The Downtown DeLand Community Redevelopment Agency and the DeLand City Commission will convene a joint meeting July 5 to discuss the future of the relationship between the city and GlassHouse Square LLC, the developer originally selected to build a replacement for the dilapidated Old Jail on West New York Avenue.
The meeting comes on the heels of the City Commission rejecting a planned development application for the Old Jail project, called GlassHouse Square, June 5. The application to rezone the roughly 1-acre parcel that currently houses the Old Jail for a special project was denied for lack of clarity on a number of aspects and concern over the project’s viability.
With the project’s denial, the city’s land development regulations prohibit a similar application by the same developer for a full calendar year. With that, the CRA and the City Commission will discuss termination of the contract between GlassHouse and the city originally signed in 2018.
A staff report from the city manager’s office explained.
“At this point in time City staff is requesting that the City and CRA declare a default under the ARA [acquisition and redevelopment agreement] (a default does not mean that Glasshouse purposefully defaulted – quite the opposite in that they attempted to get the PD approved – but simply that one of the conditions of the ARA was not met) and authorize staff to take all actions necessary to provide any required notice(s) to Glasshouse and otherwise terminate the ARA and wrap the matter up,” the city said. “This meeting is being held for this limited purpose, and the future use of the property will not be adressed [sic] at this meeting.”
After the joint meeting ends, the City Commission will resume with a regular meeting beginning with agenda items including the recognition of retiring Firefighter John O’Connor and the approval of caterers for the city-owned event space at the Wayne G. Sanborn Activity Center.
The joint meeting of the Downtown DeLand CRA and the City Commission will begin at 6:30 p.m., and the regular City Commission meeting will follow around 7 p.m. Both meetings will be held in the City Commission Chambers at DeLand City Hall, 120 S. Florida Ave. The meetings will also be broadcast live online at the city’s website, https://delandfl.portal.civicclerk.com/
To view the full agenda for the joint meeting, click HERE.
To view the full agenda for the regular City Commission meeting, click HERE.
