After the meeting at Daytona Grande in regards to the Silver Beach Hotel/Condo project, Hometown news reached outto me for comment. Here is what I wrote and what I plan on reading at the next planning board meeting.
Good Morning Charles,
Thanks so much for reaching out. It’s great to have a writer such as yourself so engaged in things that really matter to this community. We, the community, appreciate your work greatly.
Regarding the Silver Beach project and the recent neighborhood meeting there is so very much to say. I was not surprised of course that the meeting was held in such a difficult place for local citizens FROM the neighborhood to access. Also, I find it amusing that It was held in a location famously ridiculed for being such a nightmare project for the citizens here historically. In addition this is one of THREE neighborhood meetings that Cobb Cole and Rob Merril will be holding over 6 days. When the owners purchased these properties they knew the zoning and building requirements. It seems like Cobb Cole and Mr. Merril would rezone the entirety of Daytona Beach until it was unrecognizable. It already is becoming that way to me. "Welcome to this months planning board meeting brought to you by Cobb Cole. Starring Rob Merril”. I mean come on. They all get paid while we all sacrifice our work and/or very little time off to come and protest unreasonable proposals.
I understand that many of the standards that have been set to protect our beach are being blatantly ignored by county and state officials too (where are the turtle people?!) as waves smash against, and sand erodes under the seawalls they are currently building in real time. Just because it is not our city’s responsibility to manage the beach doesn’t mean we shouldn’t consider it in the equation when recommending new construction adjacent to it! We should all be good stewards of our most precious resource.
As for the presentation, most of that was also expected. They did change quite a bit with a brand new building design but it did not address the main concerns of the public. The renderings showed were manipulated by the graphic designer to a point where the plans they presented were borderline fiction, on an imaginary piece of land, with and imaginary beach and even casting imaginary shadows. They have been focusing on setbacks that they still need a special exception for based on their new design. Without those set backs, even the measly 30 foot reduction in hight from the previous design, would make THIS project design unbuildable. In fact if they build according to zoning as is that would really solve most of the public outcry. It would essentially limit the building to approx. 200 feet. That is STILL too high in my opinion as I live next to a building of about that size right now, however it is within the code parameters. It literally steals 3 hours of sun from me every day, and it steals it for longer on the beach, now especially since we have lost so much. People come here FOR the beach. They don’t come here FOR the hotels. The buildings here should reflect that. I read an article this morning about the meeting. The owner of the property said “Hopefully, we'll get to the point where we can build something that people can look up to and say it was worth the fight.” This shows that he’s not getting it. We don’t want to look up to anything. We want him to build something under the standards set by our community and not something that belongs in a big city. That’s not who we are, or who we in the community, want to be.
There were also comments made in this about how it will “lift up” our community. Consider the source. A realtor who wants to sell expensive property to people who may use it as an airbnb or who may come to visit one week out of the year. Not surprising as in my first interaction with Mr. Merril he mentioned the “quality citizens” his projects would bring to Daytona. It will not. It will cast a shadow far beyond what the eye can see as we drive our most precious resource, our beach and surrounding ecosystem, beyond a point of no return.
I could go on for days really but I will close with this... We cannot continue to build in the manner we have been over the past decades. It is careless and even reckless to do so. The profit of real estate developers and realtors should not be prioritized over the Health, Safety, Well Being and Quality of Life for the current residents and taxpaying citizens of Daytona Beach. We should not have to compromise for their profit. I and many others will continue to do everything in our power to stop this madness.
Thanks for listening Charles, Keep up the Great Work.
Best Regards,
Gus
Fantastic writing!!!