Charter Review Commission

Comments made by Andy Baker, Edgewater
at the New Smyrna Beach listening session Aug. 29

As you requested, I am sending you a copy of my remarks to the County
Council Charter Committee.  I made these suggestions and observations (with
the help of several cell phone ring interruptions) at the meeting the
Committee had at the Brannon Center in New Smyrna Beach on September 29,
2005.  I had to search long and hard to find your e-mail address on the
Volusia County web site.  Although probably not addressed in the Charter.

I'd suggest the site we rebuilt to make it easier to navigate and contact
information be made easier to find.

My comments and some additional thoughts follow:

Thank you for this chance to speak with you. That said, I'd like to suggest the following for the County Charter:

First, I, like many Volusia County residents, and Floridians, are concerned about unmanaged growth.  Condos and homes are springing up everywhere.  These new buildings and residents are straining already fraying resources.  Water, electricity, sewer and other utilities are near the breaking point of their capacity. 

I understand those new residences and property development results in increased tax revenue for the cities these projects are built in, and the county.  But it seems the additional revenue is soon absorbed by the costs of these projects.  Water, power and sewer infrastructure has to be built, and of course the roads and residents have to absorb and deal with the extra traffic.

I propose that the charter be written to reflect the following; that no new roads will be built with County dollars. The only road and highway spending by the County will be for the improvement of existing roads. If the need of such improvements is caused by additional development, those developers pay for the improvements.  Include a clause to make this retroactive on future construction.  If a number of businesses and housing and or condo developments are built, and traffic to and from these, results in roads and county utilities needing to be improved, then those developers will pay the cost of the needed improvements caused by their constructions.

The result?  Developers will think twice about building in the middle of nowhere assuming the county will pick up the tab for roads, water, sewage, etc.  This may also help to keep some of what's left of the pristine beauty of Volusia County intact for future generations.

Seconds, road construction itself.  I have seen several projects that tie up miles and miles of road that take what seems forever to finish.  I suggest that when road improvement is needed that the contractor be limited to working on 2 miles of road at a time where the speed limit is 45 mph or less and 5 miles at a time where the speed limit is over 45 mph.  And that the project must be finished within 3 months per mile.  This would reduce the inconvenience to drivers and get the job done within a reasonable time. 

I offer the Nova Road project as an example of why these requirements should be made
Of course, there would have to be room for exceptions, but the exception to the rule would only be made in extreme conditions. 

I realize the idea of controlling development will reduce the future income of the County.  But personally, I've seen no major improvement to my life here thanks to development.  Perhaps the Nova Road widening, but it took them almost five years of traffic snarls and hundreds of orange barrels.  I wish I had stock in the Orange barrel company.  I'd make a million on what's in Florida alone.

If I am going to deal with increased residents, traffic and construction, I'd like to get something out of it.  The county is going to grow, no doubt about it.  But the County, its Commissioners, and the County Charter should reflect and protect the current residents rather than putting them second to new residents and new construction.  There are more people on the road, traffic is bad, and we're still paying an additional 6 cents per gallon for gasoline which is being used to improve roads due to out of control development.  I say again, if the developers want to clog our roads with more citizens, let them pay the cost of it.

Thanks so much for listening to my thoughts. I realize the general idea of controlling growth and passing the costs of this growth on to those causing it won't be placed verbatim in the charter.  But I hope the general ideas will be considered.

I mentioned that I had other thoughts, and I include them below:

I understand that the construction of County schools can only be made based
on current enrolment.  I don't know if this restriction is based on County or State law, but if it is a County policy, I believe the Charter ought to call for schools to be built on projected population and student increases. As is, by the time a school is built, they are already ordering portables for additional student the school is required to serve.  If a school is going to be built, it seems it would be less expensive to build a larger one, than to start from scratch and build more schools to serve the additional students.

As one speaker noted, we are educating students who, once they graduate,
move out of Volusia County to get well paying jobs.  As it stands now, Volusia County is a tourism / retirement community.  Jobs here are service jobs.  We have no industry to speak of.  What can be done to draw high paying jobs?  It's hard to say.  The desire to attract large industry has to be weighed against the desire to not pollute the environment and save the clean beaches, lakes and rivers, and wilderness that attract visitors.

Perhaps an auto plant with the parts and pieces brought in by rail, or even an oil refinery.  Yes, they have smoke and flame but with current environmental regulations, they are pretty clean, and would create well paying jobs and might even help reduce gas prices.

The Charter should reflect the idea that if you build on the beach, which might wash away at any time, or in the wetlands which are going to flood, you're on your own if these happen.  The idea of A Joe Citizen's tax dollars being used to salvage someone's trailer that floats off a flood in *The Wetlands* or someone's million dollar condo built on the high tide line which is washed away in a hurricane, needs to be addressed.

Lastly, as a working person,  I expect my employer to raise my salary once in a while so I can keep up with the rising costs of things.  Just as the costs of operating my home go up, so does the cost of operating the County.

I have no objection to the County getting a raise to keep up with the costs of things by raising taxes in a reasonable manner.

Thanks for listening and reading my rant.  I hope it has some effect on keeping life in Volusia County as nice as it has and can be. 

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