April 12, 2025 • 25 mins
Flooding has become a defining challenge for Port Orange and surrounding Volusia County communities, especially in areas built before modern stormwater regulations existed. This episode dives into the recently unveiled $120 million stormwater management plan featuring nine major projects designed to protect approximately 700 homes throughout the region.
We explore how Port Orange grew from just 3,000 residents in the 1970s to 18,000 in the 1980s, with 54% of buildings constructed before stormwater regulations were established in 1990. These older neighborhoods, particularly east of Nova Road in what locals call "the old city," now bear the brunt of regional water flow problems.
Beyond the engineering aspects, we discuss the human element of this crisis - how community organizations are developing "Neighbors Helping Neighbors" programs to build resilience networks, and how residents whose homes aren't included in the major projects can pursue options through programs like Elevate Florida. The evolving relationship between affected residents and city officials shows promising signs of cooperation after months of frustration.
Whether you're directly affected by flooding or simply concerned about your community's future, this episode provides crucial context for understanding one of the most significant infrastructure challenges facing Volusia County. Subscribe to Volusia County Uncovered for continuing coverage of this developing story and upcoming episodes focused on home-level mitigation strategies you can implement now.
This show is produced by Beachside Productions
Contact Alec Ferguson
Alecferguson21@gmail.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sarah (00:08):
Hello, my name is Sarah Donnally.
Thank you for joining us on ourthird episode of the Volusia
County Uncovered podcast.
As always, I am here with myco-host, Lori Becker.
How's it going this morning,Lori?
Lori (00:20):
Hey Sarah, super excited about what we're going to talk
about today.
Sarah (00:25):
Yes, I am too.
The city council discussed ninestormwater projects and
improvements that will beunderway in the next decade to
come.
We'll just go ahead and hopright into it.
Lori (00:36):
Yes, this meeting on Tuesday was all about Stormwater
, Plan 101.
I mean, everything you wantedto know about canals and ditches
and ponds and weirs, alldifferent types of new
vocabulary came out of thisparticular meeting Really taught
me a lot.
You know about the directionthat we're going with stormwater
(00:58):
flooding and I have a lot offaith now in the city,
especially with Juno Reed, theengineer who presented the plan.
And you know, one of thetakeoffs that I have from this
is definitely talking about theold city, Because personally, I
think that when we're talkingabout stormwater, particularly
in the Port Orange arearecognizing that there are
(01:19):
plenty of other areas of VolusiaCounty that we're going to talk
about as well we are reallyfacing a situation where I feel
the old city is drowning.
I feel the old city of PortOrange, when I moved here in the
1980s, which was mostly east ofNova, is taking the brunt of
this.
It really is, and if you lookat these projects that they've
(01:40):
presented, most of them areaffecting what I consider the
old city, which is east of Nova.
And so this is the directionthat we're going to try and, you
know, fix some of the floodingissues, and I'm really happy
that we're able to finally getto this point with this plan
that the city promised us sixmonths ago.
(02:03):
I mean, here we are.
Sarah (02:04):
We've been waiting for this meeting.
I was very pleased with all theinformation that came out of
the meeting.
I encourage residents to findthat meeting on YouTube.
It provided a lot of resources.
And another awesome point thisis a regional plan.
This is not just the city ofPort Orange.
The city of Port Orangethroughout years to come.
(02:26):
As we embark on these ninestormwater projects will be
having to collaborate with statedepartments, federal
departments at the local level,other cities in our county.
Lori (02:38):
Right, right.
And so we also kind of need toremember I know we are focusing
a lot on Port Orange, but wealso have to remember that the
outfall in Port Orange is thegreatest.
It is the greatest.
It comes from the Ormond, downthe canals, the B-12, the Nova,
and it all dumps right into RoseBay.
Sarah (02:57):
We have established that.
I think, that's great to note,because Port Orange is the
funnel of the system.
Lori (03:04):
Right, because Port Orange is the funnel of the system,
right.
And so when you talk about thevulnerability assessment that
the city had to comply with,like, the county got together
with all the cities, hadmeetings to decide where the
money needs to go, so thatvulnerability assessment was
$300,000, was basically dishedout to cities to do the studies.
(03:24):
They need to be able to come upwith the dollar figure, they
need to be able to allocatefunds for these projects, and so
it all goes back to.
You know, it's a process, it'sa process that we, you know that
we have to follow.
City local government has nochoice but to follow that.
Follow City local governmenthas no choice but to follow that
(03:47):
.
And you know, when you thinkabout Port Orange, you think
about population.
Explosion is where I tend to gowith the city of Port Orange.
So in the 1970s there was only3,000 people that lived in Port
Orange.
If you look at the currentcensus, 3,000 people.
And then in the 80s there'sthis huge migration and now
there's 18,000 people living inthe city of Port Orange, and so
(04:09):
at that point 54% of thebuilding began and a lot of it
was still on the east side ofNova, and so these are the areas
, once again we're talking aboutwhere the city did not plan for
storm water.
Plan to, you know, release allthe water when we had influx of
(04:30):
storms, because they hadn't hada big storm since 1920.
So they certainly were notgoing to expect that 14 to 25
inches of rain was going to dropin 2025.
So you know.
But all I'm trying to get at isthe mass building that began in
the 1980s due to the migrationof people moving into Port
Orange, and the fast, fast, fastbuilding that went on in the
(04:53):
80s and 90s we built, you know,sleepy Hollow is one of those
plans, right, sugar Forest oneof those plans, sweetwater Hills
, south Winds those are allbetween 1970 and 1990 projects.
