- April 19, 2024
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Dear Editor:
I am the brother of developer Paul Holub. I have lived in the Ormond Beach area for over 46 years and have witnessed the growth of our beautiful city.
One of Paul’s recent projects (Granada Pointe) has been under attack by a group called CANDO 2. I can understand both sides of this debate. Paul wants to do his job, protect his investment and property rights and develop the property under the various governmental agency requirements, and CANDO 2 wants to save trees for a visually appealing Granada Boulevard.
In my opinion, CANDO 2 is trying to control our local government, disregard the property rights of others and halt progress.
When I reflect on how many neighborhoods that have been developed through the years, the number of houses that have been built and the people moving to the Ormond Beach area, it demonstrates how our community has expanded. Understandably, the city needs to accommodate the amount of growth, sometimes in the form of expanding or new business.
The fact is the remaining and very limited vacant parcels on Granada Boulevard will be built on. If Granada Pointe was to be built by a developer from out of town, and not a 46-year area resident such as Paul, I seriously doubt it would have all of the above code features.
A very large portion of the existing property on Granada Boulevard has been zoned commercial since the early 1980s. The City Commission required the north side 10.06 acres of land that was already zoned B-9 Commercial be put into Conservation zoning and also rezoned four acres next door to the commercial office building on the south side to commercial. The developer also put another 8.4 acres on the south side of Granada into Conservation zoning.
CANDO 2 should focus their energies on other issues that have a daily impact on our residents, like the growing number of homeless people that seem to be at almost every intersection on Granada Boulevard, organizing a monthly beach cleanup day, or perhaps assisting the turtle patrol with saving our sea turtles.
CANDO 2 needs to discontinue their futile attempt to stop progress in our community and accept that growth is inevitable. When the community visits the completed project, they will realize that the City Commission had their best interest in mind when approving Granada Pointe.
Joe Holub
Ormond Beach
Dear Editor:
Labor Day is almost behind us here in the Birthplace of Career Politicians. Plus, August contribution numbers are in, and they do not bode well for CANDO-endorsed candidates.
Incumbent Mayor Partington has almost $26,000 in his war chest, a great deal of it from at least five separate LLCs controlled by Paul Holub to thank the mayor for his vote on Granada Pointe. Same for six-term Commissioner Troy Kent; he’s at $22,000 for his seventh run and was also handsomely rewarded by Holub for his enthusiastic yea on that project. Developer Dwight Selby weighs in at $21,000 and change.
Newcomer and establishment favorite Susan Persis has Kent and Selby beat; she’s rung up over $23,000. Rob Littleton, the upset winner of Zone 4 in 2016, lags behind the big hitters, but he has a tidy $14,000-plus to play with this go around. And he, too, received thousands from Paul Holub's LLCs for his vote to change the zoning that made Granada Pointe possible.
That’s a whopping $92,000 for the incumbents and political newbie Persis. CANDO-endorsed candidates have received just shy of $23,000 to date, a mere quarter of the Holub Cartel-backed candidates.
And it shows. Hordes of signs have been planted all over town to promote the incumbents and Susan Persis. If you look closely, you’ll even see that vast numbers of those signs are on commercial real estate properties all over Granada and Nova, plus hundreds more are on the lawns of Ormond Beach’s one-percenters along John Anderson, North and South Beach Street plus Riverside Drive.
The big money wants more commercial development.
CANDO is a formidable organization that has over 700 followers on its Facebook page. I hear people who do not follow CANDO bitterly complain about runaway development in our city all the time.
But, my fellow Ormond Beachers, if you don’t open your checkbooks and donate to the CANDO-endorsed candidates in your zone, they are not going to have what they need to beat the development-crazed current commissioners, our runaway sitting mayor, or well-funded upstart and establishment darling Susan Persis.
What's in your wallet? $25? $50? $100?
Bob Baumer
Ormond Beach
Dear Editor:
In the Aug. 23 issue, a story about a car-pedestrian accident was headlined “Pedestrians struck by Cadillac.” What does the make of the car have to do with anything?
I do not drive a Cadillac, but I see no reason to stigmatize people who do, as the make of the car did not contribute to the accident. I doubt the headline or the story would have mentioned the make of car if it was a Ford or Honda. This is a cheap shot at both the driver involved and others who were not involved. No wonder people think the media has a liberal bias!
Dave Evans
Ormond Beach
