Volusia County Council favors public–private partnership for Bennett sports complex; staff to pursue partners and return cost proposal

The Volusia County Council voted Jan. 9 to direct staff to pursue a public–private partnership (P3) approach to develop the Bennett sports-complex site after reviewing a concept plan and a phased option that ranged up to about $39 million for a full, tournament-scale complex.

Parks Director Tim Bailey and consultants presented a concept showing four turf multipurpose fields, two natural rectangular fields (phase 1) and an additional eight diamonds and ancillary facilities (phase 2) on county-owned land near Bennett. Staff flagged several funding mixes including Echo-authorized bonds, naming rights, legislative grants, city partnerships and private investment. The presentation noted that a pedestrian bridge or underpass across Veterans Memorial Highway would add $2–5 million to site costs if the county chose anything other than a crosswalk for safe field-to-field movement.

Bailey summarized four development models: (1) county-developed and -operated; (2) county-developed with private operation and maintenance; (3) county–city partnership (examples included Deltona and DeBary proposals for complementary city-owned sites); and (4) a P3/hybrid model with a sports-development management entity packaging fields, hotels and commercial development as an economic engine.

After questions from council about hotel rooms, field types (natural grass or turf), BMX and operating-subsidy sources, Councilman Danny Robbins moved to direct staff to pursue a Model 4 public–private partnership and to bring back a competitive procurement and capital-stack proposal. Councilman David Santiago seconded. The motion passed 5–2. Councilmembers who voted in favor cited the potential to combine private investment, hotel development and naming rights to make a facility that both meets local play demand and supports tourism. Dissenting councilmembers said they preferred a smaller-scale (county-developed) approach focused on West Volusia recreational needs rather than a larger economic-development package.

Why this matters: Council concluded the Bennett site could meet a growing west-side demand for fields while also serving as an economic-development anchor if paired with private investment and hotels. The P3 model would shift some capital and operating risk to private partners but requires a detailed capital stack and binding agreements for public interest protections.

Next steps: Staff will issue a request for qualifications/proposals or similar competitive process to identify P3 partners, produce a detailed capital stack showing public and private commitments, and return to council with options, financial pro formas, hotel/room-night impact modeling and estimated public subsidy or ongoing operating requirements.