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DeBary council adopts second‑reading ordinance to study sanitary‑sewer feasibility for older subdivisions
Summary
The City Council unanimously adopted Ordinance O‑8‑20‑24 on second reading to add a comprehensive‑plan objective requiring a 10‑year feasibility analysis of providing sanitary sewer to certain existing residential developments meeting a 50‑lot threshold; staff said the change is analysis‑only and carries no immediate infrastructure obligation.
The City of DeBary City Council unanimously approved the second reading of Ordinance O‑8‑20‑24 to add objective 7B.4 and related policies to the comprehensive plan’s public‑facilities element, requiring the city to analyze the feasibility of providing sanitary sewer services within a 10‑year planning horizon to residential developments that meet the ordinance’s thresholds.
Growth Management Director Stephen Babb told the council the measure responds to a July 2024 state law and that staff’s recommended amendment is “analysis only,” not a directive to install new infrastructure or to commit local funds. “The proposed ordinance will not have any effect on infrastructure as it is an analysis only and does not require us to install said services,” Babb said.
Babb said staff coordinated the draft with Volusia County (the local water and sewer provider) before the first reading and that state review agencies returned no objections after transmission. He added that if the council adopts the ordinance tonight, staff will transmit the action to the state Department of Commerce and the ordinance will take effect 31 days after that transmittal.
There was no public comment at the hearing, and council members recorded no questions on the ordinance’s second reading. A motion to adopt the ordinance passed with all council members voting yes.
Why this matters: The amendment sets a formal, plan‑level process to study whether sewer service can or should be extended to older subdivisions with multiple on‑site sewage systems. Because the change is limited to feasibility analysis, it does not itself authorize construction, change utility ownership, or obligate local funding.
Next steps: Staff will transmit the adopted ordinance to the state for administrative processing; any future construction or funding decisions would require separate council approvals and, if necessary, intergovernmental agreements with Volusia County.