Sarah (05:08):
These were neighborhoods that were built prior to when we
had regulations and code, sotherefore these neighborhoods
were built without stormwaterregulations period.
So no wonder we see certainneighborhoods like Sleepy Hollow
, really suffering from flooding.
Lori (05:25):
Right.
Right, I mean because SleepyHollow was built right next to
Port Orange's first shoppingcenter, our first Publix, right
on Nova Road there.
And so Sleepy Hollow got builtbehind there and there was no
retention pond, nowhere for thewater to go, no storage for the
water.
They're relying on a ditchbehind Publix.
Sarah (05:44):
So we really want to highlight how, in 1990, that's
really the key year here PortOrange established their
specific design criteria forstormwater regulations.
However, before that, 54% ofhomes were constructed.
As you were saying, we receivedin the 80s this massive
population influx.
I think at the time it wasimportant to take the funding
(06:08):
and to put it into recreationaluse for people of the city to
enjoy the amenities that we have.
Lori (06:15):
Right.
A lot of people will notdisagree with you on that.
They think a lot of that moneywas misappropriated, instead of
putting it more towards astormwater infrastructure.
Sarah (06:25):
The misappropriation of funding needed to be
appropriated to stormwaterbecause of the lack thereof,
again back in the 80s backbefore November of 1990, when we
had these regulations.
Lori (06:37):
We realized that I don't care whether you call it Mother
Nature, I don't care if you callit mother nature, I don't care
if you call it climate change, Idon't care if you call it
neglect of the city.
We have to move forward and wehave to start taking care of our
old city, because you know what?
This is where the city of PortOrange wants to be.
They want to be on theriverfront.
(06:58):
They built this beautiful park.
Their property was taken bypublic domain, took down the old
Sweetwater and now we'regetting ready to build the
Bristol Apartments, which isgoing to be huge.
And so clearly the city wantsDestination Port Orange to be on
the riverfront.
So do we have to get control ofstormwater on Ridgewood?
(07:18):
Absolutely.
Is it enough of a berm to stopwater from flooding the old city
?
No, it's not, and so that's whythere are some projects in the
Portona area.
There's only like three.
There's like the CommonwealthProject, there's a Virginia
Avenue Project and then there'sthe Portona Project.
But the problem is, most ofthose projects will only take
(07:42):
care of a minimal amount ofhomes.
Those projects will only takecare of a minimal amount of
homes, and that is the situationthat the city is facing right
now with trying to prioritizethese projects.
Sarah (07:51):
The real estate in Port Orange is it's so important as
you bring up Lori, people dowant to be in that destination
part which is east of RidgewoodAvenue.
Lori (08:01):
Yeah, I definitely think that if they want to save the
old city, they're going to haveto make some major improvements
and even if that is as far backas Madeline Pepper Hill project
which was the number one projecton that list, by the way, and
will serve 400 residents, if itis successful, and it is in two
(08:22):
phases and it is expensive andit is part of the regional plan
where state legislature isalready given the go because
there is a design in place, it'sgoing to planning and hopefully
it will roll out in January.
But keep in mind that that isrelated to the Nova Canal,
building a huge storage pond onMadeline with 8,000 feet of
(08:48):
enclosed pipe that is going torun all the way to the Halifax.
So we are basically they arebasically encompassing fixing
the old city problems by pushingthe water from Nova all the way
to Halifax.
I just hope that that's goingto be successful from Nova all
the way to Halifax.
Sarah (09:05):
I just hope that that's going to be successful and it's
not a solution to just acquiremore homes in the city to be
able to use them for stormwater.
I really like the exchange thatJuno and Mayor Stiltner had,
where they discussed the realestate for stormwater and what
was stated was that you wouldneed to acquire 50 homes in
order to benefit another hundredbecause in a given area, 30% of
any.
You would need to acquire 50homes in order to benefit
another 100, because in a givenarea, 30% of any neighborhood
(09:28):
would need to be acquired inorder to benefit the rest of the
homes when we're talking aboutstormwater regulations.
Lori (09:34):
Right?
Well, you know, that justbrings us back to the Elevate
Lori program, which is the LoriDepartment of Emergency
Management plan.
It seems easier to acquireproperties, try and save some
homes a little bit cheaper thatway, and also the residents have
(10:01):
to contribute to that.
Or are they going to put in,you know, the $15 million they
need to go ahead and save 400homes?
So that to me is a sustainableproject.
I think that is good.
But again, that is a regionalproject and that is going to
require a lot of money and thatmoney has to come from somewhere
(10:23):
.
Sarah (10:23):
The timeliness of these projects really depends on other
agencies and not just our own.
So we are really going to belooking at the city to come
together with the county.
I know Reed Foley talked aboutour corrugated metal pipe and
how they have successfullysecured funding and that kind of
goes back to this old city idea.
(10:46):
We've got corrugated metal pipeunder the ground 25 miles of it
that needs to be replaced.
Lori (10:52):
Or retrofitted, which is one of the things that Engineer
Reed mentioned, which I thoughtwas a good idea.
Sarah (10:57):
One thing I thought was bizarre was if they put a
million dollars into the CMPproject and the replacement of
it.
It would take 10 years, 10 to15 years to complete.
Lori (11:09):
Right, I mean there's other projects, so yeah, you
know.
Back to the funding again.
So this Transform 386, soVolusia County received an
allocation of about $330 million.
