ORMOND BEACH — Too much irresponsible development. Too much talking and not enough listening. Too many dead trees.
Those are among the issues that drove residents to recently resurrect Citizens and Neighbors Dedicated to Ormond — CANDO 2. The group, which advocates for responsible development, took its most visible action Tuesday night before a City Commission meeting, when nearly 50 protesters gathered outside City Hall carrying signs demanding, among other things, that the mayor resign and commissioners be fired.
“The current commission has been very dismissive and condescending of our concerns,” CANDO 2 co-founder Julie Sipes said. “A lot of people feel like they don’t want to waste their time talking to the commission anymore. It’s not just direction of turning Ormond Beach to Anytown USA, it’s the attitudes, that they’ve forgotten that they work for us. They’re public servants. They needed to be reminded who they work for.”
The group began to gather strength following the February clear-cutting of 20 acres along Granada Boulevard to make way for a grocery store and gas station. Members began lashing out at commissioners at meetings. In the months that passed, the group asked the city to restore wetland development rules and requested a six-month moratorium on commercial development. It then sent a nearly 1,500 signature petition to the commission asking it to employ low impact development methods, Sipes said.
While CANDO 2's efforts are focused on Ormond Beach, Volusia County has seen similar pushback from residents concerned about growth.
In New Smyrna Beach, the City Commission recently agreed to move forward on plans to create a four-month moratorium on State Road 44 commercial projects so the city can rewrite the landscaping rules for a more lush, arterial highway. The County Council delayed a vote on a half-cent sales tax to support infrastructure needs in part to give time to study raising the fees developers pay on new growth.
Members of the Ormond group said residents are angry because they feel officials haven’t listened to their concerns on what they consider development run amok.
“Developers are paving over our paradise,” said 35-year Ormond resident Robert Renforth. “What we want to do is bring attention to the City Commission that we want to put a screeching halt to this unbridled growth that seems to be operational between city government and developers (while) local people are kind of told to stand in a corner and be quiet.”
Tuesday’s protest largely fell on the deaf ears and blind eyes of those targeted. During the bulk of the outdoors demonstration, commissioners were inside for a capital projects workshop. Later, during their regular meeting, commissioners did not address the protest.
“I think it’s a great way for the public to share what their thoughts are on the direction in which the city is going,” Deputy Mayor Troy Kent said after the workshop. “I personally disagree with their message. I know that Ormond Beach has been, currently is, and through the careful planning of this commission, will continue to be the most-sought-out place to live in North Central Florida.”
CANDO 2 advocates spelled out a different message in the signs they waved at motorists passing on the Granada Boulevard bridge and Beach Street. Many focused on the loss of trees and wetlands to new development. One called for Mayor Bill Partington to resign.
The mayor said he had no intention of complying. He also said the city hasn’t ignored its residents and that city officials have offered to meet with the group on multiple occasions, but the group declined.
“I would flat out reject that the city has been non-responsive because, in fact, we’ve been very responsive and created an entire civic engagement process on a variety of different topics involving city government that they will be able to have input and share ideas on,” Partington said after the meeting.
The workshops, dubbed the OB Life, will begin June 28 and cover aspects of core government, a primary goal of CANDO 2, Partington said.
The UCF Institute of Government will moderate the workshops, which will each cover a different topic such as planning, economic development, leisure services, police and fire services, Partington said, adding that industry experts or city staff will provide information to citizens who attend.
In regard to the group’s requests on wetland rules and a commercial development moratorium, Partington said he wanted more information before deciding what the city should do.
“Government never moves real quick anyway, but I feel like we’ve kind of gone leaps and bounds to try and create this process, which they’ve requested, and attempted to be responsive to whatever their suggestions and ideas are,” Partington said. “We can’t just do it because a group says you have to do this. Those are ideas or concepts or things that they think might help the city, and we have to vet those and put them through a process where they can be determined whether that’s the route we really need to take or not.”
Kent was more set in his views.
“A moratorium on business and commercial construction in Ormond Beach is a terrible message to send to business,” Kent said. “People need to know that Ormond Beach is open for business, not closed for business. I think the worst thing that we could do is put an end to, or even a moratorium on, any type of commercial development.”
Kent said the city’s current wetland rules were appropriate.
“Ormond Beach has some of the most stringent building and wetland rules, when you’re talking about development, that are out there,” Kent said.
However, residents felt that the city should be doing more.
“I saw the destruction of many things down in South Florida,” resident Kelly Remark said. “It’s a concrete jungle. There’s no wildlife. It’s all destroyed. I don’t want to see that happen here.”
With an election coming up, residents might have another way to bring about the changes they would like to see.
“Every year we vote, things change,” Renforth said.
Partington said he wasn’t concerned about the upcoming election.
“There’s so many positive things happening in Ormond Beach right now that having a citizenry that cares about the city and is willing to try to improve the process, that’s a positive to me," Partington said. "I can’t really say I’m critical of that at all.”