Volusia County adopts voluntary Low‑Impact Development comp‑plan amendment; effective June 7

Ginger, Growth and Resource Management Director, briefed the Environmental and Natural Resources Advisory Committee on May 7 that the county council adopted a comprehensive‑plan amendment enabling a Low‑Impact Development (LID) program and left the program voluntary.

Why it matters: The LID amendment removes a regulatory barrier to voluntary adoption of site‑design and stormwater best practices intended to reduce runoff and preserve on‑site natural features. Staff said the effective date for the comp‑plan amendment is June 7 and that the county will pursue outreach and demonstration projects to show how LID measures perform.

What happened at the council: Committee staff summarized yesterday’s council action: the council voted to adopt the LID comp‑plan amendment as voluntary. Members of the council had debated hybrid versus mandatory approaches; staff said that if few applicants use the voluntary program, council members indicated willingness to revisit mandatory options. The committee heard that the LID adoption is the last step needed before the county can begin offering incentives and programmatic support.

Next steps: Staff told the committee they will monitor uptake and report back; they also said the county plans to evaluate 2–3 early LID projects for lessons learned and to present draft code language and incentives to the cities through an elected officials roundtable and a flooding subcommittee. Committee members said they preferred continuing the current technical work rather than pausing while the state bill (SB 180) is pending.

Ending: The committee took no independent formal action on LID at this meeting beyond noting the council adoption and asking staff to continue outreach and evaluation.