A new neighborhood may grace a crossing not far from the Amtrak and SunRail train stations on DeLand’s west side.

Volusia County planners are looking at the proposed placement of 121 single-    

family homes, along with a commercial element of 36,000 square feet, on 42.35 acres on the northwest corner of the intersection of West New York Avenue and Grand Avenue. Amid some misgivings, a county advisory panel supports the plan and recommends the County Council approve it.

The community, christened Woodruff Ridge, won the endorsement of the county’s Planning and Land Development Regulation Commission March 21.

“We’ve been working on this project for about two years now,” Michael Woods, attorney for the landowner and developer, told the PLDRC. “The existing northwest corner of the intersection is a Circle K [convenience store].”

The owner of the property is TLC Volusia Holdings LLC.

Because the site is within DeLand’s water- and sewer-service area, the tract, once developed, may likely be annexed into the city.

Before Woodruff Ridge may become a reality, a two-part approval is required. The first approval is a change of the land use from Rural to Urban Low Intensity and Commercial. The land use is written into the county’s state-mandated growth-management plan, also known as the comprehensive plan. The land uses of all real estate within the unincorporated areas of the county are, literally and figuratively, the law of the land, and changing the land use must be done by adopting a local ordinance on two readings and with two separate public hearings. To be clear, the County Council will decide whether to adopt the ordinance to alter the land use of the parcel, but the PLDRC makes a recommendation on the draft ordinance. 

Land-use changes must also be reviewed and approved by the Volusia Growth Management Commission and the Florida Department of Commerce. If those two agencies endorse the local ordinance, the land use will be officially reclassified, and the owner and prospective developer may apply for a rezoning. The tract is currently zoned A-2  (Rural Agriculture), but Woods and his client are asking for a Planned Unit Development zoning. 

Woods said the plan for the subdivision calls for lots whose widths will be 50 or 60 feet. The homes will be clustered to allow more green space, including a dog park, small “pocket parks,” and stormwater ponds.

Stormwater was a major concern of PLDRC Chair Ronnie Mills. Mills has spoken out about the seemingly increasing complaints about drainage and ground saturation aggravated by heavy rainfall — aside from hurricanes — and the loss of trees and soil surface.

“When you saturate the ground, you create a false water table,” he said.

“On a daily basis, we shouldn’t have to have that with daily rains,” Mills later added.

“The overall project is designed to accommodate the stormwater,” Woods told Mills and the rest of the panel.

Not least, a segment of the county’s Spring-to-Spring Trail is destined to border the east and north sides of Woodruff Ridge. Vegetative buffers and an opaque fence may be required along the Spring-to-Spring Trail to ensure the privacy of homeowners as hikers and bicyclists pass by.

Another issue that commanded attention is the traffic that may compounded by the addition of more vehicles belonging to Woodruff Ridge homeowners.

“The roads are a nightmare out there right now,” Commissioner Stony Sixma said.

Relief may be on the way, Woods said.

“At the end of the day, that’s what brings the improvements,” Woods responded.

Karen Clark lives not far from the Woodruff Ridge tract, and she expressed concern about the moving and non-moving vehicle numbers.

“All those people moving in there … — where are you going to allow parking?” she asked.

One answer was that some cars will likely be parked on the streets in front of the houses, as the trend toward smaller lots means shorter driveways.

The PLDRC first voted 3-3 on the motion to change the land use. Commissioner Jeff Bender was absent from the meeting. Mills, Sixma and Commissioner Donna Craig voted against the land-use change, while Commissioners Frank Costa, Pat Patterson and Edith Shelley supported it.

The tie vote, which was equivalent to a failure to pass the motion, would forward the request for the land-use change to the County Council with no recommendation. 

Mills then abruptly called for reconsideration, expressing his willingness to support the requests for the land-use and zoning change.

“I’m going to reconsider, and I’ll tell you why,” he said. “I think development is going to occur out there anyway. … If they work diligently on this, I think they can come up with a solution [to stormwater issues.”

The panel voted anew on separate motions, first dealing with the land use and then the rezoning request. In each case, the vote was 4-2, with Mills, Costa, Patterson and Shelley favoring the Woodruff Ridge proposal, and Craig and Sixma objecting to it.