DeLand Commission backs staff to pursue enclave annexations, with Parade Circle as pilot

The DeLand City Commission on May 5 directed staff to pursue enclave annexations aimed at squaring city boundaries and to begin a pilot with the Parade Circle industrial enclave, city planners said.

Planner Sam Nelson presented the annexation options and maps and told commissioners that, after research, “staff believes that pursuing the Parade Circle Enclave Annexation to square off the boundaries as kind of a pilot, just to see how things go.” The presentation covered three common annexation methods—voluntary (applicant-initiated) annexations, covenant-based utility annexations, and referendum annexations—and noted state changes that enlarged the allowable enclave size for streamlined annexations.

Why it matters: commissioners said enclaves create planning, service delivery and public-safety complications when pockets of county land sit inside the municipal boundary. Several commissioners argued that bringing contiguous parcels into city limits would reduce confusion over utilities, code…