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Volusia Forever advisory committee approves resolution edits after debate over nominee language and appraisal rule changes
Summary
After discussion about removing the word "nominator" and adjusting notice and eligibility language, the Volusia Forever Advisory Committee voted to adopt staff-recommended updates to its resolution. Committee members and staff also discussed a separate state change that now requires appraisal sharing in some negotiations.
Volusia Forever Advisory Committee members voted Feb. 7 to approve a package of edits to the program's governing resolution that replace multiple uses of the word "nominator" with terms such as "submitter" or "person or organization which submitted the property" and otherwise clarify notification and eligibility language.
The changes narrow who is given eligibility materials and how nominated properties are described in the process. Committee staff and members said the edits are intended to produce consistent language across the document and to align local procedure with state-level practice. Tim Telfer, Volusia County staff, described the edits and the late additions provided to members the previous evening.
Committee members debated the wording for several minutes. Several members supported removing "nominator" to avoid duplicated terminology and to make clear that property owners and applicants receive site ranking criteria and notifications. Derek Lamontagne, appearing remotely, argued the committee should avoid language with negative connotations: "a lot of times people have told me that using the word submit is always a negative connotation term, so at least I just want to keep the language to be positive," he said.
Staff also flagged a separate state-related change affecting negotiations. Telfer explained that state practice now requires sharing appraisal information with property owners during negotiation, which reduces the local discretion to use appraisal averages as a threshold for council approval: "the state has went to sharing the appraisals with the ... It's not a May, it's a shall," Telfer said, arguing the change reduces the "art of the deal" and can put the county at a disadvantage in competing negotiations.
The committee approved the edited resolution by voice vote. The motion to accept the revised resolution was made by John Gamble and seconded by John Macaluso. Committee member Derek Lamontagne voted no; other members voted in favor by voice vote. Staff said the final mark-up will be circulated and the packet is scheduled for presentation to County Council in March as part of the program's regular update cycle.
The committee also asked staff to circulate the final redline that includes the late additions before the Council submittal so members can confirm the text. Staff said adopting the language now keeps the program on its historic schedule for Council presentation.
The committee's action amends the local Volusia Forever resolution (draft changes distributed 02/06/2025) and will be transmitted to County Council for final consideration on the County's schedule.
