After months of hearing constituents tell of flooding and drainage woes in their neighborhoods, the Volusia County Council Feb. 11 took action to alleviate the problems caused by too much water coming too quickly and too often.

“People have had water in their homes long enough,” Council Member Troy Kent said, recalling the horror stories related in prior meetings.

A sizable crowd was on hand for the council’s latest special meeting on stormwater and flooding. As on previous occasions, several in the audience were willing to share their stories.

“We’re having to divert water from Victoria Park into our stormwater ponds,” said Jon Cheney, who lives in a neighborhood on the south side of DeLand.

Pat Joslin said flooding has worsened on her Common Ground Farm along Taylor Road with the advent of new residential subdivisions nearby.

“They should not flood those of us who have been there for 25 years,” she told the County Council.

The council rallied to enact a stormwater ordinance that its supporters say will require more changes as time goes on. 

“We have to do something. We have to act now,” County Council Vice Chair Matt Reinhart said in the run-up to the council’s vote on the new stormwater measure.

The new ordinance was drafted with the assistance of county staffers and the county’s Environment and Natural Resources Advisory Committee, commonly known as ENRAC.

The ENRAC began working on revising the stormwater measure in March 2024, after the County Council called for a review and an update of the stormwater regulations.

“It’s not everything,” County Chair Jeff Brower noted. “This is a living document. We’re going to have to add to it. … How much water can we dump on others? — It’s obscene. … This is the first step.”

The new ordinance became law with a unanimous, 7-0, vote of the County Council.

More for builders to read and study

As for the new stormwater ordinance, among the new items added to the predevelopment protocol is a requirement for soil borings, “not less than a minimum of two … per acre within the footprint of the final [retention] pond location.” The soil borings are supposed to determine the types of soil of the ground eyed for development and the soil’s ability to absorb more water. The borings will also show the depth of the water table of the site.

Another addition in planning for new development is providing for an extra measure of rising water in the ponds and preventing the runoff from moving onto a neighbor’s property.

“Stormwater ponds should be located internal to the project if possible,” the ordinance reads. “If a stormwater pond is located adjacent to a perimeter property line and any portion of the adjacent property is lower than 1” below the top of bank of the stormwater pond then the CDE [county development engineer] may require a clay core, or similar device to eliminate or reduce to historic levels the groundwater flow from the stormwater pond to the adjacent  property.”

Yet another feature of the new and improved stormwater ordinance is the introduction of “tailwater” in planning for new construction and development.

“Generally, tailwater is the downstream water level,” County Engineer Tadd Kasbeer said.

The tailwater thus refers to the excess water that has moved to a lower level and must be included in determining where to put it. 

The new regulations and provisions “are consistent with the standards enforced by the SJRWMD [St. Johns River Water Management District] but include additional requirements that are enforced by SJRWMD,” a county memorandum notes.

To be, or not to be — required, that is

The council’s all-of-one-mind thinking broke down on the two companion measures that followed. One was an ordinance to amend Volusia County’s state-mandated growth-management plan, usually referred to as the comprehensive plan or comp plan, to implement low-impact development on a voluntary basis.

Low-impact development, its proponents say, will head off much of the flooding that has vexed Volusia in recent years, especially since hurricanes Ian and Nicole wrought havoc in 2022, and also following Hurricane Milton in October. Both measures passed, but not without a pair of dissenting votes by Brower. Brower, who has often called for low-impact development, wanted the LID ordinances to be mandatory for developers, rather than voluntary.

“I would like to see this council take bold action,” Brower told his colleagues before the vote on the low-impact-development ordinance. “It’s not a magic bullet. It’s not a silver bullet. … Low-impact development … returns water to the aquifer.”

Stetson University professor Dr. Wendy Anderson agreed with Brower.

“For 15 years, I have been teaching LID principles. … What is the point of having an ordinance that is voluntary?”

Anderson serves on the ENRAC, as does Suzanne Scheiber.

“We do not support incentives to do the right thing,” Scheiber said. “We support low-impact development as required.” 

A sidelight in the debate involved a proposal to offer incentives to developers who use LID standards in creating new subdivisions or commercial projects.

“We do not need to give incentives for what they should be doing,” Catherine Pante said.

Incentives could be such things as reducing or waiving regulatory fees, such as those charged for building permits or allowing greater density on parts of a development in exchange for more open or green space.

Council Member Jake Johansson favored incentives.

“It means taller buildings with a smaller footprint. It means more clustering,” he said.

“Developers have always had the chance to do the right thing,” Gary Singleton said. “What is the point in having ordinances if they are only suggestions?”

Brower opposed incentives, arguing the biggest incentive for builders is “better development.”

The measure to add low-impact development to the county’s comp plan will be submitted to the County Council for a second and final vote at a later date.

The voluntary LID program to be implemented by the county includes green stormwater infrastructure. GSI, as it is abbreviated, is supposed to mimic the flow of runoff water according to the topography. Thus, it is supposed to reduce the amount of water used for irrigation and return more water to the aquifer.

“The goal of LID is to avoid and minimize additional runoff from site development,” county Environmental Management Director Ginger Adair said. “The goal of GSI is to mitigate the runoff produced by site development.”

An example of green stormwater infrastructure is a rain garden, as explained in a background paper on the LID/GSI topic presented to the County Council.

“Rain gardens are small retention basins that are integrated into the site’s landscaping,” the document reads (page 03-107). “A rain garden is a shallow, constructed depression that is planted with deep-rooted Florida native plants. They can be within parking lot islands or row ends to receive runoff from hard surfaces such as a roof, sidewalk, driveway, or parking area, or any other pervious area within a developed site. Rain gardens slow down the flow of water from impervious surfaces, hold the water for short periods of time and allow it to naturally infiltrate into the ground or evaporate.”

The adoption of the three measures on stormwater and a resolution supporting a manual, or guidebook, on low-impact development, add hundreds of additional pages of material for developers and planners to master in advance of future residential or commercial projects.

Thus far, however, the county’s actions on stormwater and LID are not yet minimum environmental standards that may be also enforced within the cities. Brower and others supporting a countywide moratorium on new development, pending a review and rewrite of drainage regulations to reduce flooding, had spoken about making such a pause on development and subsequent changes in drainage rules effective inside the municipalities, but that idea was short-lived. If new standards are enacted on a Volusia-wide basis, Kasbeer concluded, “That will take more time.”