- December 4, 2025
The proposed Walmart expansion is a go.
On Tuesday, Aug. 19, the Ormond Beach City Commission unanimously approved an amendment to the retailer's Planned Business Development that will allow for the construction of a 5,101-square-foot building addition for the Ormond Beach store, located at 1521 W. Granada Blvd. The project will allow Walmart to expand its online grocery pickup area to meet current demand.
The amendment was first reviewed by the city's Planning Board in March, but concerns regarding overgrowth of vegetation in the green belt buffer, security, transients and the store's proposed aesthetic led the board to table it until Walmart could come back with a new proposal.
The new proposal — which included exterior façade improvements to a "Mediterranean Beach style," updated signage, parking lot modifications and improved landscaping — returned to the board on July 1, following the cleaning of the buffer. The board unanimously recommended approval, with a condition that the western buffer also be cleared within 18 months.
Commissioner Kristin Deaton said she has been in communication with Walmart about the project since a neighborhood meeting was held in February.
"I know I was pretty adamant about the façade being more pleasant than the spaceship that it looks like currently," Deaton said. "The only thing I'm not truly happy about is the 18 months to fix the green belt. I know there's been improvement. It looks like trash — we've got to fix that."
Planning Director Steven Spraker said that section fronting Granada Boulevard has to be completed with the expansion project. The 18-month condition was for the western buffer area, which was first discussed at the July 1 meeting.
Her concern, Deaton said, is that after the overgrown vegetation was cleared from the Granada Boulevard section, the buffer looks "half-done."
City Commissioner Lori Tolland agreed.
"That's our gateway," she said.
Tolland thanked Deaton and the Planning Board for working to make the Walmart project better for residents.
"Particularly Doug Thomas for championing this and for Walmart to be receptive to elevate that building to the standards that we enjoy in Ormond Beach," Tolland said.
On behalf of Walmart, attorney Rebecca Wilson said that the irony of the green belt issue is that it was a condition on the store's development order to leave the buffer alone.
"For years, we'd actually asked the city if we could clean it out and we were told, 'No, it's in your [development order] that you have to leave it the way it is," Wilson said. "So the reason we started cleaning it so quickly is we have always wanted to do the same thing. We don't want people back there either. We didn't want the trash that was there either, so we were very happy to clean it out."
She agreed with commissioners that it looks "terrible" at the moment, but said that's because the landscaping hasn't been replaced yet.
Wilson said Walmart plans to finish improving the buffer facing Granada Boulevard by the end of the month, but in case of storms, asked for a three month timeline.
The commission gave Walmart a three-month timeframe for the western buffer, and a six-month timeframe to complete the east.
