Proposal to explore more driving on Volusia beaches halted for now, but it will be back

The discussion over whether to create more beach driving is over for now ― but will be back soon.

District 4 Councilman and Vice Chair Troy Kent pledged to raise the issue again when District 5 Councilman David Santiago is present ― he missed the meeting.

The vote was headed for a 3-3 split. A tie would have meant the issue would die.

The issue at hand, proposed by Chairman Jeff Brower, was to have county staff dig into the pros and cons of reopening driving on the beach from Auditorium Boulevard to International Speedway Boulevard in Daytona Beach.

The item would then come back for a full discussion, giving the council and stakeholders in the community time to mull the issue.

A main driver for the idea is to spark an economic revival in the nearby business community.

But a 3-3 split would have meant the issue failed by default, and the discussion would end.

But a councilman who is on the winning side of a vote can make a motion to reconsider a vote. Kent ― who voiced support for exploring the matter ― announced he would vote against Brower's proposal when he saw it was on the verge of failure. He voted "No" to be on the winning side and have the power to bring it up when Santiago was present.

"This is strictly a chess move," Kent said.

So the proposal to move the discussion forward failed 4-2, but Kent will bring it back again, he said.

At-Large Councilman Jake Johansson, District 3 Councilman Danny Robins and District 2 Councilman Matt Reinhart voted against having staff dig into the matter for further discussion.

District 1 Councilman Don Dempsey supported exploring the issue along with Brower.

Johansson said he didn't have much time to talk to people about the issue after it was placed on the agenda. He said he received many emails from hoteliers in opposition. He also questioned the timing of the decision. Restoring beach driving in that area would require action from the state.

"Maybe it isn't the right time to talk to the state about getting driving back on the beach when we have other things that are important that we need to discuss with the state and resolve," Johansson said. "I've seen that asking the state for too many things at once means you get none, so I'm a little conflicted right now on the timing of this."

Brower said a vote for the proposal on Tuesday would simply start the discussion.

Did the loss of beach driving 'devastate' area businesses?

The core issue on Tuesday night was whether the loss of beach driving in that stretch of beach prompted a major loss of business activity.

Tom Guest and Tom Caffrey, two leaders of the merchants association for the Main Street area, said losing beach driving had a big impact.

"The first year that driving was taken off the beach, the first summer, the Main Street merchants suffered a 50% loss in their business. That's how much it has hurt Main Street," Guest said, though he acknowledged that other factors have hurt businesses in the area.

Beach driving ended in that area in March of 2000 when 1,500 parking spaces became available at the Ocean Center, according to the county. The move was actually intended to support development in the area.

Main Street merchants approached Brower about getting the matter on the agenda.

Not everyone agreed on the cause of the blight.

Robins, a former Daytona Beach police officer, said there's more to the story.

Crime, vagrancy, a lack of special events and other factors have contributed to the area's decline.

"I will not bring my family through or to Daytona Beach without the scanner app on my phone to see what's going on," he said.

Politically motivated?

Robins also questioned whether Brower, who is running for re-election this year, brought up the issue because of political motivations.

He said that council members discussed the issue a couple of years ago, so the information was already available. He also said no vote was needed to have staff look into the issue and bring more details to the council.

"I think there's some political theater here. I think it was impeccably timed," Robins said.

Brower said the county attorney told him to get permission from the full council to have staff devote the time to dig into the issue.

Brower said when vehicular access was removed in that stretch of the beach, many businesses were lost.

"It's about making this section of the beach a destination again," he said.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Beach driving change gets 'no' vote; councilman vows to revive issue