It's basically a communitydevelopment block grant and this
is to help mitigate devastatingstorms, flooding events, such,
(11:29):
you know, hurricane Ian andwhatnot.
So really important tounderstand that this money is a
big part of the recovery, forrestoration, for infrastructure,
housing, how it relates to oureconomic revitalization and the
mitigation of the most impactedareas.
So a lot of people are probablysaying well, you know, my
(11:52):
neighborhood is most impacted.
Well, you know, there's stuffhappening on the west side of
the county too.
We cannot ignore the fact thatthey have basins there as well
that are overflowing.
We can't forget that the StJohn's River is constantly in a
high tide now.
So there are lots of otherproblems with the St John's
water management that the countyis trying to deal with.
(12:14):
It isn't just all about PortOrange, and when I think about
the old city, again trying tosave the old city, I think about
Daytona Beach, I think aboutBeach Street and the millions
and millions of dollars thatthey put into Beach Street, and
it still floods.
They still have problems.
The river is going to rise, sothey're still flooding.
(12:36):
We're probably going to floodRiverwalk at some point.
Probably will take water, sothis is an ongoing fluid problem
that we're going to continue tohave in Volusia County.
Sarah (12:47):
It's a fact that our stormwater system is tidally
influenced, tidally affected.
I really like how you bring upthe point that this is not just
a Port Orange issue Right SouthDaytona, reed Canal.
Lori (13:00):
Okay, so everything you know, that's their outfall to
the Halifax River Is the NovaCanal influenced?
Absolutely, that is a hugecanal on Reed Canal.
That's all tied in.
So the regional plan is to getthe money for the entire region
and be able to take whateverpiece you need into your city to
be able to restructure, and soyou know.
(13:24):
That's what this vulnerabilityassessment is all about.
Correct, apparently, it's about75% complete.
I did attend a couple ofmeetings and there are some
dates set, I think sometime inJuly, for to move forward.
So that's why we're behind onprojects, because the
vulnerability assessment, whichbasically is an exposure
analysis, it tells us what getswet Okay and it tells us how can
(13:50):
we stop getting these areas wet.
And once those assessments aredone, then they can pinpoint and
obviously put all these studiestogether, which, by the way,
the Kimmerly Horn, I believe, isthe study engineers that put
all this together with city ofPort Orange, and they seem to
have done a pretty good job.
Sarah (14:10):
Mr Reed, let us know that we will miss the grant cycle
this year for the resilient Loriprogram.
So there are things calledgrant cycles.
The vulnerability assessmentthat's 75% complete will be
finished within the next fewmonths.
However, that won't put us inthat grant cycle, and so we will
be waiting till next year 2026,to apply for that funding for
(14:34):
the vulnerability assessmentRight.
Lori (14:36):
So just to kind of summarize things, so nine
projects, about $120 millionworth.
About how many homes do youfigure were affected by that?
About 700 homes, 700 homes,$120 million.
That is the long range plan forthese projects, because one of
them, the Pepper Hill Madeline,has a second phase to put a pump
(14:59):
in at a pond.
That's second phase.
That's probably not going tohappen for about eight years, I
was told.
So we've got a lot of time inbetween all that, and so I think
it's super important that wetalk about where we're going to
go as a city, as a county, interms of how we're going to dig
(15:20):
out of this.
How are we going to survivethis?
We talked about the lastpodcast about the humanistic
side of this and how people arekind of going through the stages
of anger, and I think a lot ofpeople are in this acceptance
stage now of okay, great, I wokeup on Wednesday morning and it
looks like the city is going totake care of my neighborhood, or
(15:41):
at least they're thinking aboutme anyway.
So I can take a breath and Ican maybe start work on
mitigating.
I can start working aboutmitigating for the future.
What can I do to keep my housefrom?
Sarah (15:53):
flooding.
This is a huge plan for thecity of Port Orange.
This is what residents need tosee.
There's nine stormwater plansthat have the potential to save
hundreds of homes, right, and soyou know.
Lori (16:06):
in the meantime, though, like residents are still
wondering what do I do, and so Ijust wanted to mention this
program.
There is a very activeorganization in volusia county.
It's called communityorganizations active in disaster
, and it has actually been inplace for many, many years.
It's all about businesses,faith groups, civic groups,
(16:31):
individuals, government agenciesthat basically address the
unmet needs prior to and duringand following a disaster.
So the goal here is tocoordinate volunteers and
resources.
They kind of fill the gaps thatcome about when you know
ordinary customary emergencyagencies cannot fit the needs of
(16:54):
the community, and so they'recoming up with a program, and
this just was basically justunveiled at the last meeting.
Community organizations activein disaster are hoping to put
together a program calledNeighbors Helping Neighbors,
right, and so it's importantthat we work together inside our
communities.
Each one of these developmentsare having problems.
(17:17):
Find the leaders that want tohelp a neighbor that maybe needs
, you know just, assistance withevacuation needs, or where do I
put my pets, you know how do Igo about keeping my furniture
off the ground, just the real,small basic things that people
need to survive a storm, right?
So this is the direction thatI'm sort of passionate about,
(17:41):
you know.
Sarah (17:41):
So we want to find community leaders, we want to
try to pick out people fromthese neighborhoods to advocate
for their community, for theirspecific part of their
neighborhood.
Lori (17:52):
Right.
So, for instance, I know thatthere is a Facebook page right
that's been that started in someof these areas.
You know, willow Run, sugarForest, trying to encourage
people to get together as acommunity.
