Deltona reluctant to OK subdivision layout

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Deltona reluctant to OK subdivision layout
ILLUSTRATION COURTESY CITY OF DELTONA<br> NEIGHBORHOOD MAY BE DELAYED — The red outlines signify the location of the Osprey Estates planned-unit development in a fast-growing city. Osprey Estates was formerly known as the Doudney property, a parcel of almost 56 acres that is to accommodate a total of 220 new homes.

For the second time in two months, the City Commission has not taken the last step to recognize a planned neighborhood on Deltona’s southeast side.

Citing new concerns about possible flooding and drainage, the commission Nov. 27 postponed approval of the final site plan for Phase 1 of Osprey Estates. Adopting a final plat for a new development is usually a routine and noncontroversial matter, but the Osprey Estates plat remains on hold.

“This is unprecedented,” City Commissioner Tom Burbank said.

What was supposed to be the final approval of the plat was set for the City Commission’s Oct. 16 meeting, but when neighbors told about drainage problems and increased traffic, the governing body postponed action.

Osprey Estates is a residential planned-unit development (RPUD) set on 55.6 acres on the south side of Doyle Road, east of the Courtland Park subdivision. The first phase of Osprey Estates includes 169 single-family homes, and the second phase is to have 51 homes. The RPUD was approved by a former City Commission in 2019. LGI Homes is the developer.

Burbank, whose background includes working as a Deltona city planner, wondered if the city may be on shaky ground.

“Do we have a legal leg to stand on?” he asked.

Yes, according to Interim Public Works Director Phyllis Wallace.

“Pegasus Engineering has submitted a report to us with some concerns relevant to the stormwater system for Osprey Estates,” Wallace told the commission. “It would be ill-advised for the city at this point to approve the plat, because then they could get permits to go vertical and we would lose that control to make sure it is corrected to our satisfaction.”

Wallace later said the drainage problems came to her attention and others’ during the soggy third week of November. Though the amounts of rainfall varied from one location to another, several inches of precipitation fell during the days between Nov. 13 and 17. Wallace also said some spots in Deltona received as much as 18 inches of rain during the mini-monsoon.

“I did speak with the land-development team this afternoon about this,” she added, “and they have the report. They weren’t happy, but I think it’s in everybody’s best interest … to address the stormwater issue.”

Commissioner Jody Lee Storozuk agreed.

“There were people from the Courtland Park subdivision that were here talking about the flooding,” he said. “Now if you know that area — I live down the street — Courtland Park is actually higher than Osprey Estates. We all know water rolls downhill. If it’s flooding up here in the higher area, it’s going to flood low.”

Storozuk moved to table consideration of the plat, “until it’s taken care of and fixed.”

The commission adopted the motion with a 7-0 vote.

“It’s OK to sometimes say no just to make sure that we dot our i’s and cross our t’s,” Mayor Santiago Avila Jr. said.

LGI Homes has already given to city officials a performance bond for infrastructure improvements such as streets, water and sewer lines, and a stormwater-control system.

“Once it’s resolved to our satisfaction, we can come back and present the plat,” Wallace said, referring to “the stormwater issue” now at hand.

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Born in Virginia, Al spent his youth in Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia, and first moved to DeLand in 1969. He graduated from Stetson University in 1971, and returned to West Volusia in 1985. Al began working for The Beacon as a stringer in 1999, contributing articles on county and municipal government and, when he left his job as the one-man news department at Radio Station WXVQ, began working at The Beacon full time.

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