- May 4, 2024
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Since the Florida Department of Transportation is proposing a redesign for Granada Boulevard in a portion of Ormond Beachs’s downtown districts, commissioners last week expressed a desire to push for lighting and aesthetic upgrades on the Granada Bridge.
Ormond Beach City Commissioner Dwight Selby at the commission meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 21, compared the Granada Bridge to Daytona’s International Speedway Boulevard, saying that the latter was more attractive. With other plans in the works to beautify the downtown — including a new plan by Ormond MainStreet to light the palm trees in the district — he felt it was time to broach the topic.
“I would really like to see us push FDOT and/or the county or ourselves to do more to upgrade the bridge, and including uplighting the bridge — LED uplighting — so that the lights could be changeable based on the season or the event or whatever’s happening,” Selby said.
This isn’t the first time the commission has talked about upgrading the Granada Bridge.
In 2019, during the downtown master plan update process, city officials discussed adding LED lighting, painting it and the possible addition of murals. The plan outlined ways to make the bridge a town centerpiece.
At the recent commission meeting, Commissioner Susan Persis said just that.
“So many people walk on that bridge,” she said. “It is just amazing the use that it gets, and I think making it just the centerpiece of our town is just incredible.”
Selby had also suggested beautifying the Granada beach approach, but Persis said she was in favor of upgrading the bridge first.
Commissioner Rob Littleton said beautifying the bridge would be in the “best interest of the city.”
Mayor Bill Partington said he believed there were opportunities to acquire LED lighting for the bridge coming up in the future. He believed the Ormond Beach Chamber and MainStreet could aid them with this as well.
“Our residents use this four-corner area as a huge cultural, community and exercise area,” Partington said. “It really is kind of the heart of our downtown and pulls the two sides of the beach together.”
A new townhome project is in the works for Ormond-by-the-Sea.
On Sept. 15, an 18 townhome project slated for a vacant plot at 2120 Ocean Shore Boulevard in Ormond-by-the-Sea was reviewed by the Volusia County Planning and Land Development Regulation Commission. The applicant sought variances to reduce the interior building separation requirements, per county staff documents. Due to the property’s zoning of R-8 Urban Multifamily Residential, the minimum building separation requirement is 50 feet; the applicant was seeking between 25 and 33.6 feet.
While county staff recommended the variances be denied, the PLDRC unanimously recommended approval with the condition that the applicant will apply for final site plan approval.
Per the county documents, the units will all be three-story, three-bedroom units.
The project spans 1.83 acres and is proposed to be located near the Spanish Waters subdivision. The land sold in August 2021 for $1.5 million.
Sellers who want their property to be considered for purchase by Volusia Forever may apply from Oct. 1 through Nov. 15.
Volusia Forever, a voter-approved program that purchases and preserves environmentally-sensitive, water resource protection and outdoor recreation lands. Working forests and farmlands may also be considered.
According to a county news release, applications are evaluated based on the extent that properties enhance corridors and connectivity, and if they are of significant size to achieve “meaningful conservation objectives, are facing imminent loss to development, allow for completion of projects begun under previous program, and/or serve as additions to existing conservation lands.”
Visit volusia.org/forever.
The City Commission gave final approval to its millage rates and budget for the 2022-2023 fiscal year via a 4-1 vote on Wednesday, Sept. 21. City Commissioner Rob Littleton voted against.
The millage rate was set at 3.7610 mills — or $3.7610 per $1,000 of taxable value — which is 5.8% above the rollback rate. The city’s budget totals about $90.9 million.
Included in the budget is $700,000 to buy a property for reclaimed water storage; $532,000 in legislative funding for a septic to sewer conversion for Magnolia Drive, Oak Drive and Bonita Avenue; and the purchase of public safety vehicles and equipment — including six patrol vehicles, one fire brush truck and two commercial turnout gear dryers.
