issues.

Otherwise, Orange City Mayor Harley Strickland noted, “We could well have some water wars in West Volusia.”

— pat@beacononlinenews.com

Reader Comments

The comments posted below are posted by readers, not by The Beacon staff. These comments express the views and opinions of the authors, and not the administrators, moderators or webmaster. The comments forum is governed by these rules. Please use the report abuse link if you find offensive comments.

Comment on this article

Commenting is closed for this article.

If you would like to contribute a letter to the editor, please click here.

Did you find this story interesting or informative? Subscribe to The DeLand-Deltona Beacon to read more stories by Pat Hatfield, along with others from our award-winning writers. Subscribe now!