- December 10, 2024
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Dear Editor:
Volusia County planning must step up, reevaluate and correct its outdated zoning as decisions made 15 years ago do not apply to today's living environment. Although Ormond Beach officials have made moves regarding no annexation and no utilities for the proposed Belvedere Fuel Terminals, this is a step in "putting out fires" rather than taking the initiative when officials were presented with this project in June 2022 and preventing the firestorm.
I am grateful to S.R. Perrott for filing a petition with FDEP on an inadequate public notice. The air permit application by Belvedere Facility in Fort Pierce went from draft on April 6 to issuance on June 7 with Ormond Beach's going from draft on July 13 to issuance on Aug. 1. Luckily for the proposed Jacksonville facility, residents began opposition early and as such there has been no air permit issued (at time of this writing).
Belvedere Fuel Terminals is taking aim at Ormond Beach and Volusia County as easy targets while our officials were asleep at the helm. As their CFO seeks public sympathy with most all area news broadcasters and continues to change their site plans, anything less than a stop will open the door for future additional tanks in Ormond Beach. They also announce 10 facilities across Florida over the next five years; this is not good for our delicate environment and certainly not good for Florida's tourism economy.
Volusia County Legal Department must not hide behind SB 250 and seek assistance from state law makers and Gov. DeSantis to interpret as this newly created law could not possibly be relative in this instance.
Celia List
Ormond Beach