- May 5, 2026
The Volusia County Council unanimously approved a $20.1 million purchase of 1,299 acres of environmentally sensitive land in the southern part of the county on Tuesday, May 5.
The acquisition of the River Bend Ranch property at 1411 Osteen Maytown Road in Osteen will be funded using funds from Volusia Forever, the county's voter-approved land conservation program. According to a county staff report, the property met 18 of the 21 evaluation criteria for Volusia Forever land acquisition, marking it as the highest-scoring property on its priority list.
Volusia County Councilman Don Dempsey, who has been critical of Volusia Forever in recent months, said this purchase is what "Volusia Forever is all about."
"I'm in full support of this," he said. "The fact that we own it fee simple, the fact that there's no partners, the fact that in 500 years, if the city and council finds some emergency need for it, they have that ability to do what they need to do to, take care of whatever the issue at hand might be in the future. I have no problem with it being forever in perpetuity, as long as the county owns it by themselves."
The property is located next to the county-owned 1,385-acre Deering Preserve at Deep Creek, meaning a total of 2,684 acres of land will be conserved in a contiguous area.
It also includes about 2 miles of frontage along the St. Johns River and 1.3 miles of frontage along Deep Creek. Purchasing the property will conserve about 561 acres of wetland for floodplain protection.
Residents who spoke at the meeting, including candidates running for Volusia County Council, were all in favor of the purchase.
"This is Volusia Forever doing exactly what it was intended to do," said Bryon White, New Smyrna Beach resident and candidate for County Council District 3. "When residents approved Volusia Forever, they made a clear choice to protect our land, to preserve our water, to secure our natural resources in perpetuity before they're gone. River Bend Ranch is precisely the kind of property this program was built for — large, strategic and irreplaceable."
Mike Poniatowski, a candidate for the at-large seat, said the purchase will allow Osteen to have some "breathing room" regarding development.
"It's a big chunk of land, and it needs to be preserved," he said.
