EDGEWATER -- Numerous Taylor Road and Hidden Trail neighbors were relieved this week when the Planning and Zoning Board decided not to recommend a nearby property for annexation.But there are a couple more hurdles the Volusia County residents need to clear before the 82.33-acre annexation talks are over. The City Council, which has the ultimate say in the decision, will take the board's recommendation into consideration during a public hearing next month.
If the council denies the annexation at the first hearing for Arthur Gardiner property south of Taylor Road, the case will not be discussed further. But if they do OK it, there will be one more meeting to make the final approval.
More than 20 residents from the unincorporated area came to the Planning and Zoning Board hearing Wednesday night, which had been delayed since December due to county code enforcement issues. Earlier this year code issues that have since been resolved involved Gardiner being cited for operating a commercial contractor's shop/yard for his land demolition business in an agriculturally zoned area and for illegally filling a wetland with dirt. Annexation talks also had been delayed last month after the board could not come to a majority decision due to one member's absence, which led to tie votes when they tried to make a recommendation.
Residents at the meeting last month and this week expressed concerns about the trucks' impact on the roads, how the vehicles take up two lanes to make turns and said they were worried for the safety of children who use a bus stop nearby.
"This business is not compatible with this area," resident Bob Rosa said. "It's dangerous; it's unwanted."
With a full board in attendance, members voted 5-2 to send an unfavorable recommendation to the City Council. David Ross and Todd Furhman voted against it.
The Gardiner property first came under scrutiny when he began operating company in the area last summer on the property. Residents in the unincorporated area accused him of disturbing them with more than 10 noisy trucks revving by their homes on a daily basis and dropping debris when he ran a concrete recycling operation.
With those issues combined, they worry his business could affect their property values. While resident Mindy Stires, who lives on the edge of Gardiner's property line, does not know whether homes have depreciated in value, she does worry about it--especially considering a neighboring home that has been on the market for numerous months and has not sold.
Gardiner's land, zoned for agricultural use, includes a shop building that he says should be used to store his trucks. But since being cited and given the stop work order, the New Smyrna Beach resident has moved his business back to its previous site in Port Orange.
The board decision Wednesday was unreasonable, he said, citing that previous owners of the land operated a shell pit there and had their own set of trucks running through the area for 30 years.
"(Residents) moved there under those conditions," Gardiner said. "They knew that the trucks ran up and down there."
Previous attempts with the county to get the commercial and mixed use zoning to keep his trucks on the property with the county didn't work out, he said, which is why he hoped to annex into Edgewater. His attorney, Mark Watts, also said the county amended its zoning ordinance a few years ago so contractor storage yards, such as his shop, were no longer permitted in an agriculturally zoned area.
If Gardiner's property is annexed, he said he plans to ask Edgewater's City Council for commercial rezoning so he can use the shop to store and repair the trucks.
And even if his property isn't annexed into the city, he said he would continue with his plans to move onto the property once a 14-home subdivision is built. The homes he is planning would be on 5-acre lots separated from the shop building by a lake.
kelly.cuculiansky@news-jrnl.com
