DeLand Planning Board passes Pointe Grand apartments to City Commission
On June 15, the DeLand Planning Board OK’d a rezoning application for 204 new apartment units on the city’s northwest side.
The nine three-story buildings for Pointe Grand apartments would be constructed on 14 acres immediately south of the Cascades, a single-family neighborhood along Spring Garden Avenue.
The Cascades was originally approved by the City of DeLand in the 1980s with the expectation that it would expand its footprint farther south with later phases. That expansion never happened, though, and developer Hillpointe LLC wants to construct the Pointe Grand apartments.
The Planning Board took issue with the project’s accessibility, but ultimately approved it.
Not everyone was on board with the project. One resident of the Cascades said she worried the proposed development could compromise what she likes about her neighborhood and worsen the nearby traffic.
There was also the question of accessibility. Planning Board Member Nora Lewis worried that the buildings not having elevators would make them inaccessible to some DeLandites.
However, multifamily buildings are not required to have elevators until they are four stories tall. The upper floors may not be easily accessible by all residents, but, “That’s a choice for the individual resident,” Mark Watts, Hillpointe LLC’s attorney, said.
2050 PLAN — Pictured is the DeLand 2050 Plan’s land-use map. Developed in 2009, the city’s 2050 plan sought to chart a path for the city’s growth in the coming decades. The location of the proposed Pointe Grand apartments falls within an area designated by the city as a potential “activity center.” Per the city’s website, each activity center “emphasizes an intensive mix of uses, including residential. These centers will become the major commercial areas.”
“I agree this is compliant with the bare minimum,” Lewis said. “This is not accessible for our whole community.”
While Lewis took issue with the lack of elevators, she and others on the Planning Board were pleased to see more multifamily housing in the works.
“This is what we’re asking people to do,” Planning Board Member Dan Reed said. “Stop with the single-family homes, and build us apartments people can move into.”
The rezoning application was approved by the Planning Board by a 4-1 vote with the condition that the developer consider adding elevators to each of the proposed nine buildings. Members Nora Lewis, Dan Reed, Albert Neumann and Jeremy Owens voted in favor of the rezoning application for Pointe Grand apartments, while member Buz Nesbit voted against.
The next step for Pointe Grand’s PD rezoning application is to come before the DeLand City Commission.
