DELTONA, Fla. – Deltona leaders are thinking about pausing all new residential development with a moratorium.
As the largest city in Volusia County, Deltona is growing quickly. However, some residents are worried that the city cannot keep up with the development, especially when it comes to flooding and emergency services.
City staff in Deltona are drafting a moratorium ordinance for the commissioners to vote on soon. The main reasons for this pause are twofold: First, some city leaders want to create new regulations for development. Second, they want time to update the city’s impact fees for new construction.
“Initially, I said nine months, with a secondary condition of upon the second vote of the commission on adopting impact fees,” said District Four Commissioner Dori Howington.
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Commissioner Howington was the one who suggested the moratorium.
“The pause is because we have not kept up with our infrastructure. We’ve added thousands of homes in the past 10 years. We’ve actually grown by 16 percent in the past decade,” she explained.
For example, Howington mentioned that city leaders are now discussing how to come up with $50 million to improve fire stations and increase fire services, which is important for providing faster responses to the growing population.
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“This is actually related to the fact that we have not been collecting the right amount of impact fees,” Howington said. “In 2021, we had an impact fees study completed. It went to a workshop, but it was never taken to the commission for a vote.”
She emphasized the need for time to figure out how much the impact fees should be raised. So far, the commissioners have agreed 5-0 to move forward with the moratorium, although two were absent during the last vote during a workshop.
“We really are in a crisis, and any development that we’ve been letting in here really throughout this year is only paying a small fraction of its true impact on Deltona,” said District Six Commissioner Nick Lulli.
Some residents also hope that a moratorium would allow the city to improve infrastructure to address flooding issues they have experienced during recent hurricanes and storms.
“Let’s spend money where it’s needed and stop just trying to raise taxes on the people that live here. Let’s fix our problems instead of just doing studies,” said resident Jody Lee Storozuk.
The readings and votes on this moratorium ordinance will take place at two special meetings set for June 23 and June 30.