Passions ran high when the Volusia County Council voted to toughen the separation between convicted sex felons and places where children often gather.

Emotion-packed debate led up to the Oct. 17 vote to call for a new law to increase the minimum distance between where sex offenders and predators may live and places frequented by minors, especially schools, child care facilities, parks and playgrounds. County Vice Chair Danny Robins, a former police officer, spearheaded the move for a greater distance.

“I think we are not judge and jury. We need to remember we are not dealing with jaywalking,” he said, as he plugged his program known as Safer Volusia.

Robins added those convicted of such crimes against children “made a choice.”

“The victims and families of victims did not have a choice,” he urged. “Support this for the victims.”

The current separation, as mandated by the state, is 1,000 feet between the home and the child-oriented point, but the council voted 5-2 to set a 1,500-foot minimum distance. The ordinance, yet to be drafted and presented to the council for action at a later date, will apply only in the county’s unincorporated areas, while cities have their own separate laws.

While no one on the council wanted to seem soft on crimes against young victims, there was another side of the issue, as raised by Council Member Don Dempsey.

“It’s not politically correct to do anything lenient for sex offenders,” he said.

Dempsey, a DeLand criminal-defense attorney, spoke from his experience with those on the other side of the law. Increasing the separation for sex offenders, he told his colleagues, would result in a shortage of places to call home, especially on the west side of the county.

“We’re going to take away their affordable housing, and they’re going to go live in the woods,” Dempsey said, noting the offenders would be more difficult to monitor.

“If they’re declared homeless, they only have to check in once a month,” he noted. “You want to know where they are.”

“They do have to have a job. They do have to have a residence,” Robins said.

Dempsey’s talking points prompted his colleagues to think more deeply about the question before them.

County Chair Jeff Brower agreed with Dempsey’s argument about a shortage of housing in the unincorporated parts of the county for sex offenders.

“They are going to go and live in the woods, and it may be near a playground,” Brower said.

“I want to make sure we don’t create any unintended consequences,” Council Member David Santiago said.

“Are we going to put our residents in a more unsafe condition than they are now?” Council Member Troy Kent wondered.

“This is putting our children first,” Robins said.

When the time came for the council to decide on whether to call for lengthening the buffer between the homes of sex offenders and places where under-age people may be, the governing body voted 5-2 for the more stringent measure.

Brower and Dempsey dissented, while Robins rallied Council Members Kent, Santiago, Jake Johansson and Matt Reinhart to his side.

On a related note, the County Council also decided to require sex felons to pay a fee to register their home address with the Sheriff’s Office. Such offenders are already required to register with state authorities, but there is no county mandate for them to notify authorities of their in-county residency, even though state law allows local governments to charge such fees.

The local registration fees, Robins said, will offset some of the cost of monitoring the presence of sex offenders and relieving the law-abiding public of a burden.

“Who is holding the bag? The taxpayers,” he added.

The council voted 5-2 to charge sex offenders in the unincorporated areas to register their addresses with the Sheriff’s Office. Dempsey and Kent formed the minority, while Brower, Robins, Johansson, Reinhart and Santiago prevailed.

The county’s legal staff will study the issue to determine the amounts of the proposed fees, before they draft an ordinance and submit it to the council.