- April 30, 2024
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After two postponements, the Ormond Beach City Commission will review the proposed rezoning request for the former Tomoka Oaks golf course at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 16.
The meeting will be held at the City Commission chambers at City Hall. In anticipation of a large turnout, the city will set up overflow rooms with screens to livestream the meeting.
The Tomoka Reserve developers — Carl Velie, Ray Barshay, Sheldon Rubin and Emily Rubin — are pursuing zoning map amendment from Planned Residential Development to R-2 “Single-family low density” for the 147.94-acre parcel within the Tomoka Oaks neighborhood. This request comes after the developers’ previous development order request to build 272 homes on the property was turned down by the City Commission in November 2023.
The developers are seeking to rezone the property to R-2 because that was its original zoning before 2006, when it was rezoned to PRD to allow a developer to build 35 townhomes and six condo buildings on 30 acres of the golf course. This development was never built due to the recession.
A rezoning could allow the developers to build more homes on the property compared to the previous 272-home proposal.
In January, the Ormond Beach Planning Board reviewed the proposed rezoning request and recommended the City Commission deny it. The board felt that, just because the property was zoned R-2 in the past, doesn’t mean it should be zoned as such today.
In addition to the Planning Board’s recommendation of denial, city planning staff is also recommending the commission deny the rezoning request.
The City Commission was originally scheduled to hold a public hearing for the rezoning request in January, but the meeting was postponed due to an advertising error. Then, in March, the meeting was postponed a second time due to the fire at the Ormond beach Performing Arts Center, where the city originally planned to hold the public meeting.
The Volusia County Council has increased the residency distance requirements for sexual offenders and sexual predators in Ormond-by-the-Sea and other unincorporated areas.
On April 2, the County Council voted 5-2 to pass an ordinance that increased the residency requirements from 1,000 feet to 1,500 feet from schools, daycares, parks and playgrounds. County Council Chair Jeff Brower and Councilman Don Dempsey voted against, concerned about eliminating available housing for offenders.
Dempsey, a former prosecutor, worried that the new requirements would result in more homeless sexual offenders and predators, which are harder for the sheriff’s office to monitor. The ordinance was spearheaded by Councilman Danny Robins, who said that communities with increased residency requirements reported less repeat offenses by sexual offenders or predators. In Ormond, they cannot live within 2,500 feet of churches, schools, parks, daycares, playgrounds, the library, recreational facilities, bus stops and the beach.
The Ormond Beach Planning Board will meet on Thursday, April 11, at 6 p.m. at the City Commission Chambers, and the board will review one final plat and three preliminary plats for several phases of the Fountain View subdivision within Plantation Oaks.
Phase 1B of the development will add 137 homes, Phase 1D will add 103, Phase 1E will add 110 and Phase 1F will add 97 homes.
In addition, the board will review a comprehensive plan amendment to the city’s water supply work plan; a special exception for an electronic sign for the Shell gas station at 1628 W. Granada Blvd.; a renewal of the North U.S. 1 Interlocal Service Boundary Agreement; a comprehensive plan amendment to the city’s capital improvements schedule; and a land development code amendment to legally rename the MacDonald House to the Stout-Macdonald House.
A 75-year-old woman died at the hospital after being involved in a car crash on Monday, March 25, in Ormond Beach.
Ormond Beach Police report that the woman, Robin Tyde, was one of the drivers involved in a two-car crash at the intersection of Kingsbridge Crossing Drive and West Granada Boulevard. The crash took place at approximately 10 a.m.
The other driver involved sustained only minor injuries.
