A proposal to bring commercial development and apartment housing to an area that now lacks retail shopping close by has gotten a thumbs-down.
Because the project calls for 240 new multifamily housing units to be built in an area where about 2,000 more dwellings are already planned — and where traffic is already problematic — the county Planning and Land Development Regulation Commission Oct. 19 refused to recommend approval.
The County Council will have the final say on the future of what’s known as the East DeLand Marketplace project.
The land in question is 40.22 acres on the northwest corner of the intersection of East New York Avenue (S.R. 44) and Kepler Road. Under the Mixed Use Planned Unit Development (MPUD) plan submitted to the county, the Circle K will be demolished and a new convenience store with 14 gas pumps and a car wash will be built, and there also is to be a shopping center with an estimated 96,907 square feet for retail space that is to include a supermarket.
“This area will eventually become part of the city of DeLand,” Mark Watts, attorney for the landowners, predicted.
Watts noted the property in question and neighboring parcels are within DeLand’s long-term plan for annexation and growth before or by 2050.
The intersection is now a traffic chokepoint that the county and the Florida Department of Transportation hope to alleviate by constructing a roundabout.
Should the new development project win approval from the County Council, the current timetable for development calls for the shopping center, Phase 1, to be built as the S.R. 44/Kepler Road roundabout is constructed. The 240 apartments, Phase 2, will be built later, perhaps beginning in 2026.
The land has eight parcels, whose land uses and zoning must be changed to permit consolidation of the properties and the proposed development. The land use is now Urban Low Intensity (ULI), but the property owners are seeking land uses of Commercial for the shopping center and Urban High Intensity (UHI) for the multifamily housing.
As for the zoning, the land has Transitional Agriculture (A-3), Rural Residential (RR) and Business Planned Unit Development (BPUD) designations.
The shopping center is a key component. While residential rooftops have increased markedly over the past 20 years, retail has lagged.
Even as new neighborhoods are in the conceptual and formative stages, the people now living in the greater vicinity of and around Victoria Park and Lake Winnemissett must drive 2 or 3 miles to shop for food and other routine amenities.
The county planning staff’s report notes the following regarding the wave of new settlements on DeLand’s east side:
“When these dwelling units are constructed, there will be a demand for additional commercial uses to meet the needs of new residents,” the report reads.
That goes back to the traffic problem, according to Sharon Cook, addressing the suggestion that the new grocery will be a Publix.
“Being the only Publix on that side of town, everybody in the world is going to come to that Publix,” Cook said, looking ahead to the shopping center. “It’s going to be just like Walmart. … As it stands right now, we’re creating deathtraps.”
The PLDRC ultimately voted 5-1 to forward the East DeLand Marketplace project to the County Council with a recommendation to deny the requested changes in both land use and zoning.
PLDRC Chair Ronnie Mills and Commissioners Pat Patterson, Edith Shelley, Stony Sixma and Donna Craig formed the majority. Commissioner Frank Costa dissented. Commission Vice Chair Jeff Bender was absent.
CHANGES COMING? — Pictured in red is the 40.22-acre parcel on DeLand’s east side that could eventually be home to a shopping center and 240 apartment units. While Volusia County’s Planning and Land Development Regulation Commission voted against the project, it’s the Volusia County Council that will get the final say on the project.
Round and round
The shopping center is needed but the apartments are not. The closer shopping and services are to the people the less they have to travel and the less overall traffic there will be. A Publix and Olive Garden at that location would be nice.
Instead of a roundy round, why not widen the roads to 4 lanes through there. It’s a bottleneck now and will remain so. Especially when development is certain to happen.
Stop the greed and development. The place is packed now and roads full and schools overburdened. Look at the flooding we now have. How about quality of life.