In what may be a record crowd for Deltona’s Development Review Committee, dozens of people living close by the land eyed for new housing voiced their opposition at City Hall March 7.

“We’re about the environment out there,” Joseph Posey, attorney for Lennar Homes, told the committee and the audience, regarding the project known as Raintree. “We want to be good neighbors. … Our goal is to be transparent. We’re not looking to deviate from the rules.”

Critics were not convinced.

At the time of the committee’s first official look at the Raintree concept, no actual, formal application had been filed, but the initial outlines of the proposal were enough to raise objections. 

Raintree, according to the memorandum distributed at the meeting and online, will have 289 single-family homes on 69 acres along Pervis Lane in the eastern part of Deltona. The property is east of Riggs Avenue and north of Collins Road. 

The Raintree lots, as of now, are of sizes similar to subdivisions of more recent times. Those newer-trend lots are often 40 or 50 feet wide and 100 or 120 feet long, or about half the size of the lots in Deltona’s older neighborhoods.

The number of people who showed up to voice their objections at the morning meeting of the Development Review Committee was such that the relatively small upstairs conference room could not accommodate everyone. Thus, the meeting was interrupted so that impromptu seating arrangements could be made inside the much larger City Commission Chambers.

“Get ready to get ready,” Interim Public Works Director Phyllis Wallace told attorney Posey and his clients. “It [Raintree] has not been well-received.”

Wallace chairs the city’s Development Review Committee, which is a panel of department heads and select officials who scrutinize requests for new development or redevelopment. The DRC examines development proposals to make certain they meet Deltona’s land-development code, including the proper land use and zoning, as well as transportation, access to water and sanitation utilities, public safety and emergency services, capacity in public schools, tree and wetland protection, and consistency and compatibility with surrounding properties, among other things.

Before any development of Raintree may begin, the land must be rezoned. The current zoning is RE-1 (Residential Rural Estate). This zoning applies to lots at least an acre large, lots that are common in rural to semirural areas.

“I’m not opposed to 1-acre lots. I’m opposed to what they’re proposing,” Lori Warnicke told the DRC and others.

Like others, Brandy White, who lives in northeast Deltona, warned more flooding may result if Raintree becomes a reality.

“Deltona is a closed basin with a clay liner,” she said. “Deltona does not just drain down, but perks up.”

Terry Kohash, who lives along Doyle Road, was also more concerned about flooding than 1-acre lots.

“I’m experiencing flooding on my property, because Deltona is trying to dry out everybody else … I’m not opposed to 1-acre lots,” she said.

Kohash also cautioned that more homes would bring more families with children, who would overcrowd the nearby schools. Pine Ridge High School, she said, is already at 96 percent of its enrollment capacity.

“What are we going to do for our kids?” she asked.

Randi Priest voiced concerns about worsening traffic problems, as nearby Vineland Reserve builds out.

“It’s hard enough to turn onto [State Road] 415, as it is. There will be increased crime,” she said. “The properties have 1-acre lots as it is. Leave it that way.”

Kathy O’Brien, who said she has lived for 42 years in the area where Osteen and Deltona meet, expressed fears of high water levels and ripple effects on home-insurance premiums.

“We’re concerned about the insurance costs because of the flooding,” she said. “Please take us residents into consideration.”

Willa Bordner wants no change in the area she calls home.

“We want to be rural,” she told the committee and those representing Raintree. “It [Raintree] does not fit into our community. … Everybody there has an acre or more.”

After the comments from the public ended, Wallace said, “We have to listen to our residents. We have to apply our [land-development] code.”

“You have been heard,” she told the people who had come to object to Raintree.

“We are trying to listen to accommodate the residents,” Posey said, in closing. “I would encourage a get-together. We want to be good neighbors.”

Wallace reminded the Raintree team they need to submit a formal request to rezone the property from RE-1 to Residential Planned Unit Development (RPUD).

Once the application for rezoning is received and reviewed by Deltona’s professional planners, the Raintree proposal will be submitted to the city’s Planning and Zoning Board. That panel will examine the proposal and recommend the City Commission approve or deny it, or perhaps suggest the developer modify the plan. 

The City Commission will have the final binding word on Raintree.