Planning board backs small-scale comp plan change to allow up to 120 homes at LPGA Golf Villas

The Daytona Beach Planning Board recommended approval Monday of a small-scale comprehensive plan amendment to change 36.5 acres at LPGA International from golf, office-transition and retail designations to Level 1 residential and add a policy capping development at 120 single-family lots.

Staff and the applicant framed the request as a reduction in theoretical development potential. Doug Terry, planning staff, told the board the amendment would change the future land use map for the property and that staff found the change “consistent with the comprehensive plan” and not representative of urban sprawl. He said the amendment would reduce the site's potential water and sewer demand and lower projected traffic compared with the current land-use designations.

The property currently carries a mix of future-land-use designations that, combined, could allow a substantially higher intensity of development; staff's analysis compared that maximum theoretical capacity with the applicant's proposal. The applicant's attorney, Rob Merrill of Cobb Cole, and project consultants said the proposal replaces the theoretical maximum of hundreds of dwelling units with a single policy-limited entitlement of 120 single-family lots. Merrill summarized the change as "mathematical, not debatable," adding the amendment is intended to align the future-land-use designation with existing single-family zoning on the site and to add a site-specific text policy that limits units to 120.

Engineering and planning consultants presented additional details the board and several residents pressed the project team to clarify. Traffic consultant Matthew West said the current mix of office and retail uses on parts of the site, at a floor-area ratio of 3.0, could generate tens of thousands of daily trips under the present designations; he said the proposed 120 single-family units would drop projected daily trips to roughly 1,200 and PM peak trips to about 118. Land-planning consultant Parker Mitchenberg described several plan iterations and the removal of townhomes and a public park in response to neighborhood meetings.

Speakers from several LPGA-area neighborhoods opposed changing the golf course land, citing tree cover, wildlife and recurring flooding and traffic congestion along LPGA Boulevard. Multiple residents said they had experienced flooding in recent years and urged the board to delay or deny the change until more infrastructure—particularly bridge and road improvements—are in place. Several speakers asked the city to require larger lots and fewer total units to reduce traffic and runoff concerns.

Board members asked staff and the applicant clarifying questions about the difference between zoning and future land use, potential traffic mitigation and how the applicant's 2—2'-1/2-year delay to first certificate of occupancy (written in the PD package) would relate to county and DOT projects. Parker Mitchenberg and Matthew West said stormwater and utility demands must be reviewed at the engineering and site-plan stage and that the city's utility capacity and entitlement review would apply before building permits are issued.

After public comment and discussion, the board voted to recommend approval by a unanimous roll call. The item was scheduled to move to the City Commission for first reading on March 5 and second reading on March 19.

What happens next: The Planning Board's recommendation advances the amendment to the City Commission. If commissioners deny the amendment, the existing future-land-use designations would remain; if commissioners approve, the new Level 1 residential designation and the site-specific policy limiting units to 120 would replace the golf/office/retail designations on the city's future land-use map.

Votes at the meeting: The Planning Board voted unanimously to recommend approval of the small-scale comprehensive plan amendment (SSCPA DEV2022-094) by roll call (6-0).