County Council Pushes Moratorium Debate to January

After more than an hour of sometimes contentious debate, the Volusia County Council voted earlier this month to wait until next year to consider a residential development moratorium.

The move to institute the moratorium was led by Council Chair Jeff Brower who called for the item to placed on the Council agenda. In a letter to fellow Council members and Volusia County mayors and commissioners, Brower said the moratorium was needed “so we can pause long enough to consider if and how our current development pattern, and carrying capacity, is affecting the property rights and quality of life of every Volusia County resident.”

While acknowledging the need to discuss the county’s flooding issues, especially in light of recent hurricanes, several County Council members opposed discussing the issue at the Nov. 19 meeting.

“I’m concerned with (the item) on the agenda and whether we should proceed with it,” said Council Member David Santiago. “It is a very complex item and unfortunately we have no information on it as a council.”

Santiago, who at times got into testy exchanges with Brower during the discussion of the agenda item, said he felt he did not have enough information to make a decision.

“I would rather that topic be properly prepared and vetted through staff and us before the meeting,” he said. “We need to do it the right way. This is not the right way.”

Council Member Jake Johansson said he agreed with Santiago in calling for a workshop to be held on the item.

“I think it would be beneficial if we did it in a collaborative workshop, and come up with some reasonable solutions,” he said.

Santiago suggested a workshop be held in 30 to 60 days rather than discuss the item at the Nov. 19 meeting, saying it would be a “disservice” to residents at the meeting because of the lack of specific information regarding a moratorium.

Council Member Don Dempsey signaled his agreement with the workshop idea because of the importance of the issue.

“I think we’re all interested in fixing the flooding problem,” he said. “To me, a building moratorium, that is a very drastic remedy. There’s going to be a lot of jobs lost. We’ve got to look before we leap into a moratorium.”

Brower said his motivation for placing on the meeting agenda came from interactions with residents and first-hand observation of flood damage.

“It is countywide, and the human cost is incredible,” he said. “Every day we delay this allow development to continue as status quo we’ll just add to the cost to the county and it adds to the cost of the suffering of the people. We cannot keep putting this o ff.”

County Manager George Recktenwald suggested the Council hold a special meeting on the issue rather than a workshop to allow the Council to take action immediately if necessary. He offered two possible dates for the meeting, Dec. 17 and Jan. 14, with the January date seeming the most likely.

The motion to remove the item from the Nov. 19 agenda and hold a special meeting passed unanimously.