Consultants working on Deltona’s comprehensive plan summarized four public visioning workshops and introduced a draft vision statement and six guiding principles the city can use to shape future land-use policy, development standards and capital planning.

Jason Green and Cathy Voss presented a summary of public workshops held in June, August and October and the fall. The consultants said residents repeatedly asked for walkable mixed‑use centers, better multimodal connections, stronger park access and strategies for targeted redevelopment of underused parcels. The team presented a draft vision statement — referred to in the workshop as “Vision 2050” — and a set of guiding principles: family‑friendly housing, redevelopment, walkable mixed‑use design, a stronger local economy, multimodal transportation and protection of natural assets.

Commissioners generally endorsed the statement and the guiding principles and focused the discussion on how to implement the ideas. The consultants recommended that the commission treat master planning for a potential town‑center (referred to variously in discussion as downtown, town center or activity center) as part of the comprehensive‑plan work so policies, map changes and implementation tools align. The commission directed staff and consultants to add a specific, early workshop focused on town‑center scale, form and implementation; staff said it will revise the project schedule accordingly.

The consultants showed an illustrative urban transect for how a higher‑intensity center could transition to existing suburban neighborhoods and explained scale choices (typical 2–4 story mixed‑use buildings, block patterns, rear parking, increased pedestrian streets and public space). Commissioners asked for flexibility in terminology: several said “town center” might better reflect community expectations than “downtown.” Commissioners also asked staff to identify where the city already meets level‑of‑service standards for parks and where acquisition of small pocket parks could be prioritized.

Next steps: consultants will fold the town‑center/master‑plan discussion into the pending comprehensive‑plan timeline, provide a schedule of workshops clustered by related elements (future land use, housing, transportation, parks), and return with draft goals, objectives and policy language to implement the guiding principles. Staff and consultants will also prepare a clearer public outreach plan to ensure residents understand trade-offs such as density, building height, and infrastructure implications.