FARMTON:
"The fastest way to make Voluisia County look just
like Miami, Ft Lauderdale,
Hollywood and West Palm, crime rates, traffic and pot holes,
included..."
Then, check
out
the map and do some reading: |
 Did anyone else
notice that the Farmton tract is large enough to swallow NSB,
Edgewater, Oak Hill, Samsula and half of Port Orange?
This
will permanently change the face of Volusia county and turn it into
another Dade or Broward county (without most of the direct beach
access). But you can bet we WILL get more of the crime, more taxes, and
horrible traffic as well as the rest of the ailments that go with such
a huge development.
There
is always some moron at the county council meeting to stand up and say
"how wonderful" it will be, only they are usually retired and will be
dead by the time it gets here, of they are somehow connected to the
developer or a shoe-in for one of the subcontractors, and they usually
don't have any children to worry about (or they live in another state).
If you have ever driven across Maytown road,
you
got a mini-education and you now know what "wet lands" are. The
marsh lands, the "watering holes," the estuaries, ponds, streams and
mudflats that feed the St. Johns run all along the south and west
sections of the Farmton tract. I also read where the experts think
we are now down to less than 50 Florida Panthers left in the wild, and
I suspect Farmton is perfect area for them, but I won't lie - I
am not sure. But I do know that if we stick 25,000 homes in there and
all that goes with it, there will be less of all "wild" creatures.
Before
you know it, Maytown Road is another eight lane nightmare with
strip-malls and Big Box stores and millions of dollars of advertising
is pumped into the North, Northeast and Midwest telling recent retirees
that this is the place to move... About the only thing we will be short
on is the new morgue for the bodies as they stack up.
To
those residents that claim you want this growth and say it is a good
thing, why did you move here? Or if born here, why do you stay?
Moving is not difficult. You can easily move to Orlando or Ft.
Lauderdale, or even Dual county (Jacksonville) if you want to live in a
crowded "Big City."
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Before
FARMTON came RESTORATION...
(see the above map)
We know that Edgewater
can't remain as small as it once
was (although
many of us wish it could),
but we
also see that some very major growth
has been undertaken, and more is planned, and all of it
in just the last few years. Read the information below and
get up to speed on what is coming your way:
- Did you know that there are plans to put 8,500 new
residences into a new development stretches from SR-442 most of the
way up to SR-44
and west several miles, and it has
already been annexed into the city of Edgewater? The
development is known as "Restoration"
and
is
being
built in 3 phases.
- ECARD and a single city resident (as the "spearhead")
have
"intervened" with the the Developer, the City and FL State DCA to
attempt to STOP this development. A development this size and location
is not good for Edgewater or southern Volusia county. It is not good
for a variety of reasons.
- The first phase
builds 8500 residences which takes the current use of our city's water
allowance up to 100%.
St. Johns Water Management District sets the total water allowance and
they
are the final authority when it comes to how much water a city may pump
out of the aquifer (geological formation containing or conducting
ground water, esp. one that supplies the water for wells, springs,
etc.).
- By law you may eventually be forced to remove your
old 3.0 gallon and not-so-old 1.6 gallon flush toilets and replace them
with the newer 1.25 gallon models just to ensure we have enough water
if any of the other thousands of already approved development areas in
Edgewater are built out. This is because there is no more water for
Edgewater unless we go to Desalination, a process of removing the salt
and
impurities from ocean water which is a VERY expensive proposition. A
$50 water bill could easily reach $250/month paying for desalinated
water (it used a lot of energy). Or, maybe we can do what they do
in the desert and replace our
lawns (the grass) with rocks
painted green, but that is is not very
appealing to anyone (is it?).
- The development is west of I-95 north of 442
practically over top of our main water wells west of I-95, and our
complaints did get them to promise
to
keep
1000
feet away with buildings and places where poisons and
fertilizers may be applied.
- We home and business owners here in Edgewater, we
will help pick up the tab for much of the
required
expansion of city services, and a host of other
things. That is a simple fact. Edgewater is already the second highest
tax authority in the county, and that will not be going down any time
soon.
- Did you know that our current city government talked
about moving City Hall and other services out west of I-95 into the
"shiny, new" area? I am sure the developer will give us a few
acres for that.
- This development also includes THREE
MILLION
square feet of commercial space? (A mall? A "Big Box
Nightmare" maybe? 50 strip malls each with its own pawn shop? Who
knows what it will become - it has not been rented yet.)
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If this DOUBLING of the size of our town goes through,
here
is
what
we
predict will happen from looking at all
of the other towns up and down the coast where this has happened.
History is always the best predictor of the future, and
it is as close to "PROOF" as anyone can get:
- The US 1 corridor through Edgewater will look very
similar
to that of our neighbors to the north and the south. Go take a ride up
through the towns up north of here (Ormond beach, Holly Hill, Daytona)
and see what
happens to US-1 when development starts to sprawl out west of the "old"
downtown areas. The US-1 corridor is left to rot and your tax dollars
end up
going into the new area as soon as the developers leave (and run for
cover).
- We will be the "old part of town" and pretty much
forgotten (as far as tax dollars are concerned).
- Homeless and vagrant populations will grow in the
"old" part of town
much faster than they have in the past (as they
have everywhere else this happens).
- Our taxes will be spent on the required "expansion of
services" for the "new" part of town (like the new city hall they are
talking about) and no longer on infrastructure and maintenance for
us.Watch the future budgets and see
for yourself (we will).
- We will need more schools (unless the place is turned
into a
"Senior's Only" development). At the price of $65
million
for a new High School, and $25 million for an Elementary school it is
going to be VERY expensive for us tax payers (But don't worry, I
am
sure they will donate "some land").
- Property values will decline even more in the "old"
part of
town (if that is even possible, at this point).
- Permanent and very restrictive water rationing will
take effect. Remember, green rocks for your lawn are always an option...
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CITIZEN EDUCATION (information
on various topics)
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We will be adding
document here to explain the new development, and also actions taken by
ECARD to attempt to stop this unneeded sprawl. We have to do some
scanning first because we need to get the documents into a compatible
format. They are on "Dead Trees" right now.
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| Animal Welfare 101 |
Just what it sounds
like - A page that delves animals and housing developments and problems
they cause. On a side not, we are down from 80 to only 50 Florida
Panthers left alive in the wild. It looks like nature is losing this
one.
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Still Under Development!
(But unlike other types of "developments," no taxes were
raised and no animals were killed...)
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