VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – The company behind a proposed fuel farm in Ormond Beach has filed a lawsuit against Volusia County after county officials moved to stop the venture, according to court documents filed on Tuesday.
That company — Belvedere Terminals — has been trying to build the fuel farm on a roughly 61-acre property off US-1 and Hull Road since 2022.
However, the proposal sparked pushback from nearby Ormond Beach residents who were concerned over the location of the fuel farm, despite assurances of safety from company officials.
As a result, Volusia County leaders imposed a nine-month moratorium on heavy industrial projects in November, which would provide the county with time to rezone the land to stop the planned construction.
In return, Belvedere Terminals filed a lawsuit, claiming that the county tried “to rob Belvedere of its Property and constitutionally protected rights.”
The lawsuit says that Belvedere’s consultants met with Volusia County’s permitting staff in 2022 to discuss the plans, and county officials told Belvedere that no re-zoning would be necessary for them to proceed with development.
While gearing up for construction of the fuel farm, Belvedere received its permit from the state’s Department of Environmental Protection on Aug. 1, 2023, the lawsuit adds.
However, the lawsuit claims that the Volusia County Council then became hostile to the project around that same time.
“Volusia County Council members stated they first ‘became aware’ of the Project at some time in August 2023, despite Belvedere’s direct coordination with County staff in June 2022,” the lawsuit reads. “Upon finally ‘learning of the Project,’ the County Council began a crusade to stop Belvedere’s Project, as one Councilmember put it, ‘by any means necessary.’”
In addition, the lawsuit says that the councilmembers knew there was no rezoning or land-use change necessary for Belvedere to go ahead with the project, so they “panicked and began devising cloak-and-dagger schemes to stop this project.”
According to the lawsuit, Belvedere is asking to have the moratorium declared invalid and to have the county “carry out its ministerial duties” in processing Belvedere’s site plans.
The full lawsuit has been attached to this story and can be read in the media viewer below:
Complaint (1) by Anthony Talcott on Scribd
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