Make sure we all know who flood, who didn't flood.
You know what you can do tohelp your neighbor that flooded
(18:12):
because you didn't flood.
You know, and if you've livedthis which, by the way, I know,
that Commissioner Foley hasactually lived the nightmare
because he's flooded twice- heunderstands this.
He understands that we need tocome together as a neighborhood
and be able to mitigate beforeand after the storm.
(18:33):
So we need to be more positiveabout this, move forward and try
and be more positive aboutpreparing for the future.
I'm all about preparing.
That's basically, you know, mythat was my career is proper
planning, okay.
So this is the direction that Ifeel the need to go, as well as
, of course, keeping our citycommissioners on top of things,
(18:57):
keeping them accountable, makingsure they're dotting their I's
and crossing their T's on allthese grants and permits and
planning and designs that aregoing on.
Sarah (19:06):
I really appreciate the tone of the meeting because it
seemed that county membersreally took on that perspective
that these homes are people'slivelihoods.
I think is a shift from pastmonths prior.
Lori (19:20):
I think they were sympathetic, I think it was just
a lot of empathy was there atthis meeting and I think it
could be felt in the audience.
And I think that's important tomention, because it didn't
begin that way.
In October, people werescreaming at the podium, myself
included, and we were upset andwe were mad and definitely we
were blaming the city for a lotof this.
(19:43):
And you know what it's 2025.
1970, 80, 90 was a long timeago and yes, we have to move
forward and you know, I'm one ofthose people, I'm an optimistic
and looking at the cup halffull, not half empty, and so I
think you and I are on the samepage with that.
We want to try and keep thispositive, keep as much
(20:04):
educational resources movingforward as we can.
And so, one of the things thatwas mentioned by Mayor Stiltner,
and as this goes for every cityin Volusia County, you need to
contact your constituents,certainly your county chair,
your representatives, yourCongress.
(20:25):
It's very, very important, asexpressed in that meeting, that
you put an email out there andgo ahead and send it and talk to
your neighbor and work togetherto try and get the funding
Because, realistically, unlesswe're looking at a tax increase
or a special stormwaterassessment increase.
We most likely will be lookingat that throughout the county to
(20:48):
be able to fund these projects.
So I mean, like hang on,because that's getting ready to
happen.
So you need to go ahead andstart working on.
Every city pretty much givesout a list of who the
constituents are that you needto contact.
Sarah (21:01):
Yeah, it's a big deal that the city's come forward and
has partnered with Kimley Hornto come up with these design
plans.
I like the approach that theytook.
They really used data drivendecisions to make the models and
to make the outputs andpredictions.
I appreciate that they took aconservative approach.
Lori (21:21):
Yeah, I still need to remember and respect that there
are a lot of people that areflooding that are not part of
these plans.
Okay, there are still people inneighborhoods.
It might be a one or two homesituation, a handful of homes in
Willow Run affected by the B-12, you know some flooding over on
(21:42):
Riverside.
Not everybody is going tobenefit from these particular
plans.
Sarah (21:48):
But everybody can be of help to one another.
When you talk about, you know,creating community organization,
Just because your home didn'tflood doesn't mean you cannot
act as yourself a resource.
There's little things that canbe done as well as you know, big
nine projects.
Lori (22:06):
And so you know back to that couple of homes here that
are not going to be affected bya multimillion dollar plan.
That's what Elevate Lori is allabout.
Okay, If you are in thatneighborhood and you are
flooding and you are not part ofone of these proposed plans,
you better get your applicationin to Elevate Lori, because I
believe mid-April is when thatis going to shut down.
(22:29):
I'm not positive on that date.
They might extend it, but youneed to get yourself involved
with that program, figure out away to fund it, figure out how
to get a grant to help with yourpart of that that 25% part
Because you're basically you'rebacked in a corner.
You're backed in a corner.
They're not going to.
All.
These plans aren't going tohelp everybody.
(22:49):
So the city is either going tohelp you with your application
for Elevate Lori.
There are ways they can assistyou with uploading documents and
whatnot.
I know a neighbor of mine isgetting help from the city as
well, and so you need to knowthat if you're not affected by
these proposed plans, pleaseconsider the Elevate Lori
(23:10):
program or the acquisition ofland or the reconstruction of
your home.
That's kind of the categorythat I'm fitting in myself right
now, Because there's people allaround me that are elevating
and buying out.
So there are options and herethey are.
We're telling you about them,so go for it.
What do you think, Sarah?
Well it's a lot of information.
Sarah (23:31):
We just want to point you to the City of Port Orange's
website.
You can find that stormwatermaster plan from Tuesday night's
meeting.
It is a great way to get allthe information you need.
They'll be having nineadditional stormwater meetings
that are really tailored to eachneighborhood.
Just going back to Tuesdaynight's meeting yeah.
If there's questions about yourneighborhood that you're seeking
(23:52):
answers, for I know thatthey'll go more in depth with
individual neighborhoodworkshops, but phenomenal job
done by city engineer andcouncil members to really take a
step in the right direction andgive the city some empowerment
and some peace of mind that inthe next decade, changes are
(24:15):
going to be coming because let'sbe real right $120 million
worth of projects.
We've got a long road ahead ofus to secure that funding and to
get these projects underway.
However, there are things thatwe will be discussing in our
upcoming episodes that you cando now to help mitigate at the
home level.
Lori (24:35):
Right and let's just continue to focus on saving our
city, the old and the new.
