At their meeting Wednesday night, city commissioners approved three measures on the agenda that will address needs in the police department as they react to the new development around Williamson Boulevard and west of Interstate 95 along LPGA Boulevard.
DAYTONA BEACH — City commissioners have taken a step to deal with the explosive growth happening on the city's west side, where dozens of new businesses and thousands of new homes are going up.
At their meeting Wednesday night, commissioners approved three measures on the agenda that will address needs in the police department as they react to the new development around Williamson Boulevard and west of Interstate 95 along LPGA Boulevard.
To properly service those areas — which include the Tanger Outlets mall, the 6,900-home Latitude Margaritaville and 1,200-home Mosaic residential development — Police Chief Craig Capri sees the need to hire 24 new officers.
On the meeting's agenda were items the commissioners approved to provide those new officers with cars, computers and radios they'll use to police the western rim of the city.
The 24 new police cars are priced at $957,679, the 24 Dell laptop computers cost $35,631 and the 24 mobile radios come to $105,861. The tally for all that equipment pushes $1.1 million, and annual salaries for the two dozen new officers will top $1 million.
The equipment expenses will be covered by impact fees charged on new construction and the new officer positions are already in the police department's operating budget.
Capri is in the process of hiring a total of 43 new officers, 19 of whom will fill current vacancies. Getting an officer ready to hit the streets takes months of training. At the beginning of the year, Capri said he hired 25 officers, 23 of whom made it through training and are ready to start working. A new class of 20 officers will get in gear May 14, so soon Capri will meet his goal of 43 new hires.
Capri said he's budgeted for 241 officers now, but is currently several short of that. With the city's population expected to keep climbing, Capri said he could see his force expanding to 275.
Daytona Beach's current population is about 65,000. The city forecasts that to grow to 77,000 in five years, and to hit 90,000 residents in 10 years. In 20 years, Daytona Beach is expected to be home to 117,000 people, nearly doubling the current population.
The chief divides the city into police districts, and he expects he'll have to create a new district for the west side of the city in the next five years or so. That new district can run out of the police station off of Williamson Boulevard at Mason Avenue, which at 98,000-square-feet was built a decade ago with room to grow.
The vacant 55-year-old old police station on Nova Road at Orange Avenue is going to be demolished over the next few weeks. But just across the street on the south side of Orange Avenue there's a city-owned building that will be used for a new Midtown neighborhood substation by December, Capri said.
In another matter at the meeting, commissioners discussed the city's new procedure for hearing comments from the public during meetings that don't have to be related to items on the agenda.
In recent years, the commission has heard those comments toward the end of their meetings. On Wednesday, commissioners switched to the new approach of ending their meeting, taking a short break and then reconvening to hear the public comments.
No one on the commission or city staff left and the comments were recorded as they always are. Several residents worried that the commissioners would leave, and no one would be there to listen.
Also at their meeting, commissioners agreed to join in the application of Avista Properties VII, LLC, for the vacation of the northern half of the Harvey Avenue right of way lying east of Ocean Avenue. The city is the adjacent property owner of the northern edge of the Harvey Avenue right of way, and agreed for Avista to request the vacation at a County Council meeting.
The city put conditions on its authorization including that Avista must obtain a Planned District rezoning for its planned development of a mixed-use hotel project on its property near Harvey Avenue. That project includes the extension of the Boardwalk from the south end of Breaker's Oceanfront Park southward along the entire ocean frontage of Avista's hotel site.
Another condition is that Avista needs to open for business no later than five years from the effective date of the Planned Development agreement. Avista would also have to improve the remainder of the Harvey Avenue beach approach. The city agreement says that if Avista fails to comply with the requirements and deadlines, the county will have the right to require Avista to re-convey the vacated portion of the Harvey Avenue approach.