Volusia County chair seeks an opening in beach-driving debate
News-Journal editorial board
Last week, Volusia County Chair Jeff Brower brusquely rejected a request that seemed routine: Invited to speak to tourism officials in May at the Hard Rock Hotel Daytona Beach, he said he wouldn’t set foot in the property until Hard Rock owners agreed to “remove the poison poles on our beach and give Volusia residents our beach back.”
Brower was talking about the square wooden markers that have been driven in the sand to keep cars off a 410-foot length of beach. The “poison” addressed a chemical used to treat the wood – but we’re pretty sure that Brower had a different kind of poison in mind, one that restricts beach access via vehicle for any stretch of sand, no matter how small. He’s consistently said that beach driving is his top priority, and no populist leader would pass up a chance to make a gesture of defiance like this one.
2021/02/01 02:00 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Driving on the seaside sand, a long-lived tradition in Daytona Beach, is now threatened along one short stretch where poles are blocking any vehicles. The Hard Rock Hotel erected the poles along a 410-foot (124-meter) section of beach to prevent driving there. The chair of the Volusia County Council, Jeff Brower, has made beach driving a priority since his election in November. Driving is permitted on about a third of Volusia County s 47-mile (75-kilometer) coastline. It s been a part of the region since the early days of the automobile, when a car nicknamed the “Bullet” zipped down the hard-packed sand in 1903 at a then-astounding 69 miles (111 kilometers) an hour.
Volusia County Council votes in favor of oceanfront parking lotÂ
Beachside parking debate in Daytona Beach Shores
More off-beach parking is coming to Daytona Beach Shores. The Volusia County Council approved upgrades at Dahlia Avenue Park that includes using a vacant lot to add parking spots.
DAYTONA BEACH SHORES, Fla. - Beachgoers in Volusia County will soon have more parking options in Daytona Beach Shores despite some opposition.
In a 6-to-1 vote, the county council gave the go-ahead to an upgrade project at Dahlia Avenue Park, off A-1-A, in Daytona Beach Shores.
The upgrade would include merging the existing parking spots and the vacant lot next to it which is owned by the county.
A deal presented to the County Council Tuesday would have the county paying Holly Hill-based developer Parker Mynchenberg more than $1.3 million for a 36-acre parcel near the edge of his planned 1,577-home Plantation Oaks development. Private citizens approached Mynchenberg just as he was moving close to breaking ground on the project, with the developer planning to sign a contract with his builder today. Understandably, he wanted a purchase contract to be negotiated ASAP.
Unfortunately, county government can’t turn on a dime, let alone 136 million of them. Council members don’t have a source for this money; the most likely pot, the Volusia Forever fund recently re-approved by voters, doesn’t have its ground rules in place yet. Trying to raid those funds before they’re even authorized would fly directly in the face of promises made during the campaign to reauthorize Volusia Forever and its sister program, ECHO. Voters were told this money would be spent cautiously, with tran
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