A county planning group has endorsed a proposal for a double-dwelling neighborhood on DeLand’s northeast side.
Volusia County’s Planning and Land Development Regulation Commission July 18 approved changes in the land use and the zoning for 35 acres at 1400 Jacobs Road, just outside the city limits. Owners of the land, which fronts on Lake Lindley and is situated south of U.S. Highway 92, propose to build 45 duplexes. Thus, the neighborhood, when finished, would have a total of 90 new homes.
“DeLand has been pushing for more of a mix of housing,” Mark Watts, attorney for the applicants, told the PLDRC.
The property in question is “within the [DeLand] urban core … where new growth will take place,” he added.
“There’s still a shortage of supply [of housing],” Watts said, amid the steady local and statewide growth in population.
The land in question is within the city’s utility-service area, and it would likely be annexed into DeLand.
“This is within the City of DeLand’s 2050 Vision,” Watts also said.
Before any structures may go vertical, and even before the acreage may be carved up into lots, however, the county’s comprehensive plan, or growth-management plan, must be changed. If that happens, the land must also be rezoned.
The land use is currently a mixture of Rural (R) and Urban Low Intensity (ULI). The applicants are asking for the entire tract to be ULI, which would permit the development of the more dense housing.
The property is now zoned Urban Single-Family Residential (R-4) and Transitional Agriculture (A-3), but the landowners want the zoning changed to Planned Unit Development (PUD). The landuse must be changed before the property may be rezoned.
If the land does become a new urban-style settlement, PLDRC Chair Ronnie Mills wondered aloud about the subdivision’s effects on adjoining properties, especially stormwater control and drainage.
DOUBLING DOWN ON DOUBLING UP — A neighborhood of duplexes is on the drawing board for acreage just outside the DeLand city limits. As many as 45 new structures with space for 90 households may be built on 35 acres at 1400 Jacobs Road, with frontage on Lake Lindley. The Volusia County Planning and Land Development Regulation Commission gave support for changing both the land use and the zoning of the mostly vacant properties. The County Council will have the final say on the proposal Sept. 3.
“I’m looking at the adjacent property owners and the impact it’s going to have on them,” he said.
The county planning staff’s report on the request for residential development on the tract notes the following:
“According to the topography depicted on the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Topographic Map (2021), the subject site has a generally flat topography that gently slopes downward from the east portion of the subject site. … The southwest portion of the site near Lake Lindley is within Flood Hazard Zone A, which is a designation used by the Federal Emergency Management Administration [sic] (FEMA) to identify areas with high risk of flooding. According to the applicant, there are approximately 4.56 acres of wetlands and a 1.19-acre lake area on-site. In addition, the environmental report provided by the applicant indicates there are eight soil types found on-site, and six of the types are hydric in nature, which is consistent with wetland habitats. The wetlands are predominantly located in the southern area of the site and along Lake Lindley.”
The PLDRC conducted a public hearing that combined the requests for a comprehensive-plan amendment and a rezoning. When the time came to vote on the matters, there were separate votes for each of the two items.
“In order to get to that PUD, you have to get to the CPA [comprehensive-plan amendment, or comp-plan amendment],” Mills said.
The commission voted 4-2 in favor of submitting the land-use change to the County Council with a recommendation of approval. PLDRC Secretary Edith Shelley and Commissioners Frank Costa, Pat Patterson and Stony Sixma formed the majority, while Mills and Commissioner Donna Craig voted no.
The commission voted 5-1 for the rezoning. Mills was the lone dissenter.
The requests to change the land use and the zoning will be presented to the County Council for action Sept. 3. If the council approves the change in the land use, the Volusia Growth Management Commission and the Florida Department of Commerce must approve the comp-plan amendment before it becomes effective. Again, the comprehensive plan must be amended before the zoning may be changed.
Why are you people approving this. I think you have approved all of our land into match box housing developments, apartments and businesses. Place people that house to live occupy one that is empty. Same for businesses. Come on people, who’s washing yall’s hands. It’s a crying shame.