Tom Brady couldn’t have called a better audible.
Lake Helen has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to greatly expand its tax base. All it has to do is stab its neighbor in the back.
For nearly a year Brendan Hurley, owner of the Hurley Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram dealership in DeLand, has been proposing building an automall on more than 50 acres on Orange Camp Road near Interstate 4. First, that would require rezoning some of the land that resides in unincorporated Volusia County. The effort has stalled because of widespread opposition from residents of adjacent Victoria Park. They fear an automall would create sound and light pollution and add traffic to an already congested road, negatively impacting their quality of life.
A petition at Change.org, Stop the I-4 Automall, has more than 1,300 signatures (a competing one, Approve the I4 Auto Mall!, has more than 80). Last February, automall opponents filled the county chambers during a meeting of the Volusia County Planning and Land Development Regulation Commission to oppose the rezoning. Although county staff recommended approving the change, commissioners voted to delay a vote to allow the developer and the residents to work out their differences. Despite Hurley and his attorney holding public meetings to explain their plans and address the community’s concerns, there’s been no conciliation between the two sides.
(READ: Despite DeLand’s dissent, Lake Helen advances automall)
So Hurley and his group of investors have executed an end-run around the defense: They approached Lake Helen about annexing the land and zoning it to allow for an automall.
Tom Brady couldn’t have called a better audible.
DeLand officials were caught by surprise. Last Friday they requested that Lake Helen reschedule its Monday night Planning and Land Development Regulation Commission meeting, where changing the comprehensive plan was approved, as well as postpone a Thursday morning special meeting during which the City Commission would hold first readings on the annexation and the amended comp plan.
Lake Helen declined to change either meeting, and coldly said it would respond to DeLand Thursday. It’s not hard to see why — Lake Helen is sitting in the catbird seat:
* Annexing the land and allowing the automall would significantly increase tax revenues for Lake Helen (Mark Watts, an attorney representing the developer, said it could double the town’s tax base).
* Because the development would be on the west side of I-4, any of the potential drawbacks wouldn’t affect all the Lake Helen residents on the east side.
* It would only affect residents of DeLand, who can’t vote in Lake Helen elections. So there’s little political downside.
This is akin to winning a tax-free lottery, or having a genie emerge from a lamp offering you three wishes.
It also requires Lake Helen to stick a shiv in DeLand. That could have long-term consequences. As George Bernard Shaw wrote, “If you injure your neighbor, better not do it by halves.” Lake Helen shouldn’t be so quick to fire the opening shots in what could become a war with DeLand.
Lake Helen should acknowledge that its neighbor to the west would bear the brunt of the automall and engage DeLand in discussions about how to mitigate the circumstances. Promote growth that works best for the region, not just for one entity.