- April 19, 2024
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Too mulch?
The Ormond Beach City Commission approved a contract amendment with Yellowstone Landscape by a 4-1 vote on Tuesday, May 2, with Commissioner Travis Sargent voting against, for an adjustment of over $32,000 to the company’s $1.8 million contract. City staff said the increase, according to a memo, was due to a need for mulch in several areas of the city, including Rockefeller Gardens, the slopes along I-95, medians on Granada and Nova Community Center.
Sargent, who pulled the item from the meeting’s consent agenda, said he could not go along with the $32,000 increase.
“I just can’t approve more mulch when you drive down Granada and you see mulch literally flushing away in our roadways,” Sargent said.
City Commissioner Lori Tolland, who is a member of the Garden Club of the Halifax Country, said mulch is important for keeping weeds down and moisture in the ground. That said, she was in favor about having a discussion in the future on using native plants and sustainable material for the city’s landscaping.
“I would love at some point for us, when we have that discussion, talk about sustainable native ground cover and that will eventually eliminate the mulch, but for now, I think the mulch is really needed and is aesthetically pleasing,” Tolland said.
Sargent agreed that the mulch looks great in the city, but said that his issue was he felt the city would be “flushing money down the drain” due to the scattering of mulch on roadways.
“We’ve got to fix the problem before we keep adding fuel to the fire,” Sargent said.
The $32,000 contract amendment also includes ADA playground mulch for three areas in the city as well as pine straw mulch for Vadner Park.
At the meeting, the commission also unanimously approved a 52-acre annexation of land located along 860 Hull Road and 1399 Hull Trail.
The property owner — Durrance Properties, LLC — seeks to construct a 10,300-square foot office building for Halifax Paving.
The land is zoned I-2 Heavy Industrial and is surrounded by Ormond Crossings and the city’s sports complex.
The Ormond Beach Planning Board will meet at 6 p.m. on Thursday, May 11, to discuss two future land use map amendment requests, as well as a rezoning request and a land development code amendment.
The first future land use map amendment seeks to correct an inconsistency with a property at 204 Magnolia Drive which has a designation of “Public/Institutional” due to its proximity to the former hospital, which was torn down in 2018. The city is proposing the land use be changed to low density residential.
The second future land use map amendment and rezoning concerns a property near Riverbend Nature Park at 901 Airport Road. The property was bought by the city, the Volusia Forever Program and the St. Johns Water Management District for conservation, and the amendment seeks to redesignate and rezone a 5 acre portion of the 18-acre property for conservation. The rest of the property is already designated for conservation.
Lastly, the LDC amendment is an administrative request concerning building permits at the city.
The City Commission unanimously approved, via its consent agenda, a request from the Daughters of the American Revolution to place a memorial marker at Sanchez Park in honor of Francisco Sanchez.
According to a city memo, Sanchez’s four-time great granddaughter Diana Sanchez Zimmerman, of the DAR, approached the city since her ancestor had several ties to Volusia County. The memorial will be donated to the city.
The commission unanimously gave city staff the green light to apply for a $250,000 grant by the U.S. Department of Justice for the addition of two police officers.
The grant would support about half of the salaries and benefits for the officers over a three year period.
