Latest news with #PUD
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Amid protests, NSB approves PUD rezoning for Deering Park Innovation Center in 4-1 vote
This story has been updated with new information. NEW SMYRNA BEACH — With standing room only thanks to more than 80 protesters both inside and outside of City Hall, the City Commission Tuesday, May 13, voted 4-1 to approve the planned unit development agreement for the 1,618-acre Deering Park Innovation Project. Commissioners Jason McGuirk, Valli Perrine, Brian Ashley and Mayor Fred Cleveland voted to approve the area's rezoning, while Vice Mayor Lisa Martin voted against the proposal. The development encompasses 6 million square feet on the southwest corner of State Road 44 and Interstate 95 in the city. The incoming residential, commercial and industrial spaces intended as part of the project will take shape over the next few decades, according to developers. Ashley said based on tours of the property and countless conversations with developers, he believes "this is the most sensible way forward." "People are going to move here no matter what," he said. "It's better to be prepared than not prepared." McGuirk thanked all the young residents who showed up to voice their opinions. He reminded the audience that he and other commissioners were bound to vote based on the evidence presented to the board at the public sessions and not on the commissioners' own personal feelings. Cleveland echoed the same point, adding that the PUD agreement establishes accountability for the developers in several ways to ensure they "can't just make a nice paradise out west." "You can do no harm and no damage to all of the rest of us who live in other parts of town," Cleveland said. Martin also praised the young residents for showing up. Before voting against the PUD, she said she continued to have questions and concerns about the agreement. The Deering Park Innovation Center is only the New Smyrna Beach component of the Deering Park development, which will encompass part of the approximately 70,000-acre property between Volusia and Brevard counties, with 46,000 of those acres already destined for land conservation. The development was initially called the Farmton Local Plan nearly 20 years ago, when the Deering family began planning for the property's future. The plan is to develop different parts of the Deering Park Innovation Center for different uses over many decades, which would be divided in the following manner: Innovation Park, 423 acres. Mixed-use/commercial corridor, 136 acres. Mixed-use/residential village commercial, 26 acres. Residential rental village, 343 acres. Residential, 452 acres. Regional park/sports complex, 60 acres. City police and New Smyrna Beach Utilities facilities, 18 acres. Natural vegetation areas, 413 acres. The planned industrial park area would be called Innovation Park, and would also include space for companies to locate their corporate headquarters, according to city records. Current plans also indicate that the Innovation Center will allow for a maximum of 2,150 residential units — 925 single family detached lots/homes, 600 multi-family apartments, 250 build-to-rent units and 375 townhouses. About an hour before the meeting began at 6:30 p.m., about 60 people were already in front of the City Commission chambers on Sams Avenue protesting the project. One such protesters was Bryon White, who has been voicing his concerns about the project during the last City Commission regular meetings and workshops to discuss the PUD. "The first part of the problem is that, not just this commission here, but other municipalities, have this mindset that sprawl is progress, and it's not," White said. "It's a growth model that Florida cannot sustain. We don't have the natural resources, we are too susceptible to natural disasters, and that's what really has been the case here." He went on to reference the recent "catastrophic" flooding episodes across the area, especially in southeast Volusia County, over the past few storms and hurricanes. He said the city doesn't have the "adequate infrastructure to bring in, literally, 10,000 more residents — we just can't handle it." White argued the Deering Park Innovation Center could add more stress to the city's traffic volume and potentially worsen flooding episodes. Bonnie Davenport, a resident of Ellison Acres, said her neighborhood, north of State Road 44 near Turnbull Creek, has greatly suffered over the last few storms, especially during Hurricane Ian in 2022. Davenport said she has applied for financial help from FEMA and the county's Transfrom386 program after her home experienced severe flooding damage. A lifelong New Smyrna Beach resident, Davenport argued that the continued expansion of the city's westside over the last few decades, filling green areas and wetlands, have put low-lying, older neighborhoods like hers at greater risk of flooding episodes. "This vote means a lot to me," Davenport said as she held two signs with words against Deering Park Innovation Center. "Anything I can do to prevent more building in that area, I will." Last August, the City Commission held off voting on Deering Park Innovation Center's PUD, asking developers for more time to better understand the agreement's details. Since then, developers have spoken to residents and resident groups, as well as answered questions and explained the project further during public workshop sessions over the past few months. Daytona Beach Attorney Glenn Storch, as well as Deering Park team members, have participated in these sessions, leading such presentations and answering questions. Several of those concerns related to the project's stormwater management regulations. Since August, Storch said he and his team have spoken with several different stakeholders, including the New Smyrna Beach Residents' Coalition, Venetian Bay residents, New Smyrna Beach Alliance and others "trying to understand people's concerns." After about seven months of discussions with such groups, the developer brought an updated PUD agreement to the board, which aims to ensure the developer meets several requirements "prior to any development of the site," including some related to the project's stormwater system. They also call for "accountability" provisions, requiring the developer to maintain the stormwater system in compliance with PUD requirements by means of a new taxing district, if approved by the City Commission, to "provide for the financing necessary," Storch said. The developer has also agreed to post a 10-year stormwater bond or letter of credit to cover any malfunctions to the stormwater systems. Ernie Cox, president of Family Lands Remembered LLC, a consulting services company working with the Deering Park development team, said team engineers are developing studies they hope will determine how to design the project's stormwater system without affecting adjoining neighborhoods. He said the planned interconnected lakes system will be "oversized beyond what is required" and designed to deal with the unique threat of large storm events. During one of last month's workshop sessions, Storch emphasized that no construction will be permitted until the studies have been completed and the design and engineering are approved by the city and the St. Johns River Water Management District.' Cox added that with these studies are expected to take a few years to complete, and that developers will bring in commercial spaces first, it will be at least three years before residential areas start construction. Storch also addressed questions related to traffic and how the development will encourage travel on foot, electric vehicles, scooters and bicycles with trails and multi-modal paths. Other questions dealt with the possibility of affordable housing, maintenance of the natural vegetation area, traffic impact (especially on the busy State Road 44) and more. Cleveland invited public comments before the board's final considerations and vote, during which time over 40 residents voiced their opinions about the project. Approximately 30 residents spoke against the development, while about 10 others expressed support for the Deering Park Innovation Center. Mandy Perkins, a beachside resident, said she was "heartbroken" to see what she called "unwanted growth" for the city, which "has been degraded by development." "If you look around the room and outside the windows, it's filled with young people," Perkins said. "We're not the ones in suits ... . We are the actual people who are affected by this." She said she disagreed with rezoning the land from agricultural and forestry to the proposed PUD, adding that Deering Park Innovation Center "will change the character of our community in a profound and detrimental way." Other opponents of the project said they did not believe the project's stormwater system will be able to avoid affecting other neighborhoods, voiced concerns about the potential worsening of an already heavy traffic volume issue, and the potential property tax increases resulting from new big tech, high-paying jobs. Supporters of the project, on the other hand, praised the fact that the Deering Park Innovation Center could be an opportunity for the city to grow in an effective manner. "Before you is a master plan proposal that not only incorporates best practices from around the state but around the country and the world," said Bob Williams. "Deering Park is poised to become a model for dealing with a growing community with low impact development and smart growth." Other supporters said the project could help diversify the city's tax base, more than 80% of which currently relies on residential property taxes. This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Deering Park protesters fill NSB city chambers as board approves PUD
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Brunswick mayor, City Council approve development overlay for Vista Pointe project
Brunswick's mayor and City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a Planned Unit Development (PUD) overlay on previously annexed land. The PUD overlay is a specific zoning district that allows for flexible site planning and development. The land will be used for an age-restricted development called Vista Pointe. Residents of Brunswick and Knoxville on April 22 expressed their concerns to the mayor and City Council about the development, specifically about potentially removing an area of forest land. Pleasants Development, the developer, has been allowed to clear 57 acres of forest on the property for the 660 age-restricted units it plans to build. Residents are concerned that clearing the forest will create more flooding in the area. At the meeting on Tuesday, Brunswick resident Neil Gormley said the forest is 'ecologically and hydrologically better than a landscaped open space.' 'A forest ecosystem supports more plant and animal life,' he said. 