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What You Need to Know About Florida Today

by Matt Nelson
MONDAY, DEC. 28, 2009

VOLUSIA:
State Advises County to Kill Massive Growth Plan

State officials scooted under a legal deadline on Christmas Eve, delivering a bah humbug message to a request from Volusia County and the Miami Corp. The Florida Department of Community Affairs, the state's chief planning agency, filled 13 pages with reasons why the Volusia County Council should not change the county's long-term comprehensive plan and allow a massive development the company proposed. The Chicago-based family land trust owns 59,000 acres straddling the Volusia/Brevard county line. It wants both counties to approve a 50-year plan that calls for more than 29,000 homes and 4 million square feet of commercial and retail development. Called Farmton-Greenkey, the plan would set aside more than 30,000 acres of land in permanent conservation. [Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal]