After another round of nearly eight hours of talk, and after months of being awash in drainage complaints and flooding horror stories, the Volusia County Council Jan. 14 declined to enact a countywide halt on new construction and development.

County Chair Jeff Brower had proposed a moratorium on development last fall, to give local officials and planners time to set new regulations and standards to avert or curb flooding that resulted from heavy rains and Hurricane Milton. Brower had called for a 12-month moratorium on building in both the cities and the unincorporated areas of the county, but he could not muster the support from his colleagues for his proposal.

“We’re not going to get a moratorium, and I’m not going to cry about that,” he said near the end of the long meeting.

The council’s special meeting to consider the proposed moratorium drew hundreds of attendees. The standing-room-only crowd was so large that many spectators had to be turned away from the meeting chambers and had to watch the proceedings on TV screens in other locations in the Thomas C. Kelly County Administration Center in DeLand.

Setting the stage

More than 90 people had signed up to address the County Council on flooding and how they had been affected, as well as those employed in construction and related trades who faced possible unemployment if building is halted.

“I just want to make sure we’re not back here a year from now with a chamber full of people,” Brower said.

Instead of imposing a moratorium and risking court battles over the legality of such a move, the council, with Brower’s support, agreed to consider new moves to prevent or mitigate flooding. Those steps would include changing some building and land-use practices. 

While acknowledging the county’s home-rule charter would allow the council to adopt a moratorium for the county’s unincorporated areas, the county government’s legal staff cautioned against attempting to apply a moratorium to the cities. Although Brower and others said the charter’s provision on minimum environmental standards could be in force countywide, Senior Assistant County Attorney Paolo Soria told the council, “The charter’s language does not support the moratorium in the cities.”

“You cannot take the cities’ home-rule power,” he later added.

County Public Works Director Ben Bartlett showed data, however, that confirm there are serious flood problems related to the rainfall amounts recorded in recent years. Rainfall amounts, aside from hurricanes, he said, have increased. 

“I’ve lived here 20 years, and I’ve never seen water this high,” he said.

For example, the average annual rainfall total for the DeLand area has been about 55 inches. After a drought — meaning a deficit of rain between 2009 and 2016, except for 2013 — the west side of the county has exceeded that 55-inch average in most of the following years. In fact, in 2022, when hurricanes Ian and Nicole struck Volusia, the DeLand rain total was 65.7 inches. Last year, 2024, the grand total was 70.2 inches.

“We’re seeing an increased amount of those rain events,” Bartlett also said.

With greater and more rainfall events, he noted, the multiple inches or feet in rainfall totals overwhelm the existing drainage infrastructure, and the excess water moves out in search of lower levels.

“There’s not a stormwater system in this county that can handle this amount of rain,” Bartlett noted.

Hearing from the people                                                  

The long meeting provided another opportunity for victims of flooding to appeal for relief.

“I think we need to get moving, because hurricane season is barreling down on us, and we’re still holding water,” Pat Joslin, owner of Common Ground Farm on DeLand’s southeast side, told the County Council in support of a moratorium.

1. Figueredo, who lives in the Orange City area, urged the council to halt building for a time.

“You need a pause or something,” he said. “If you keep allowing developments with the same specifications, you’re going to get the same result.”

“If not now, when? Miller Lake is still flooded. Water is still flooding in,” Joshua Rivera said. “You’re just building future homes that are going to be flooded.”

On the opposite side were people whose lives and families depend on building and development.

“People here are trying to make a living, not a killing,” DeLand contractor Ken Goldberg said. “We’re in a place where people are trying to move to in a big way. That’s better than a place where people are trying to leave.”

“A moratorium would hinder economic growth,” David Robinson, the director of advocacy for the Daytona Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, warned. “Recovery will last up to two years after a moratorium is lifted.”

In a similar vein, Volusia Building Industry Association President Nathan Rechichar spoke against a moratorium, cautioning it may reduce the skilled workforce needed after future emergencies.

“Who will you call? Who will the remaining residents call when the county needs to be made whole again?” he asked. “I hope you are not planning on relying on unscrupulous individuals who will swoop in from out of state.”

What should we do?

When the time came for the County Council to act, Brower remained passionate about the need for a temporary halt on development, “except for single-family homes and commercial.”

“I am proposing a moratorium that should be as short as possible,” he said. “I hope that all of us can work together. … Solutions will come quickly.”

“The sooner we do this, the more resilient we will be,” he added. “We are destroying our quality of life. … Our suffering residents demand immediate action.”

Possible options for reducing the likelihood of destructive flooding may include pumping stormwater to the St. Johns River. That may require approval by the St. Johns River Water Management District. County Council Member Jake Johansson suggested that the council forge ties with other local and state agencies to achieve its goals and objectives, including anti-flooding measures.

“Try to think regionally, instead of just citywide,” he urged.

Similarly, Council Member Danny Robins supported “regional collaboration” as a way to combat flooding.

County Council Member Troy Kent proposed a multipronged program that includes forbidding the filling and building on wetlands, cleaning out canals along rivers, and more aggressive buying of lands and lots that could become holding and storage sites for stormwater. Although Kent would not support a moratorium, he praised Brower for his leadership on the flooding issue.

“We’re here tonight because you brought it up,” Kent told Brower. “Thanks for bringing this to the forefront.”

The council voted its approval of Kent’s recommendations, which may be incorporated into future ordinances.

Not least, Council Member Don Dempsey urged the county to seek more state and federal grant funding for new and improved anti-flooding infrastructure.

The County Council will convene at 4 p.m. Feb. 11 for another special meeting on low-impact development and possible amendments of the county’s comprehensive plan to regulate development.