VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – With ongoing concerns about flooding problems in certain areas, the Volusia County Council plans to hold a special meeting in the next two months on the possibility of a temporary countywide moratorium on residential development.
The issue was supposed to be discussed at Tuesday’s council meeting, with the aim of having county staff draft a proposed ordinance.
Volusia County Councilman Danny Robins was one of the people who said he needed to see more details of an actual plan.
“What is being recommended, nobody really knows. This is a big lightbulb over Volusia County with a cloud and a question mark,” Robins said.
Last month, Chairman Jeff Brower expressed support for a pause on development.
Elena Krafft lives in Ormond Beach and supports the moratorium after her neighborhood was overwhelmed by floodwater from Hurricane Milton in October.
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“My whole street was basically a river,” Krafft said. “We were lucky enough to not have any water in the house, but we couldn’t leave our house for about two days.”
Krafft believes recent construction of a nearby housing development on Plantation Oaks Blvd. has led to an increase in flooding problems in the surrounding area.
“Paving over every square inch of Volusia County is only going to lead to more flooding,” Krafft said. “I think there’s plenty of other options like low-impact development to help offset some of those flooding places.”
Robins said there are also concerns about what kind of impact a development moratorium would have on the local economy. Developers argue the plan would put hundreds of employees out of work.
“At the end of the day, this would affect all of our blue-collar workers, our labor force,” he said. “Some areas that are already highly subsidized.”
No word yet on when the special meeting would be scheduled.
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