The New Smyrna Beach City Commission will consider adopting an ordinance Tuesday night to temporarily halt new development in part of its Venetian Bay neighborhood.
The ordinance was prompted by severe flooding problems in the area.
At a March 26 meeting, some Venetian Bay residents said they were tired of the flooding, that they’re sometimes stuck inside their homes for days, unable to drive in or out, waiting for waters to recede.
Assistant City Manager Ron Neibert said flooding happens after almost any heavy rain.
“We've been experiencing some extraordinary flooding in these areas, just based on typical three-to-four-inch rainstorms,” Neibert said. “It's just been an inconvenience for the community in flooding driveways and flooding the street, stopping some traffic from flowing into the area.”
The city has determined the issue is limited to an area of the neighborhood known as Portofino Gardens, which has its own stormwater system. This system discharges into a drainage canal that flows north along Airport Road before entering Spruce Creek.
Last October, the St. Johns River Water Management District issued a warning to the community. The Venetian Bay Homeowners Association and the Portofino Gardens Homeowners Association then submitted two separate engineering reports showing that the area’s stormwater system is indeed not functioning as designed and permitted.
Neibert said the moratorium on new development buys the city some time to analyze the facts.
“We're doing some computer modeling on the system. We believe it's one of two things: One, either there was a design or construction error in the system, or there's been a lack of maintenance that's causing it to malfunction at this point,” Neibert said. “It's not necessarily caused by development — if designed correctly, the stormwater should be handled.”
According to Neibert and city documents, the moratorium on development is technically already in place. It was approved as an emergency measure back in February. Tuesday’s public hearing will merely codify it, while allowing the people a chance to be heard.
The ordinance prevents multifamily residential buildings and commercial development. Single family unit proposals are not affected by the moratorium.
If the ordinance is adopted, the city will have until June 25 to address the issue before the moratorium expires.
Lillian Hernández Caraballo is a Report for America corps member.