'It's a richer, more resilient ecological system.' Gormley added that the forest is 'much better' at retaining water and reducing flooding than a grazed pasture would be. Dan Fryer, the regional vice president for Pleasants Development, said on Tuesday that the engineering study that is looking at runoff and flooding, which the company is currently working on, will be released to the public. He said the report will show the existing conditions for flooding and what the development company plans to do to address it. Fryer said the civil engineering firm Macris, Hendricks & Glascock (MHG) is performing the study. An annexation agreement for the land included a list of proffers that promised stormwater infrastructure improvements, such as cleaning the 21-inch culvert north and south of Brunswick Street, before the project starts. Council Member Andy St. John said at the meeting that he received numerous emails from the community that mention how the annexation of the property was 'a lack of due diligence and mismanagement on the part of the city.' 'I, frankly, take exception to that,' he said. 'The city and the staff has been working very hard on this for a very long time to make sure that all the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed, and that we have followed the law.' Council Member John Caves agreed with St. John, and added that the process has not been approached 'flippantly.' 'We read the emails. We listen to the comments,' he said. 'It's ultimately a judgment call.' After the unanimous vote to approve the PUD overlay, Mayor Nathan Brown said he did not want to influence any council members' votes, but he agreed with St. John. 'Really, these annexations ... are not fresh off the press, brand-new, clean-slate annexations,' he said. The land for the Vista Pointe development is made up of three previously annexed properties: the Daugherty, Ferris and Brylawski properties. The Daugherty property was annexed into the city in 1992 and is approximately 113 acres. The Ferris and Brylawski properties were adopted into Brunswick on Feb. 25 of this year, and are approximately 57 acres and 15 acres, respectively. 'We had to really look at them in a way that was ... in the best interest of the city,' Brown said. 'It allowed us to have proffers where normally we wouldn't because we introduced new annexations to already annexed land, which was good.'
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opposition leader vows 'empty' polling stations for Venezuelan legislative vote
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who has called for a boycott of May 25 gubernatorial and legislative elections, on Thursday vowed polling stations would be "empty" 10 months after President Nicolas Maduro's disputed reelection. The regional vote, she told AFP in a Zoom interview, was a "huge farce that the regime wants to stage to bury its defeat of July 28" when Maduro claimed victory in a presidential poll that Machado's party, and most of the international community, says the opposition won. "May 25 will be a huge defeat for the regime because it will find itself absolutely alone," Machado said, vowing a mass voter boycott that would leave "all the (voting) centers empty." Venezuela's opposition is split on whether or not to participate in the May 25 vote for lawmakers and governors. The main opposition movement led by Machado has called for a boycott, while a smaller group led by two-time former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles has said it will participate. Maduro used the security forces to crush protests over his claim to have won a third six-year term fair and square. Despite the strong support he still enjoys from the security forces, Machado claimed there were divisions within his ranks and that the government was "in a state of great vulnerability." In 2020, the opposition boycotted parliamentary elections, having won a majority in the legislature five years earlier. Their absence allowed Maduro's allies to regain control of parliament and pass increasingly oppressive laws, according to rights groups. The opposition had also boycotted 2018 presidential elections in which Maduro claimed reelection to a second term rejected by most of the international community, just like the third term he claimed last July. Machado's Democratic Unity Platform (PUD) published its own tally of polling station-level results, which it says proves opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia had won two-thirds of the votes cast. Machado, who has been in hiding since July but made a brief appearance at a protest in Caracas on the eve of Maduro's inauguration in January, has said participating in this month's election would give validation to a corrupt process. Maduro's ruling party has announced candidate lists for governors, including for the disputed oil-rich region of Essequibo that has been administered by Guyana for more than a century. Capriles, the former presidential candidate whose group has announced plans to field candidates, argues that there is "no other path" but the ballot box to dislodge Maduro, who has clung on through years of crippling US sanctions. Some opposition members argue that the sanctions have hurt ordinary Venezuelans, battered by hyperinflation and biting shortages of basic goods, more than the country's authoritarian leader. "The only person responsible for the sanctions is Nicolas Maduro," Machado said, vowing to continue her struggle against his rule "to the end." pgf/mbj/mlr/cb/aha
France 24
16-05-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Opposition leader vows 'empty' polling stations for Venezuelan legislative vote