Sarah (24:42):
Yes, you can find us on Facebook at Volusia County
Uncovered.
Please give us a like and afollow.
Please share this informationwith your neighbors, your
friends.
Volusia County Uncovered is aninformational resource that we
want residents to be able tocome to and seek out those
answers that they're looking for.
So I thank you so much, Lori,for joining me today.
(25:03):
Great.
Lori (25:03):
Have a good day.
I'd like to do a shout out,though, for Alec Ferguson over
here.
He is our podcast engineer andI just want to do a shout out to
Alec Ferguson.
Thanks, alec All right.
Sarah (25:14):
Thank you, Alec, for everything you do and helping us
produce this show.
Adios.
Hello, my name is Sarah Donnally.
Thank you for joining us on ourthird episode of the Volusia
County Uncovered podcast.
As always, I am here with myco-host, Lori Becker.
How's it going this morning,Lori?
Lori (00:20):
Hey Sarah, super excited about what we're going to talk
about today.
Sarah (00:25):
Yes, I am too.
The city council discussed ninestormwater projects and
improvements that will beunderway in the next decade to
come.
We'll just go ahead and hopright into it.
Lori (00:36):
Yes, this meeting on Tuesday was all about Stormwater
, Plan 101.
I mean, everything you wantedto know about canals and ditches
and ponds and weirs, alldifferent types of new
vocabulary came out of thisparticular meeting Really taught
me a lot.
You know about the directionthat we're going with stormwater
(00:58):
flooding and I have a lot offaith now in the city,
especially with Juno Reed, theengineer who presented the plan.
And you know, one of thetakeoffs that I have from this
is definitely talking about theold city, Because personally, I
think that when we're talkingabout stormwater, particularly
in the Port Orange arearecognizing that there are
(01:19):
plenty of other areas of VolusiaCounty that we're going to talk
about as well we are reallyfacing a situation where I feel
the old city is drowning.
I feel the old city of PortOrange, when I moved here in the
1980s, which was mostly east ofNova, is taking the brunt of
this.
It really is, and if you lookat these projects that they've
(01:40):
presented, most of them areaffecting what I consider the
old city, which is east of Nova.
And so this is the directionthat we're going to try and, you
know, fix some of the floodingissues, and I'm really happy
that we're able to finally getto this point with this plan
that the city promised us sixmonths ago.
(02:03):
I mean, here we are.
Sarah (02:04):
We've been waiting for this meeting.
I was very pleased with all theinformation that came out of
the meeting.
I encourage residents to findthat meeting on YouTube.
It provided a lot of resources.
And another awesome point thisis a regional plan.
This is not just the city ofPort Orange.
The city of Port Orangethroughout years to come.
(02:26):
As we embark on these ninestormwater projects will be
having to collaborate with statedepartments, federal
departments at the local level,other cities in our county.
Lori (02:38):
Right, right.
And so we also kind of need toremember I know we are focusing
a lot on Port Orange, but wealso have to remember that the
outfall in Port Orange is thegreatest.
It is the greatest.
It comes from the Ormond, downthe canals, the B-12, the Nova,
and it all dumps right into RoseBay.
Sarah (02:57):
We have established that.
I think, that's great to note,because Port Orange is the
funnel of the system.
Lori (03:04):
Right, because Port Orange is the funnel of the system,
right.
And so when you talk about thevulnerability assessment that
the city had to comply with,like, the county got together
with all the cities, hadmeetings to decide where the
money needs to go, so thatvulnerability assessment was
$300,000, was basically dishedout to cities to do the studies.
(03:24):
They need to be able to come upwith the dollar figure, they
need to be able to allocatefunds for these projects, and so
it all goes back to.
You know, it's a process, it'sa process that we, you know that
we have to follow.
City local government has nochoice but to follow that.
Follow City local governmenthas no choice but to follow that
(03:47):
.
And you know, when you thinkabout Port Orange, you think
about population.
Explosion is where I tend to gowith the city of Port Orange.
So in the 1970s there was only3,000 people that lived in Port
Orange.
If you look at the currentcensus, 3,000 people.
And then in the 80s there'sthis huge migration and now
there's 18,000 people living inthe city of Port Orange, and so
(04:09):
at that point 54% of thebuilding began and a lot of it
was still on the east side ofNova, and so these are the areas
, once again we're talking aboutwhere the city did not plan for
storm water.
Plan to, you know, release allthe water when we had influx of
(04:30):
storms, because they hadn't hada big storm since 1920.
So they certainly were notgoing to expect that 14 to 25
inches of rain was going to dropin 2025.
So you know.
But all I'm trying to get at isthe mass building that began in
the 1980s due to the migrationof people moving into Port
Orange, and the fast, fast, fastbuilding that went on in the
(04:53):
80s and 90s we built, you know,sleepy Hollow is one of those
plans, right, sugar Forest oneof those plans, sweetwater Hills
, south Winds those are allbetween 1970 and 1990 projects.
Sarah (05:08):
These were neighborhoods that were built prior to when we
had regulations and code, sotherefore these neighborhoods
were built without stormwaterregulations period.
So no wonder we see certainneighborhoods like Sleepy Hollow
, really suffering from flooding.
Lori (05:25):
Right.
Right, I mean because SleepyHollow was built right next to
Port Orange's first shoppingcenter, our first Publix, right
on Nova Road there.
And so Sleepy Hollow got builtbehind there and there was no
retention pond, nowhere for thewater to go, no storage for the
water.
They're relying on a ditchbehind Publix.
