Council declines countywide moratorium, directs staff to fast-track stormwater rules and basin studies

Volusia County Council voted 7-0 on Jan. 14 to not impose a countywide moratorium on development and instead directed county staff to bring back ordinances and technical recommendations aimed at reducing future flood risk. The council’s action follows several hours of technical presentations from county engineers and planners and nearly three hours of public testimony from residents, builders and environmental groups.

The decision came after Public Works Director Ben Bartlett and Clay Urban, the county’s director of Growth and Resource Management, outlined why the county has seen more extensive flooding in recent years and what measures staff recommends to reduce risk. Bartlett said the county has funded nearly $8,000,000 in watershed and basin analysis and that the studies will point to targeted capital projects such as additional storage, pump stations and acquisition-and-demolition when areas are deemed indefensible. “We’re here today to discuss a countywide moratorium on development,” Bartlett told the council in his opening remarks; he then summarized how higher annual rainfall, extreme single‑storm totals and elevated groundwater are interacting with local topography and stormwater systems.

Urban framed the county’s regulatory tools and said staff has already advanced two workstreams: (1) a set of low‑impact development (LID) ordinances and (2) technical updates to county stormwater review (chapter 72) and to the countywide minimum standards (chapter 50). “Two years ago you gave staff direction to come up with low impact development standards,” Urban said. He said the LID and chapter‑72 proposals had passed advisory review and were pending formal hearings; staff proposed a tentative Feb. 11 date to present LID and chapter‑72 measures to the council for initial consideration.

County attorney Paolo Soria summarized the legal limits on a county‑imposed moratorium. Soria told the council that while a county can impose moratoria in unincorporated areas that it controls, its charter does not give the county authority to impose a moratorium across incorporated municipalities. He also warned that moratoria must be narrowly tailored and that Florida’s Bert J. Harris Property Rights Act can give rise to claims if temporary development restrictions exceed about a year in duration. “A moratorium is a pause in the processing, acceptance or issuance of orders, permits, comprehensive plan changes,” Soria said in his legal overview, then walked the council through constitutional and charter constraints.

Why it mattered: the council heard extensive accounts from homeowners whose houses flooded repeatedly during Tropical Storms Ian (2022) and Milton (2024). Staff emphasized the technical variety of causes — closed basins that have no outfall, tide‑driven tailwater conditions on east‑side canals, damaged or undersized pond berms, and development that raises adjacent lot grades — and urged a mix of short‑ and long‑term responses. Bartlett and Urban said there will be no single fix: some places will be best served by capital projects (more storage or pumps); others by voluntary acquisitions; and some by stricter design requirements on future development.

Council action and next steps: instead of pausing all permitting, the council approved a motion to direct staff to return draft ordinance language and policy recommendations to the council that would implement the technical changes recommended by advisory committees and staff. The council asked staff to prioritize the LID package and chapter 72 technical amendments and to present them at a Feb. 11 meeting so the council can consider ordinance language and next steps. Council members also asked staff to accelerate basin‑level studies already funded by the county and to pursue acquisition options where engineering solutions are not cost‑effective.

Selected details and staff recommendations: Bartlett and Urban emphasized several technical points staff will bring back in ordinance form and supporting materials: - Storm design standards and flood‑event benchmarks: county staff noted that many stormwater systems are designed to an 8‑inch (25‑year, 24‑hour) or 11‑inch (100‑year, 24‑hour / closed basin) event, but recent local storms have exceeded those levels, producing overtopping and some pond failures. - Tailwater and tide influence: high tides and river stage can convert otherwise free‑flowing outfalls into temporary closed basins, slowing drainage and lengthening flood duration on the east side of the county. - Pond siting and construction: staff cited recent catastrophic berm failures and recommended more conservative siting, added geotechnical borings, higher freeboard or reinforced berms, and overflow weirs to ensure controlled rather than catastrophic failure modes. - Low‑impact development: staff proposed mandatory LID practices for new development that better retain and infiltrate runoff on site and reduce the velocity and volume of runoff reaching downstream systems. - Basin studies and acquisition: the council has funded watershed and basin analyses intended to identify where engineered projects are cost‑effective and where acquisition and demolition of ‘indefensible’ parcels are preferable.

What the vote means: Council members argued both sides during the debate. Supporters of a moratorium said a pause would prevent additional development from worsening downstream flooding while rules are changed; opponents said a county‑wide moratorium would bring economic harm, displace construction jobs and would not be legally enforceable within the county’s municipalities. The council’s 7‑0 vote to ask staff to draft ordinance language and return with code updates reflects a preference for regulatory change rather than an across‑the‑board stop to development.

Quotes (from meeting transcript): "We’re here today to discuss a countywide moratorium on development," Ben Bartlett, Public Works Director. "A moratorium is a pause in the processing, acceptance or issuance of orders, permits, comprehensive plan changes," Paolo Soria, Senior Assistant County Attorney. "Two years ago you gave staff direction to come up with low impact development standards," Clay Urban, Director of Growth and Resource Management.

Ending: The council gave staff an explicit direction — prioritize LID, finish chapter‑72 updates and return draft ordinance language for council review in February — while also asking staff to accelerate basin studies and to identify acquisition candidates where engineering solutions appear infeasible. Staff told the council the next public milestones are a Feb. 11 meeting to review LID and chapter‑72 proposals and continued basin analyses that will guide capital programming and targeted acquisitions. The council’s action shifts the focus from a pause in permitting to a schedule of technical, legal and regulatory changes intended to reduce flood risk without a county‑wide shutdown of construction.