- May 23, 2025
With a list of priority flooding areas identified, Ormond Beach is looking to Volusia County's "Transform 386" Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery dollars to help fund solutions.
The Ormond Beach City Commission held a workshop on Tuesday, April 15, to discuss stormwater issues. Assistant City Manager Shawn Finley provided commissioners with an overview on how the city addresses stormwater, and what can be implemented to prevent, and mitigate, flooding in key areas.
Namely, continue to take advantage Transform 386 CDBG dollars and find solutions for the city's most flood prone areas, which includes the neighborhoods around Sanchez Avenue.
In November 2024, the city received $350,000 from the county's Transform 386 funds for three stormwater studies. The areas — Mayfield Circle, Hidden Hills and Hull Road at Bear Creek — for the studies were ones impacted by past hurricanes. Finley said the funds helped with the design phase for the projects, and the city will move toward budgeting for construction in the next fiscal year.
"What's great about the Transform 386 program is it gets us out a little bit ahead of it," Finley said. "A lot of the projects that we have here are problems that occurred during Hurricane Milton. We would have to wait until this year's budget to be able to get money appropriated next October to start doing that design. We've got those contracts with Volusia County and the consultant right now."
The workshop was held on the same day the Volusia County Council wrapped up its discussion on the proposed seven strategies for flood mitigation. At the end of the discussion, County Council members directed staff to review existing stormwater regulations and development standards, particularly for new developments, to minimize impact to trees, topography and maintain natural areas as much as possible,
Finley also informed the commission that the city is taking a look at improvements to Durrance Acres, which has longstanding flooding issues.
Seeing as the area is composed of private roads and easements, Commissioner Travis Sargent asked if that was the city's responsibility.
"I don't mind helping around the areas, but they're private roads that we're not maintaining, yet we're going to go in there?" Sargent said.
Finley pointed to Groover Branch, a canal in the Durrance Acres area.
"Maybe the solution is doing something different to help maintain or get the flow of Groover Branch, and that may help the situation," he said.
That could potentially help properties in the Tymber Creek area, as well as those on the east side of I-95 as Groover Branch connects to the Tomoka River.
Sargent said he'd rather the city focus its energy on other major flood prone areas: Sanchez Avenue and Wilmette Avenue.
"I grew up going out [on Durrance Acres]," Sargent said. "I remember the first person that built a house out there and I went out there as a little kid. It's all swamp land, and if you want to build on a swamp and you flood, I mean that's your choice."
If the city could find solutions around Durrance Acres to help those residents, he'd be OK with it, but Sargent said he wouldn't be in favor of implementing solutions on private roadways.
The Sanchez area is the city's top priority, Finley said. At the city's April 1 meeting, the City Commission approved an almost $300,000 watershed analysis for the Ormond Terrace neighborhood, which includes the homes between Granada Boulevard, Sanchez Avenue, U.S. 1 and Beach Street. The analysis will examine existing conditions, create a hydraulic model and come up with proposed improvements to address the drainage problems, according to a city staff report.
"That really should be our number one priority for the next decade here," he said.
The city is also working to address issues at Tomoka Elementary. The dry retention pond south of the school was designed to meet the county's 100-year flood standards (or a rain event that brings 12 inches or more of rain within 24 hours). It was designed without an overflow, and the old school would drain water out on Old Tomoka Road as a result. Now, Finley explained, the new school campus was designed to drain entirely to the south.
"But when you have a storm like Hurricane Milton, where you have a greater than 100-year storm, you're going to overflow that pond, and you're going different directions," he said. "That's the project that we're working on now to help alleviate."
That's a fairly sizable dry retention pond, Commissioner Harold Briley said.
"It's a huge dry retention pond," Finley said. "And anyone who goes up there and looks at it would say, 'I can't believe this is going to fill up and this is going to cause problems.'"
