Let’s state this clearly up front:
The City of Ormond Beach is on a course to spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars fighting a perfectly legal new home development on behalf of a handful of nearby homeowners who are weaponizing local government to deny someone their property rights.
The casualties of this futile battle are: local jobs, affordable housing, smart development, public trust, taxpayer dollars and common sense (more on all of these shortly).
A Red Tape Florida investigation detailed the situation earlier this week. The short version: A property owner wants to develop a defunct golf course into homes that will fit well within the current neighborhood, but the city is denying them any kind of zoning. A federal lawsuit has been filed after the homebuilder exhausted all efforts.
That this type of anti-free market activity is happening in a bright red county is quite breathtaking.
This is not a simple difference of opinion, by the way. As the homebuilder’s legal team has unearthed, the city is simply not operating in good faith on this matter. They are starting with “how do we deny this” and then trying to find (or manufacture) a rule to support their desired final outcome.
That leads to email correspondence such as the planning department admitting to the city attorney: “(we) cannot find another city that has assigned a Planned Development with no development order.” The city attorney’s response is, essentially, don’t worry about it.
If you’re reaction to this is to shrug, then let us offer some dominos that might affect others in Ormond Beach and around the state.
Domino No. 1: The impact on blue collar workers. These 300 or so homes would all need roofers, plumbers, electricians, landscapers, painters, cabinet makers, dry wall installers, irrigation experts, graders and countless other tradespeople. This is work that is being withheld from them by the government and neighbors who don’t actually own the land in question.
Domino No. 2: Affordable housing. What’s particularly insidious about this weaponization of local government by NIMBY neighbors is the attempt to strong-arm the developer into building houses that are LESS affordable (presumably because the nearby homeowners don’t want to associate with any riffraff). It’s embarrassing and insulting.
Domino No. 3: Erosion of public trust. Ormond Beach is going to lose this lawsuit and be forced to do what is clearly their legal obligation. Then what will happen to the millions in legal fees the city must pay? Answer: Of course, it will be just absorbed into the massive bureaucracy that is local government. And remember, the city could also be on the hook for tens of millions in punitive damages for the lose of use of the property – perhaps even as high as $40 million. That’s a disaster for Ormond Beach taxpayers.
Domino No. 4: The loss of revenue to local government from higher property values – revenue that could help lower taxes or provide vital services to residents.
By the way, there was an easy solution here: The 500 homeowners could have bought the land in 2018 for the same purchase price, and it would have been just about $5,200 each. If financed, as a group, the monthly payments would have been manageable.
Instead, ALL Ormond Beach taxpayers are on the hook for a lawsuit that could cost many times the value of the property in question.
It’s time for Ormond Beach taxpayers to demand an end to this. The developer has already shown a willingness to compromise, adding greenspace, buffers and more to his proposal.
The city needs to show some leadership and look out for all of its taxpaying residents by coming to the table and working out a solution.