Sarah (05:44):
So we really want to highlight how, in 1990, that's
really the key year here PortOrange established their
specific design criteria forstormwater regulations.
However, before that, 54% ofhomes were constructed.
As you were saying, we receivedin the 80s this massive
population influx.
I think at the time it wasimportant to take the funding
(06:08):
and to put it into recreationaluse for people of the city to
enjoy the amenities that we have.
Lori (06:15):
Right.
A lot of people will notdisagree with you on that.
They think a lot of that moneywas misappropriated, instead of
putting it more towards astormwater infrastructure.
Sarah (06:25):
The misappropriation of funding needed to be
appropriated to stormwaterbecause of the lack thereof,
again back in the 80s backbefore November of 1990, when we
had these regulations.
Lori (06:37):
We realized that I don't care whether you call it Mother
Nature, I don't care if you callit mother nature, I don't care
if you call it climate change, Idon't care if you call it
neglect of the city.
We have to move forward and wehave to start taking care of our
old city, because you know what?
This is where the city of PortOrange wants to be.
They want to be on theriverfront.
(06:58):
They built this beautiful park.
Their property was taken bypublic domain, took down the old
Sweetwater and now we'regetting ready to build the
Bristol Apartments, which isgoing to be huge.
And so clearly the city wantsDestination Port Orange to be on
the riverfront.
So do we have to get control ofstormwater on Ridgewood?
(07:18):
Absolutely.
Is it enough of a berm to stopwater from flooding the old city
?
No, it's not, and so that's whythere are some projects in the
Portona area.
There's only like three.
There's like the CommonwealthProject, there's a Virginia
Avenue Project and then there'sthe Portona Project.
But the problem is, most ofthose projects will only take
(07:42):
care of a minimal amount ofhomes.
Those projects will only takecare of a minimal amount of
homes, and that is the situationthat the city is facing right
now with trying to prioritizethese projects.
Sarah (07:51):
The real estate in Port Orange is it's so important as
you bring up Lori, people dowant to be in that destination
part which is east of RidgewoodAvenue.
Lori (08:01):
Yeah, I definitely think that if they want to save the
old city, they're going to haveto make some major improvements
and even if that is as far backas Madeline Pepper Hill project
which was the number one projecton that list, by the way, and
will serve 400 residents, if itis successful, and it is in two
(08:22):
phases and it is expensive andit is part of the regional plan
where state legislature isalready given the go because
there is a design in place, it'sgoing to planning and hopefully
it will roll out in January.
But keep in mind that that isrelated to the Nova Canal,
building a huge storage pond onMadeline with 8,000 feet of
(08:48):
enclosed pipe that is going torun all the way to the Halifax.
So we are basically they arebasically encompassing fixing
the old city problems by pushingthe water from Nova all the way
to Halifax.
I just hope that that's goingto be successful from Nova all
the way to Halifax.
Sarah (09:05):
I just hope that that's going to be successful and it's
not a solution to just acquiremore homes in the city to be
able to use them for stormwater.
I really like the exchange thatJuno and Mayor Stiltner had,
where they discussed the realestate for stormwater and what
was stated was that you wouldneed to acquire 50 homes in
order to benefit another hundredbecause in a given area, 30% of
any.
You would need to acquire 50homes in order to benefit
another 100, because in a givenarea, 30% of any neighborhood
(09:28):
would need to be acquired inorder to benefit the rest of the
homes when we're talking aboutstormwater regulations.
Lori (09:34):
Right?
Well, you know, that justbrings us back to the Elevate
Lori program, which is the LoriDepartment of Emergency
Management plan.
It seems easier to acquireproperties, try and save some
homes a little bit cheaper thatway, and also the residents have
(10:01):
to contribute to that.
Or are they going to put in,you know, the $15 million they
need to go ahead and save 400homes?
So that to me is a sustainableproject.
I think that is good.
But again, that is a regionalproject and that is going to
require a lot of money and thatmoney has to come from somewhere
(10:23):
.
Sarah (10:23):
The timeliness of these projects really depends on other
agencies and not just our own.
So we are really going to belooking at the city to come
together with the county.
I know Reed Foley talked aboutour corrugated metal pipe and
how they have successfullysecured funding and that kind of
goes back to this old city idea.
(10:46):
We've got corrugated metal pipeunder the ground 25 miles of it
that needs to be replaced.
Lori (10:52):
Or retrofitted, which is one of the things that Engineer
Reed mentioned, which I thoughtwas a good idea.
Sarah (10:57):
One thing I thought was bizarre was if they put a
million dollars into the CMPproject and the replacement of
it.
It would take 10 years, 10 to15 years to complete.
Lori (11:09):
Right, I mean there's other projects, so yeah, you
know.
Back to the funding again.
So this Transform 386, soVolusia County received an
allocation of about $330 million.
It's basically a communitydevelopment block grant and this
is to help mitigate devastatingstorms, flooding events, such,
(11:29):
you know, hurricane Ian andwhatnot.
So really important tounderstand that this money is a
big part of the recovery, forrestoration, for infrastructure,
housing, how it relates to oureconomic revitalization and the
mitigation of the most impactedareas.
So a lot of people are probablysaying well, you know, my
(11:52):
neighborhood is most impacted.
Well, you know, there's stuffhappening on the west side of
the county too.
We cannot ignore the fact thatthey have basins there as well
that are overflowing.
We can't forget that the StJohn's River is constantly in a
high tide now.
