Planning board forwards Daytona Beach EAR (EARS) large-scale comp-plan update to City Commission

The Planning Board recommended transmittal of Daytona Beach’s Evaluation and Appraisal Report (EAR) and associated large-scale comprehensive plan amendments that update the city’s plan to a 2045 planning horizon and align content with current statutory requirements.

Consultant Blair Knighting of Kimley‑Horn presented the scope of work, describing the project as primarily a statutory compliance update rather than a wholesale rewrite. Key changes included moving to a 2045 horizon year, consolidating the coastal management and conservation elements to remove redundancy while retaining all required content, updating and adding required maps (including a Coastal High Hazard Area map and updated transportation functional-classification maps), and refreshing language in multiple elements (public facilities, redevelopment, resiliency-related language, and capital improvements) to reflect state requirements.

Knighting said the transmittal hearing concludes the local review step; if the Planning Board forwards the EAR, staff will transmit the package to the City Commission and then to state reviewers, which may return comments for incorporation prior to final local adoption. Board members discussed the level-of-service concept and how the plan provides high-level guidance for growth and utilities rather than detailed facility siting; several members asked whether certain maps (hospital and shelter locations) should remain in the comp plan, and staff explained the rationale for removing some static maps while keeping required functional and hazard mapping.

The Planning Board approved forwarding the EAR and associated text/map updates to the City Commission for transmittal to the state review process; staff said the item is tentatively scheduled for May 7 (first reading) and May 21 (second reading/public hearing).