Volusia County

The Orlando Sentinel recently ran an article about land development plans in untouched Volusia County. This isn’t going to be a few subdivisions, but an entire city of up to 23,000 housing units named Farmton.  These plans are being proposed by Miami Corp, a Chicago based company founded by the family who once owned Miami’s Vizcaya.  The major conflict is a compromise between conservation and development.  Add the element of a pending vote that would change how voters reject or approve land use changes in the Florida Hometown Democracy constitutional amendment in 2010 and you have one complicated conundrum.

The development is still in it’s infancy and has to pass numerous reviews at the local and state level.  Miami Corp’s lawyer Glenn Storch estimated it would take 50 years to complete the project.  Developing Volusia isn’t all about just making more strip malls and subdivisions, in fact that’s the exact opposite of what Miami Corp wants..  The developers have taken the liberty to include several green measures such as:  solar panels, native vegetation, a prohibition on septic tanks, irrigation with potable water and a naturalist on site during consturction.  Further to consider is the affect this will have on the wildlife of the region.  It is speculated that the endangered Florida Panther may use this area to travel and Volusia is the residence of snowy and great egrets and Florida black bears.  Keeping with the green movement that has currently overtaken Florida is going to be a monumental task over the course of this project.

Creating the identity of Farmton will be as difficult as constructing the city itself.  Miami Corp wants to stay consistent with their conservative approach to the environment, but that idea is compromised by the act of removing trees and manipulating the land to build more homes.  This is a delicate balance between profit and sustainability.  Their first land proposal isn’t up for review until June, so hopefully then we’ll have a better idea of what their vision is.