So there are lots of otherproblems with the St John's
water management that the countyis trying to deal with.
(12:14):
It isn't just all about PortOrange, and when I think about
the old city, again trying tosave the old city, I think about
Daytona Beach, I think aboutBeach Street and the millions
and millions of dollars thatthey put into Beach Street, and
it still floods.
They still have problems.
The river is going to rise, sothey're still flooding.
(12:36):
We're probably going to floodRiverwalk at some point.
Probably will take water, sothis is an ongoing fluid problem
that we're going to continue tohave in Volusia County.
Sarah (12:47):
It's a fact that our stormwater system is tidally
influenced, tidally affected.
I really like how you bring upthe point that this is not just
a Port Orange issue Right SouthDaytona, reed Canal.
Lori (13:00):
Okay, so everything you know, that's their outfall to
the Halifax River Is the NovaCanal influenced?
Absolutely, that is a hugecanal on Reed Canal.
That's all tied in.
So the regional plan is to getthe money for the entire region
and be able to take whateverpiece you need into your city to
be able to restructure, and soyou know.
(13:24):
That's what this vulnerabilityassessment is all about.
Correct, apparently, it's about75% complete.
I did attend a couple ofmeetings and there are some
dates set, I think sometime inJuly, for to move forward.
So that's why we're behind onprojects, because the
vulnerability assessment, whichbasically is an exposure
analysis, it tells us what getswet Okay and it tells us how can
(13:50):
we stop getting these areas wet.
And once those assessments aredone, then they can pinpoint and
obviously put all these studiestogether, which, by the way,
the Kimmerly Horn, I believe, isthe study engineers that put
all this together with city ofPort Orange, and they seem to
have done a pretty good job.
Sarah (14:10):
Mr Reed, let us know that we will miss the grant cycle
this year for the resilient Loriprogram.
So there are things calledgrant cycles.
The vulnerability assessmentthat's 75% complete will be
finished within the next fewmonths.
However, that won't put us inthat grant cycle, and so we will
be waiting till next year 2026,to apply for that funding for
(14:34):
the vulnerability assessmentRight.
Lori (14:36):
So just to kind of summarize things, so nine
projects, about $120 millionworth.
About how many homes do youfigure were affected by that?
About 700 homes, 700 homes,$120 million.
That is the long range plan forthese projects, because one of
them, the Pepper Hill Madeline,has a second phase to put a pump
(14:59):
in at a pond.
That's second phase.
That's probably not going tohappen for about eight years, I
was told.
So we've got a lot of time inbetween all that, and so I think
it's super important that wetalk about where we're going to
go as a city, as a county, interms of how we're going to dig
(15:20):
out of this.
How are we going to survivethis?
We talked about the lastpodcast about the humanistic
side of this and how people arekind of going through the stages
of anger, and I think a lot ofpeople are in this acceptance
stage now of okay, great, I wokeup on Wednesday morning and it
looks like the city is going totake care of my neighborhood, or
(15:41):
at least they're thinking aboutme anyway.
So I can take a breath and Ican maybe start work on
mitigating.
I can start working aboutmitigating for the future.
What can I do to keep my housefrom?
Sarah (15:53):
flooding.
This is a huge plan for thecity of Port Orange.
This is what residents need tosee.
There's nine stormwater plansthat have the potential to save
hundreds of homes, right, and soyou know.
Lori (16:06):
in the meantime, though, like residents are still
wondering what do I do, and so Ijust wanted to mention this
program.
There is a very activeorganization in volusia county.
It's called communityorganizations active in disaster
, and it has actually been inplace for many, many years.
It's all about businesses,faith groups, civic groups,
(16:31):
individuals, government agenciesthat basically address the
unmet needs prior to and duringand following a disaster.
So the goal here is tocoordinate volunteers and
resources.
They kind of fill the gaps thatcome about when you know
ordinary customary emergencyagencies cannot fit the needs of
(16:54):
the community, and so they'recoming up with a program, and
this just was basically justunveiled at the last meeting.
Community organizations activein disaster are hoping to put
together a program calledNeighbors Helping Neighbors,
right, and so it's importantthat we work together inside our
communities.
Each one of these developmentsare having problems.
(17:17):
Find the leaders that want tohelp a neighbor that maybe needs
, you know just, assistance withevacuation needs, or where do I
put my pets, you know how do Igo about keeping my furniture
off the ground, just the real,small basic things that people
need to survive a storm, right?
So this is the direction thatI'm sort of passionate about,
(17:41):
you know.
Sarah (17:41):
So we want to find community leaders, we want to
try to pick out people fromthese neighborhoods to advocate
for their community, for theirspecific part of their
neighborhood.
Lori (17:52):
Right.
So, for instance, I know thatthere is a Facebook page right
that's been that started in someof these areas.
You know, willow Run, sugarForest, trying to encourage
people to get together as acommunity.
Make sure we all know who flood, who didn't flood.
You know what you can do tohelp your neighbor that flooded
(18:12):
because you didn't flood.
You know, and if you've livedthis which, by the way, I know,
that Commissioner Foley hasactually lived the nightmare
because he's flooded twice- heunderstands this.
He understands that we need tocome together as a neighborhood
and be able to mitigate beforeand after the storm.
(18:33):
So we need to be more positiveabout this, move forward and try
and be more positive aboutpreparing for the future.
I'm all about preparing.
That's basically, you know, mythat was my career is proper
planning, okay.
