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DeLand planning staff report: population and permit activity up; intern presents updated development metrics
Summary
A City of DeLand planning intern presented an updated development trends report showing steady population growth, an increase in commercial permit value, improving labor-market indicators and a modest decline in median home price; staff noted major projects and a pending code update and public survey.
Tyler, a summer planning intern for the City of DeLand, presented the department’s updated development trends report, which showed steady population growth, rising commercial permit value and improving local employment indicators while noting modest softening in home sale prices.
Tyler told the planning board that average annual population growth rates have accelerated: "Since 1990, average growth has been 2.82%. The average growth rate since 2000 has been about 3.02%. Since 02/2010, it has been about 3.27%," and the department projects a year-end population near 44,871 based on available building and certificate-of-occupancy data.
The presentation summarized recent permit and construction activity. For residential construction, Tyler reported a small decrease in permit counts from 2023 to 2024 but an increase in total permit value. First-quarter 2024 residential permit activity was 85 permits with a total value of $33,938,195. Certificates of occupancy from April 2023 to April 2024 totaled 828 housing units, which the presenter summarized as roughly 640 single-family (including two-family and mobile homes) and 180 multifamily units. On commercial construction, staff reported a sizable increase in total permit value year over year (an increase the presentation quantified as about $103,000,000) and 163 total annual commercial permits for 2024; the city recorded 45 commercial permits in the most recent quarter valued at about $8,039,731.
On employment, the report showed unemployment declining from 6.2% in 2021 to 4.1% in 2024 and a steady rise in the labor force. Housing-market indicators included a median sale price of about $358,000 (about $108 per square foot) and a median days on market near 62 days; Tyler said median sale prices were down about 5.9% year over year while rents had increased roughly 0.7%.
Tyler also pointed to several notable developments either built or in progress: a freestanding emergency room south of DeLand near the Publix, expansion of the African American Arts Museum, a rebuilt Holy Tower at Stetson, a Stetson residential hall, and work at the Stinson Building and the north end of town that includes a Starbucks. Staff said a city code update (linked from the Planning Department landing page) and an online survey are live; the presenter urged board members to review the survey materials.
Board members asked whether the commercial permit-value increase reflected a single large project or many smaller projects. Tyler and staff said they did not identify one single large project that explained the jump and that permit counts appear to reflect broad activity across multiple projects, though board members and staff referenced the Stinson Building and the emergency room as contributors.
The presentation was informational; no formal vote was required. Staff noted the data will inform upcoming work including the code update and continued planning for annexation and planned development cases.
