DeBary says Spring Vista school would violate city plan; issues cease-and-desist to Volusia schools

The City Manager of DeBary said April 28, 2025, that the City of DeBary has issued a cease-and-desist letter demanding that Volusia County Schools stop designing, engineering or constructing a school at the Spring Vista site because doing so would violate a statutorily required interlocal agreement and the city's comprehensive plan.

The move follows a Jan. 15, 2025, quasi-judicial hearing in which the City of DeBary's City Council, the manager said, determined the Spring Vista site was inconsistent with the city's comprehensive plan. Despite that finding, the Volusia County School Board voted 4-1 on April 22, 2025, to purchase the Spring Vista property for $8,400,000 and, according to the City Manager, has begun design and engineering work.

The city's position, as stated at a city press conference by the City Manager and announced by Carmen Rosamunda, Information Officer for the City of DeBary, is that the council's January decision is final because the school board did not file a circuit-court appeal within the 30-day period described in state law. "Trying to build a school on this site will violate our statutorily required interlocal agreement and Florida law concerning the city's comprehensive plan," the City Manager said.

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