The regional vote, she told AFP in a Zoom interview, was a "huge farce that the regime wants to stage to bury its defeat of July 28" when Maduro claimed victory in a presidential poll that Machado's party, and most of the international community, says the opposition won. "May 25 will be a huge defeat for the regime because it will find itself absolutely alone," Machado said, vowing a mass voter boycott that would leave "all the (voting) centers empty." Venezuela's opposition is split on whether or not to participate in the May 25 vote for lawmakers and governors. The main opposition movement led by Machado has called for a boycott, while a smaller group led by two-time former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles has said it will participate. Maduro used the security forces to crush protests over his claim to have won a third six-year term fair and square. Despite the strong support he still enjoys from the security forces, Machado claimed there were divisions within his ranks and that the government was "in a state of great vulnerability." In 2020, the opposition boycotted parliamentary elections, having won a majority in the legislature five years earlier. Their absence allowed Maduro's allies to regain control of parliament and pass increasingly oppressive laws, according to rights groups. The opposition had also boycotted 2018 presidential elections in which Maduro claimed reelection to a second term rejected by most of the international community, just like the third term he claimed last July. Machado's Democratic Unity Platform (PUD) published its own tally of polling station-level results, which it says proves opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia had won two-thirds of the votes cast. Machado, who has been in hiding since July but made a brief appearance at a protest in Caracas on the eve of Maduro's inauguration in January, has said participating in this month's election would give validation to a corrupt process. Maduro's ruling party has announced candidate lists for governors, including for the disputed oil-rich region of Essequibo that has been administered by Guyana for more than a century. Capriles, the former presidential candidate whose group has announced plans to field candidates, argues that there is "no other path" but the ballot box to dislodge Maduro, who has clung on through years of crippling US sanctions. Some opposition members argue that the sanctions have hurt ordinary Venezuelans, battered by hyperinflation and biting shortages of basic goods, more than the country's authoritarian leader. © 2025 AFP
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Grant PUD commissioners approve 20-year solar power production contract
Apr. 15—EPHRATA — A solar power project that received a construction permit in 2020 is projected to be producing electricity by late 2027. Grant County Public Utility District commissioners approved a power purchasing agreement with Quincy Solar on April 8. The facility will generate 120 megawatts of power per year on a site located between the Grant County International Airport and the PUD's Rocky Ford substation. The PUD will receive all of the power generated by the facility. The contract will be in effect for 20 years. The PUD will pay an estimated $70-$72 per kilowatt-hour. That compares to $20- $30 per kilowatt-hour for power produced by the PUD-owned Wanapum and Priest Rapids dams. Rich Flanigan, PUD chief customer officer, said the price reflects current market trends. "We've actually seen prices increase for solar over the last five years (due to) inflation and tariffs that have been put into place," Flanigan said. "Also, it's a little more expensive in Washington state, because of the (state-mandated generation goals) and the contracting requirements." Quincy Solar originally applied for a development permit on the project in 2020. "That project has been out there for a while," Flanigan said. "They've been looking for some off-taker." Flanigan said the contract will help the PUD meet its state-mandated renewable energy goals, one of which requires the utility to generate at least 15% of its electricity from renewable sources. "There are a lot of different things that comply with that," he said. "Some of it is solar, some of it is wind (generation) if it's within what they call the Columbia River Basin." The PUD has existing contracts with suppliers to help meet the goal. Some hydropower generation also qualifies, he said. "At both Priest Rapids and Wanapum (dams) we've put in what we call fish bypass, and that allows us to spill less water for (salmon recovery) purposes. So, we get the benefit of that energy that we technically would be spilling if we hadn't done that," Flanigan said. The PUD will spend about 20 years upgrading turbines and generators at the two dams, a project that should be completed by the end of the decade. Flanigan said the electricity generated through increased efficiency also counts toward the state-mandated targets. The second state mandate requires 80% of the PUD's electricity to be generated by sources that don't produce greenhouse gases, he said. Mitigation of some kind is required for the other 20%. If the facility doesn't reach the anticipated capacity, Quincy Solar will have to pay damages until it does, according to the agreement approved by the commissioners. The Port of Moses Lake has industrial property in the vicinity, but Port Manager Dan Roach said Monday the Quincy Solar facility is not on port property. It is on property that fits the criteria for solar projects, said Grant County Development Director Jim Anderson-Cook in an earlier interview. Companies are looking for property that's not currently irrigation farmland or otherwise developed but that has been used in the past. Regulations require developers to take access to electrical transmission capacity into account also.
