Who we are
The
Ponce de Leon Inlet and Port District is an agency of Volusia County
government that primarily functions as the "local sponsor" for
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Federal Channel Works and Stabilization
Project at Ponce de Leon Inlet. As such, the Inlet & Port District
provides locally collected matching tax funds to the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers for dredging and jetty works projects aimed at maintaining a
safe, navigable access channel through Ponce de Leon Inlet to the Atlantic
Ocean.
The Inlet and Port District is governed by the Volusia County Council
as provided for by Volusia County’s Home Rule Charter. Under this
charter, the Inlet & Port District is operated as a
division of the Volusia County Airport & Port Services Department. The
geographic tax boundaries of the Inlet & Port District span roughly
the entire eastern half of Volusia from the Flagler to Brevard county
lines.

The
Inlet & Port District also maintains an advisory board of seven
volunteer citizens broadly representing commercial, recreational and
waterway related public interests within the district. This public board
provides programmatic and policy related recommendations to the Volusia
County Council on Inlet and Port District projects. Advisory board members are appointed by the County Council
and may serve up to three consecutive two-year terms. The advisory board
conducts public meetings throughout the year. Current Inlet and Port
District Advisory Board meeting schedules are available at the Inlet
and Port District offices at the Daytona Beach International
Airport.
As our mission statement reflects, the responsibilities of the Ponce de
Leon Inlet and Port District have been expanded beyond inlet management
to include activities such as:
- Waterway and beach-related public access facilities development
- Artificial reef construction
- Derelict vessel removal and
- Long-range beach erosion control.
These program interests and responsibilities span a wide variety of
inter-departmental and inter-agency boundaries, demanding that the Inlet &
Port District play a coastal zone management partnership role on a large
team of federal, state and local government agencies.