Volusia Schools, City of DeBary Battling Over Potential School

Volusia County Schools is embroiled with the DeBary city government over plans to construct a new public school on a particular plot of land within the city, leading both parties to lawyer up as disagreements escalate. The school district approved an $8.4 million 25-acre land purchase last month that it plans to use for a K-8 school. In a dispute from DeBary, City Manager Carmen Rosamonda argues Volusia County Schools’ plan is in violation of an interlocal agreement signed in 2007 by the county, the school board, the city government, and over a dozen other entities. A cease-and-desist letter sent last week promised that the city would work to prevent a school from being built. In a response first reported by the Daytona Beach News-Journal, the school district has accused the City of DeBary of acting out of ‘self-serving financial greed’. School Board Attorney Ted Doran called DeBary city officials ‘aggressive’ and ‘dogmatic’. In perhaps the most direct statement in the message, Doran told Rosamonda that “when the school is built, and you have long since left your position with the city, you will be remembered for having been on the wrong side of history”. The parcel of land in question is at the corner of Spring Vista Drive and South Shell Road, just west of US-17 and east of Konomac Lake. There are residential neighborhoods in close proximity, which Rosamonda argues makes the area unideal for the traffic that would come with a large new public school. The DeBary City Council reviewed the site in January after the school district requested their input in October, and they ultimately voted unanimously to advise that it would not be a good location for a potential school. Based on the school district’s icy reaction, they may have been moreso seeking an explicit endorsement than a critical analysis of the benefits and drawbacks of the plan. Much of the dispute may rest on the zoning of the Spring Vista land parcel. It is zoned under B-4 general commercial usage and B-9 general office zoning, the first of which does allow for the construction of a public school. A more broad interpretation of ‘public use’ is compatible with both zoning designations, a detail Doran is hoping will aid the school district’s case.