- April 23, 2024
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Dear Editor:
As someone who grew up in the area and cherished the wildness and special nature of our Ormond environment, I have been devastated by the clear cutting and development that has taken place in the last few years on the west side of Old Dixie Highway.
The new Plantation Oaks community, which created a four-lane road connecting U.S. 1 with Old Dixie Highway, has forever changed our beautiful community, and the current expansion at Halifax Plantation, seals the deal.
It’s a shame that city and county leaders did not have the foresight long ago to buy these lands outright — or at least seek out funds from the state or federal government so that some of the land might have been added to Tomoka State Park. What a treasure that would have been for future generations and also a boon to our area’s expanding eco-tourism industry.
Hindsight is 20-20 so there is nothing to do now but learn from this tragedy.
We must ask more of our public servants on both a local and state-wide level and ensure that the Florida Forever funds (which were passed by a majority of Florida voters) are used to purchase sensitive lands — their intended use — and not diverted to other budget lines by donor or politically-influenced legislators (which was just done last week by the GOP majority in the state legislature).
There is no denying that there is a building boom currently going on in the greater Daytona Beach area, and unless citizens get more involved with the development process, we will lose the very nature of our community.
Lately I’ve met many people who have moved to our area from other parts of Florida because of over-crowding, and they’re now worried that the same thing is happening here.
If we don’t preserve more of our natural areas, we will become just another stop along 1-95 and not a place where people want to live and recreate.
Unlike the adage from the movie Field of Dreams, “build it and they will come,” sometimes not building it ensures that people will come here to enjoy the “Old Florida” feel which keeps our property values high.
Andrea L. Miller
Ormond Beach
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