A little-known Deltona panel is drawing more spectators at its meetings, and the new attendees worry about new development coming their way, especially on the city’s east side.

“A traffic study has not yet been completed,” Chris Warshaw, representing the developer, said. “There are wetlands on the property. … At this time we have not gone out and done a complete wetlands study.”

Warshaw spoke for an Orlando applicant, Yosvany Medina Pinera, regarding a plan to create a new urban-style settlement of 477 homes on 188 acres between Enterprise Osteen Road and Reed Ellis Road.

The crowd who showed up at Deltona City Hall Feb. 27 for the Development Review Committee’s meeting was too big for the small conference room on the second floor, and thus the business session had to be moved to the City Commission Chambers. 

The critics, many of whom live in Osteen or the eastern end of Deltona, came to voice their concerns and fears of increased odds of flooding, wildlife displacement, and the loss of their area’s rural character. 

“All applicants must come before the DRC,” Development Review Committee Chair Phyllis Wallace said at the outset of the session, which included a time for comments from the public.

Wallace is Deltona’s assistant director of public works.

The DRC is a group of city department heads and technical staffers who scrutinize development requests to make certain that they meet the city’s standards on building, zoning, public safety, transportation, and environmental safeguards. The DRC may inform would-be developers, builders and investors on how to comply with Deltona’s land-development code, and it may recommend approval, rejection or revision of proposed development projects.

“We are going to require additional parking,” Deltona Planner Jessica Entwistle said, noting the neighborhood must give homeowners more parking space than simply expecting them to park on the streets.

Moreover, she said the city will require “a 24-foot-wide access” for fire trucks and the installation of hydrants prior to construction.

Before subdivisions such as the one suggested may begin to take shape, both the land use and the zoning would have to be changed. This is required by state growth-management laws. The land use refers to the general type or character of the property in question, while zoning denotes the specific type and intensity of the planned development.

As for the tract at hand, the land use is Agricultural Resource. The zoning is now Prime Agriculture, A-1 (C), with a limit of one home per 10 acres. 

Any change in the land use takes the form of an ordinance, which must be approved by the Deltona City Commission. In addition, the Volusia Growth Management Commission must approve a land-use change, which is also an amendment of the city’s comprehensive plan, meaning the state-mandated growth-management plan. 

Not least, any change in the land use and the comprehensive plan requires a review by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

The concept plan in the making so far has no name, but those living close by do not like what they have read and heard about it.

“We do not have the infrastructure,” Lori Warnicke told the DRC and the audience. “We have catastrophic flooding in District 6. … It fails the infrastructure test.”

Warnicke is an alternate member of Deltona’s Planning and Zoning Board. She also opposed the smaller lots for single-family homes. The subdivision, according to a technical drawing, now calls for 264 of the lots to be 40 feet wide, and the other 213 lots are to be 50 feet wide. Those width dimensions are about half or less of the standard lot sizes in the older parts of Deltona.

“The greed among developers in this town has got to stop,” Warnicke said. “This is too many homes on a small lot.”

Susan Reyes owns 6 acres nearby, and she likes the lesser density.

“We chose to live in Osteen because we like the rural area,” she said, suggesting any new residential development be limited to one home per 2.5 acres. “We urge you to listen to the residents.”

“The best use for this land is conservation, not development,” another speaker said.

Taking care of the natural habitat for animals was on the mind of Suzanne Scheiber, an Ormond Beach resident who founded Dream Green Volusia. 

“Scrub jays are not found anywhere else in Florida,” she told the DRC and the audience.

Scheiber urged a delay in any development, “until the infrastructure is in place.”

“We need to fix our infrastructure,” agreed Terry Luise, who lives near Doyle Road in Deltona.

Following the end of the public-comment period, the DRC meeting abruptly ended without further words from any of its members.

“The public can bring a tremendous amount of knowledge,” Wallace said at the close of the gathering.