So this is the direction that Ifeel the need to go, as well as
, of course, keeping our citycommissioners on top of things,
(18:57):
keeping them accountable, makingsure they're dotting their I's
and crossing their T's on allthese grants and permits and
planning and designs that aregoing on.
Sarah (19:06):
I really appreciate the tone of the meeting because it
seemed that county membersreally took on that perspective
that these homes are people'slivelihoods.
I think is a shift from pastmonths prior.
Lori (19:20):
I think they were sympathetic, I think it was just
a lot of empathy was there atthis meeting and I think it
could be felt in the audience.
And I think that's important tomention, because it didn't
begin that way.
In October, people werescreaming at the podium, myself
included, and we were upset andwe were mad and definitely we
were blaming the city for a lotof this.
(19:43):
And you know what it's 2025.
1970, 80, 90 was a long timeago and yes, we have to move
forward and you know, I'm one ofthose people, I'm an optimistic
and looking at the cup halffull, not half empty, and so I
think you and I are on the samepage with that.
We want to try and keep thispositive, keep as much
(20:04):
educational resources movingforward as we can.
And so, one of the things thatwas mentioned by Mayor Stiltner,
and as this goes for every cityin Volusia County, you need to
contact your constituents,certainly your county chair,
your representatives, yourCongress.
(20:25):
It's very, very important, asexpressed in that meeting, that
you put an email out there andgo ahead and send it and talk to
your neighbor and work togetherto try and get the funding
Because, realistically, unlesswe're looking at a tax increase
or a special stormwaterassessment increase.
We most likely will be lookingat that throughout the county to
(20:48):
be able to fund these projects.
So I mean, like hang on,because that's getting ready to
happen.
So you need to go ahead andstart working on.
Every city pretty much givesout a list of who the
constituents are that you needto contact.
Sarah (21:01):
Yeah, it's a big deal that the city's come forward and
has partnered with Kimley Hornto come up with these design
plans.
I like the approach that theytook.
They really used data drivendecisions to make the models and
to make the outputs andpredictions.
I appreciate that they took aconservative approach.
Lori (21:21):
Yeah, I still need to remember and respect that there
are a lot of people that areflooding that are not part of
these plans.
Okay, there are still people inneighborhoods.
It might be a one or two homesituation, a handful of homes in
Willow Run affected by the B-12, you know some flooding over on
(21:42):
Riverside.
Not everybody is going tobenefit from these particular
plans.
Sarah (21:48):
But everybody can be of help to one another.
When you talk about, you know,creating community organization,
Just because your home didn'tflood doesn't mean you cannot
act as yourself a resource.
There's little things that canbe done as well as you know, big
nine projects.
Lori (22:06):
And so you know back to that couple of homes here that
are not going to be affected bya multimillion dollar plan.
That's what Elevate Lori is allabout.
Okay, If you are in thatneighborhood and you are
flooding and you are not part ofone of these proposed plans,
you better get your applicationin to Elevate Lori, because I
believe mid-April is when thatis going to shut down.
(22:29):
I'm not positive on that date.
They might extend it, but youneed to get yourself involved
with that program, figure out away to fund it, figure out how
to get a grant to help with yourpart of that that 25% part
Because you're basically you'rebacked in a corner.
You're backed in a corner.
They're not going to.
All.
These plans aren't going tohelp everybody.
(22:49):
So the city is either going tohelp you with your application
for Elevate Lori.
There are ways they can assistyou with uploading documents and
whatnot.
I know a neighbor of mine isgetting help from the city as
well, and so you need to knowthat if you're not affected by
these proposed plans, pleaseconsider the Elevate Lori
(23:10):
program or the acquisition ofland or the reconstruction of
your home.
That's kind of the categorythat I'm fitting in myself right
now, Because there's people allaround me that are elevating
and buying out.
So there are options and herethey are.
We're telling you about them,so go for it.
What do you think, Sarah?
Well it's a lot of information.
Sarah (23:31):
We just want to point you to the City of Port Orange's
website.
You can find that stormwatermaster plan from Tuesday night's
meeting.
It is a great way to get allthe information you need.
They'll be having nineadditional stormwater meetings
that are really tailored to eachneighborhood.
Just going back to Tuesdaynight's meeting yeah.
If there's questions about yourneighborhood that you're seeking
(23:52):
answers, for I know thatthey'll go more in depth with
individual neighborhoodworkshops, but phenomenal job
done by city engineer andcouncil members to really take a
step in the right direction andgive the city some empowerment
and some peace of mind that inthe next decade, changes are
(24:15):
going to be coming because let'sbe real right $120 million
worth of projects.
We've got a long road ahead ofus to secure that funding and to
get these projects underway.
However, there are things thatwe will be discussing in our
upcoming episodes that you cando now to help mitigate at the
home level.
Lori (24:35):
Right and let's just continue to focus on saving our
city, the old and the new.
Sarah (24:42):
Yes, you can find us on Facebook at Volusia County
Uncovered.
Please give us a like and afollow.
Please share this informationwith your neighbors, your
friends.
Volusia County Uncovered is aninformational resource that we
want residents to be able tocome to and seek out those
answers that they're looking for.
So I thank you so much, Lori,for joining me today.
(25:03):
Great.
Lori (25:03):
Have a good day.
I'd like to do a shout out,though, for Alec Ferguson over
here.
He is our podcast engineer andI just want to do a shout out to
Alec Ferguson.
Thanks, alec All right.
Sarah (25:14):
Thank you, Alec, for everything you do and helping us
produce this show.
Adios.
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