Amid protests, NSB approves PUD rezoning for Deering Park Innovation Center in 4-1 vote
NEW SMYRNA BEACH — With standing room only thanks to more than 80 protesters both inside and outside of City Hall, the City Commission Tuesday, May 13, voted 4-1 to approve the planned unit development agreement for the 1,618-acre Deering Park Innovation Project.
Commissioners Jason McGuirk, Valli Perrine, Brian Ashley and Mayor Fred Cleveland voted to approve the area's rezoning, while Vice Mayor Lisa Martin voted against the proposal.
The development encompasses 6 million square feet on the southwest corner of State Road 44 and Interstate 95 in the city. The incoming residential, commercial and industrial spaces intended as part of the project will take shape over the next few decades, according to developers.
Ashley said based on tours of the property and countless conversations with developers, he believes "this is the most sensible way forward."
"People are going to move here no matter what," he said. "It's better to be prepared than not prepared."
McGuirk thanked all the young residents who showed up to voice their opinions. He reminded the audience that he and other commissioners were bound to vote based on the evidence presented to the board at the public sessions and not on the commissioners' own personal feelings.
Cleveland echoed the same point, adding that the PUD agreement establishes accountability for the developers in several ways to ensure they "can't just make a nice paradise out west."
"You can do no harm and no damage to all of the rest of us who live in other parts of town," Cleveland said.
Martin also praised the young residents for showing up. Before voting against the PUD, she said she continued to have questions and concerns about the agreement.
The Deering Park Innovation Center is only the New Smyrna Beach component of the Deering Park development, which will encompass part of the approximately 70,000-acre property between Volusia and Brevard counties, with 46,000 of those acres already destined for land conservation. The development was initially called the Farmton Local Plan nearly 20 years ago, when the Deering family began planning for the property's future.
The plan is to develop different parts of the Deering Park Innovation Center for different uses over many decades, which would be divided in the following manner:
Innovation Park, 423 acres.
Mixed-use/commercial corridor, 136 acres.
Mixed-use/residential village commercial, 26 acres.
Residential rental village, 343 acres.
Residential, 452 acres.
Regional park/sports complex, 60 acres.
City police and New Smyrna Beach Utilities facilities, 18 acres.
Natural vegetation areas, 413 acres.
The planned industrial park area would be called Innovation Park, and would also include space for companies to locate their corporate headquarters, according to city records.
Current plans also indicate that the Innovation Center will allow for a maximum of 2,150 residential units — 925 single family detached lots/homes, 600 multi-family apartments, 250 build-to-rent units and 375 townhouses.
About an hour before the meeting began at 6:30 p.m., about 60 people were already in front of the City Commission chambers on Sams Avenue protesting the project.
One such protesters was Bryon White, who has been voicing his concerns about the project during the last City Commission regular meetings and workshops to discuss the PUD.
"The first part of the problem is that, not just this commission here, but other municipalities, have this mindset that sprawl is progress, and it's not," White said. "It's a growth model that Florida cannot sustain. We don't have the natural resources, we are too susceptible to natural disasters, and that's what really has been the case here."
He went on to reference the recent "catastrophic" flooding episodes across the area, especially in southeast Volusia County, over the past few storms and hurricanes.
He said the city doesn't have the "adequate infrastructure to bring in, literally, 10,000 more residents — we just can't handle it." White argued the Deering Park Innovation Center could add more stress to the city's traffic volume and potentially worsen flooding episodes.
Bonnie Davenport, a resident of Ellison Acres, said her neighborhood, north of State Road 44 near Turnbull Creek, has greatly suffered over the last few storms, especially during Hurricane Ian in 2022.
Davenport said she has applied for financial help from FEMA and the county's Transfrom386 program after her home experienced severe flooding damage.
A lifelong New Smyrna Beach resident, Davenport argued that the continued expansion of the city's westside over the last few decades, filling green areas and wetlands, have put low-lying, older neighborhoods like hers at greater risk of flooding episodes.
"This vote means a lot to me," Davenport said as she held two signs with words against Deering Park Innovation Center. "Anything I can do to prevent more building in that area, I will."
Last August, the City Commission held off voting on Deering Park Innovation Center's PUD, asking developers for more time to better understand the agreement's details.
Since then, developers have spoken to residents and resident groups, as well as answered questions and explained the project further during public workshop sessions over the past few months. Daytona Beach Attorney Glenn Storch, as well as Deering Park team members, have participated in these sessions, leading such presentations and answering questions.
Several of those concerns related to the project's stormwater management regulations. Since August, Storch said he and his team have spoken with several different stakeholders, including the New Smyrna Beach Residents' Coalition, Venetian Bay residents, New Smyrna Beach Alliance and others "trying to understand people's concerns."
After about seven months of discussions with such groups, the developer brought an updated PUD agreement to the board, which aims to ensure the developer meets several requirements "prior to any development of the site," including some related to the project's stormwater system.
They also call for "accountability" provisions, requiring the developer to maintain the stormwater system in compliance with PUD requirements by means of a new taxing district, if approved by the City Commission, to "provide for the financing necessary," Storch said.
The developer has also agreed to post a 10-year stormwater bond or letter of credit to cover any malfunctions to the stormwater systems.
Ernie Cox, president of Family Lands Remembered LLC, a consulting services company working with the Deering Park development team, said team engineers are developing studies they hope will determine how to design the project's stormwater system without affecting adjoining neighborhoods.
He said the planned interconnected lakes system will be "oversized beyond what is required" and designed to deal with the unique threat of large storm events.
During one of last month's workshop sessions, Storch emphasized that no construction will be permitted until the studies have been completed and the design and engineering are approved by the city and the St. Johns River Water Management District.'
Cox added that with these studies are expected to take a few years to complete, and that developers will bring in commercial spaces first, it will be at least three years before residential areas start construction.
Storch also addressed questions related to traffic and how the development will encourage travel on foot, electric vehicles, scooters and bicycles with trails and multi-modal paths. Other questions dealt with the possibility of affordable housing, maintenance of the natural vegetation area, traffic impact (especially on the busy State Road 44) and more.
Cleveland invited public comments before the board's final considerations and vote, during which time over 40 residents voiced their opinions about the project.
Approximately 30 residents spoke against the development, while about 10 others expressed support for the Deering Park Innovation Center.
Mandy Perkins, a beachside resident, said she was "heartbroken" to see what she called "unwanted growth" for the city, which "has been degraded by development."
"If you look around the room and outside the windows, it's filled with young people," Perkins said. "We're not the ones in suits ... . We are the actual people who are affected by this."
She said she disagreed with rezoning the land from agricultural and forestry to the proposed PUD, adding that Deering Park Innovation Center "will change the character of our community in a profound and detrimental way."
Other opponents of the project said they did not believe the project's stormwater system will be able to avoid affecting other neighborhoods, voiced concerns about the potential worsening of an already heavy traffic volume issue, and the potential property tax increases resulting from new big tech, high-paying jobs.
Supporters of the project, on the other hand, praised the fact that the Deering Park Innovation Center could be an opportunity for the city to grow in an effective manner.
"Before you is a master plan proposal that not only incorporates best practices from around the state but around the country and the world," said Bob Williams. "Deering Park is poised to become a model for dealing with a growing community with low impact development and smart growth."
Other supporters said the project could help diversify the city's tax base, more than 80% of which currently relies on residential property taxes.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Deering Park protesters fill NSB city chambers as board approves PUD
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