Planning for growth... or not

Ormond Beach Observer
Opinion

(Editor’s Note: The following was submitted in response to former City Commissioner Jeff Boyle’s response in the April 7 edition.)

It is imperative to note that Consolidated Tomoka gained the ability to negotiate the future of their 3,000 acres between Daytona Beach and Ormond Beach in 2002 due to Boyle’s opposition to a proposed negotiated settlement between Daytona Beach and Ormond Beach regarding the “utility service line” between Ormond Beach and Daytona Beach. Said proposed negotiated settlement would have completed the “trade” across the utility service line initiated at Ormond Beach’s request when the landowner for what became Aberdeen wanted to have all of Aberdeen (which crossed the utility service line) annexed into Ormond Beach and be serviced by a single utility. Obviously, a reasonable request.

All agreed with the stipulation that Daytona Beach would be made whole in the future. Once a proposal came, Boyle did not support the proposal, even though he was advised that opposition to the proposed settlement would allow Consolidated Tomoka (and other landowners along the line) to shop both municipalities for their best deal. Boyle ignored the obvious and assured all that it would never happen. His obstinance was concurrent with Consolidated Tomoka telling everybody who would listen that if the utility service line was abandoned, they would annex into Daytona Beach if Ormond Beach refused to negotiate their more restrictive wetland standards. And that is exactly what happened.

Consolidated Tomoka told the city it would annex into Ormond Beach if it would abandon its more “restrictive” (but, in the opinion of many scientists, not “better”) wetland standards and go with the St. Johns River Water Management District science-based wetland standards that were used by Daytona Beach and essentially every other jurisdiction.

Basically, Ormond Beach’s wetland standards included protection of isolated and nonfunctioning wetlands based solely on the vegetation found on site. Such standards had no significant impact on the aquifer, and thus, nobody who valued science was shocked that Consolidated Tomoka chose to annex into Daytona Beach in spite of the higher taxes in Daytona.

Regarding Ormond Crossings, Boyle’s letter is the first time I have heard him or anybody else relate that the business park was Boyle’s idea. However, it is easy to check the City Commission minutes to find that the first thing I did as mayor was to request a meeting of the Volusia County Council with the new Ormond Beach City Commission to request that the county adopt Ormond Beach standards for the (then) 3,000 acres of county land that became known as Ormond Crossings. And it will be easy to find the multiple times Boyle wanted to abandon Ormond Crossings.

One of the highlights of my tenure as mayor was when former Economic Development Director Joe Mannarino was honored by the Ormond Beach Chamber of Commerce as he planned to retire. The presenter thanked Joe for his tireless advocacy for Ormond Crossings. As Mannarino accepted the award, he pointed to me in the audience and related that without Mayor Costello’s continuing insistence that we maintain course, Ormond Crossings would never have happened. Yes, that was a proud moment.

As for the hospital — to say they asked for concessions is a bunch of manure. Ormond Memorial Hospital worked hard to stay in Ormond Beach. They even proposed to build at the corner of Hand Avenue and Clyde Morris Boulevard after the necessary adjustments to expand and stay at their original site were shot down with Boyle leading the opposition. As a result of the lack of compromise, Ormond Beach is now one of very few communities of its size with no hospital and no high school.

As mentioned relative to Ormond Crossings, it will be easy for somebody to check the City Commission minutes to find that Boyle opposed the initial funding to support Pop Warner using Ormond Middle School facilities. To the best of my memory, we all supported subsequent funding after seeing the huge success of the program. By the way, Boyle even apologized to me and the commission after this initial vote. I accepted his apology. But let’s not rewrite history.

Regarding the beach: Yes, I supported a vertical transfer of density along our beach. There would have been no additional density/people. No additional traffic. No additional water use. But yes, we would have had several additional buildings as tall as the current tallest building in Ormond Beach, and the only way the developers would have been able to build higher than 75 feet would have been to transfer density from one site to another site, thus creating open space from the donor site and a higher building as the receptor site along our beach, thus creating beachfront parks at no cost to taxpayers. Prior to any building permits being issued, the open space for parks would have been deeded to Ormond Beach.

Boyle is correct that I stated there were multiple misrepresentations being made by the opposition — such as showing buildings with increased height but not showing the open space created by moving the density from one site to the top of another site. Although Boyle brought this up, it is actually a good example of the (hopefully unintended) consequences of many of his positions. Because Ormond Beach voters did not support the vertical transfer of density to create open space at no cost to taxpayers, my wife and I (along with others) contributed $1,000 to a fund to promote passage of a $5 million bond issue. Ormond Beach used the $5 million as our share along with a $3.5 million Volusia County ECHO grant to create the beautiful Ormond Beach Andy Romano Beachfront Park. I remain very proud of that amazing beachfront park!

In closing, my issue was and is not with Boyle or his positions. I only have a problem with his attempts to rewrite history and to blame others for the predictable results due to his opposition. I get frustrated with Boyle claiming he supported parks and other amenities when he voted against funding them. I am tired of him blaming others for the cost of growth after he voted against opportunities to guide growth.

Lastly, it is important to note that the largely extraterritorial growth pains facing Ormond Beach today are not due to decisions made by the current Ormond Beach City Commission. The problems stem from decisions made years and in some cases decades ago.

Fred Costello was mayor of Ormond Beach 2002 to 2010.