Tomoka Reserve developers return with new plan for former Ormond Beach golf course
The Ormond Beach Planning Board on Thursday evening will review a new rezone request by developers of the controversial Tomoka Reserve project.
The developers, doing business as Triumph Oaks, are seeking to rezone the former golf course in the heart of the city's existing Tomoka Oaks community to a "Residential-2" designation.
The "low-density single family" R-2 zoning would allow Triumph Oaks to create a new 300-home gated residential subdivision called Tomoka Reserve.
Here's what to know if you plan to attend Thursday's meeting:
What time is the meeting and where will it be?
The Planning Board meeting begins at 6 p.m. at Tomoka Christian Church, 1450 Hand Ave., Ormond Beach.
Will it be first on the agenda?
No. The meeting will begin with administrative procedures, including the election of the Planning Board's chairperson and vice chairperson.
It will then consider two other proposed projects. The first is a request for approval of a preliminary plat of a planned 137-lot residential subdivision called Fountain View at the Plantation Oaks community along the east side of Interstate 95, north of U.S. Highway 1. The second is a preliminary plat request for a 180-lot townhome community called Bradford Park west of Plantation Oaks.
Tomoka Reserve is the third agenda item.
The meeting will conclude with public comments, where citizens can address the Planning Board for up to three minutes. Most are expected to weigh in on Tomoka Reserve.
Are the Planning Board's decisions binding?
No. The group is a volunteer citizens advisory board that makes recommendations to the City Commission which has final say in zoning and permitting matters.
Why are the developers back before the Planning Board?
The developers originally sought to develop 276 homes under a proposed Planned Residential Development agreement that they later reduced to 272 homes. That proposal would have included a 50-foot-wide natural landscape buffer around Tomoka Reserve's perimeter.
The Planning Board reviewed the project over the course of three meetings in July, August and September before unanimously voting to recommend its rejection.
The developers then took the matter directly to the City Commission at its meeting on Nov. 7.
After hearing pleas from impassioned residents of Tomoka Oaks calling for the project to either be rejected or scaled back, the City Commission remanded it back the Planning Board. The commission also urged the developers to come up with a new proposal that had less homes.
The developers subsequently announced their decision to withdraw their proposal. Instead, they now want to restore the former golf course's previous R-2 zoning, which it had prior to 2006. The original agreement with the city has since expired.
R-2 matches the zoning for Tomoka Oaks as well as other neighboring communities. It allows up to 4.3 housing units per acre.
What makes Tomoka Reserve different from its neighbors is that it's surrounded by the existing non-gated 547-home Tomoka Oaks community. Tomoka Oaks has homes dating back to the early 1960s when the now-closed Sam Snead signature golf course opened.
The former golf course property is also unusually shaped, similar to the outline of a butterfly.
How many homes are now being proposed?
An exact number has yet to be determined. R-2 zoning in theory could allow 635 homes on the 147.9 acre former Tomoka Oaks golf course. However, a 2006 city staff report estimated the actual number would be closer to 300 when factoring in lot size requirements as well as the need for new roads and stormwater retention ponds.
South Florida developer Sheldon Rubin is a partner in Triumph Oaks along with Ormond Beach real estate investors Ray Barshay and Carl Velie. Rubin on Nov. 22 sent a text to Jim Rose, a member of the Tomoka Oaks Homeowners Association, to clarify the developers' new objectives.
In his text, Rubin wrote, "The (proposed) density is not 317 (homes). It's between 303 and 300. Those numbers fit the size. I would have preferred the 272 units with the 50 foot buffer. We tried, but so be it. Accordingly, we will deal with the hand we have been dealt."
In announcing plans to seek R-2 zoning, the developers also stated their intention to now only provide a six-foot wide perimeter buffer between the homes at Tomoka Reserve and Tomoka Oaks.
"Adding 30 more homes (to the previously proposed 272) is not going to solve the traffic problem nor the density problem," said Rose. "It's just going to exacerbate things."
What are Tomoka Oaks residents calling for?
There is a split among Tomoka Oaks residents. The voluntary HOA wants a significant reduction in the number of homes allowed at Tomoka Reserve and for lots along the perimeter to be at least 100 feet wide to match the existing Tomoka Oaks homes abutting the former golf course.
Other Tomoka Oaks residents oppose the project outright. They want the property to either reopen as a golf course, be converted into a park or remain open space.
Those latter options would be extremely expensive: Rubin, Barshay and Velie paid $2.6 million to acquire the former golf course property in April 2021.
What's the city recommending?
The Ormond Beach Planning Development is recommending the R-2 zoning application to be denied.
"Rezoning the golf course land would eliminate the opportunity provided by (a new PRD agreement) to harmonize the challenges presented by the proposed development of the former golf course land that best satisfies the goals and objectives of the City's Comprehensive Plan and Land Development Code requirements," according to a staff report included in the agenda packet for Thursday's Planning Board meeting.
"The opinion of the City's Planning staff is that the existing PRD, Planned Residential Development zoning for the former golf course property should be preserved for the reasons stated in this staff report and based upon the unique characteristics of the property."
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Developers back with new rezone bid for former Tomoka Oaks golf course
