The controversy began shortly after the Daytona Beach, FL-based company sold 11,000 acres of timber land for conservation purposes next to its development site in Ormond Beach, FL, the former oceanfront winter home of the John D. Rockefeller family, 60 miles northeast of Downtown Orlando.
The firm figured the gesture would win support from anti-growth activist groups and silence critical neighborhood organizations, especially after Volusia County commissioners gave the estimated $1-billion project a thumbs up.
But Consolidated-Tomoka was wrong. Environmentalists, land planners and local politicians now are questioning both Volusia County's decision and the size of the project, particularly since CTL wants its original request to grow from the construction of 700 homes to 2,700. Traffic congestion, pollution and clean water issues are among the arguments being used to derail the venture.
The Florida Department of Community Affairs will make the final decision in March. "Growth management has become a red-hot topic again these days in Florida," Tom D. Cook, vice president/development in the Orlando office of Carter & Associates, tells GlobeSt.com. "Consolidated-Tomoka has been around for a good long time and obviously will do the right thing for the community, but the perception, right or wrong, of their undertaking is what is bothering people in that community right now."
That perception could be raised to another level if the company plays out an option to create its own utility district and provide its own water and sewer service to the planned project, planners familiar with the proposal tell GlobeSt.com. Such a move would promptly divorce the city of Ormond Beach from any say in the undertaking.
Another option would be for Consolidated-Tomoka to annex into neighboring Daytona Beach which could be more receptive to the project, independent planners tell GlobeSt.com.
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