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A N E W S - J O U R N A L S P E C I A L R E P O R T
DRIVING DEBATE
The history of Volusia County’s hard-packed beaches can be told in sepia-toned images of automobile pioneers testing their inventions, stock-car races run at low tide and gen-erations of families cruising through
salt-kissed breezes and sea spray.Selfies from Daytona Beach’s core tourism area
would tell a story of empty storefronts, blighted neighborhoods and aging hotels. The last major new properties to rise along the “World’s Most Famous Beach” were the Ocean Walk towers — which were built as part of a deal that saw the county in 2000 re-move cars from a mile-long stretch of beach behind them.
Coincidence? A betrayal of Volusia’s legacy? Or an investment in its future?
Those questions are central to a debate playing out this week as the County Council considers measures that would ban cars from about 1,300 feet backing two new projects. Supporters see it as a compromise to invigorate the beachfront without abandoning its past. Opponents fear it’s the next wave in a tide that will erode a century-old tradition.
The News-Journal took an in-depth look at all sides in a four-page pullout section you’ll find inside today’s newspaper. You’ll get details on the pros and cons, insights into some of the partisans on both sides and a look at what happened in another com-munity that ended beach driving.
You’ll also get a sense of how council members are leaning going into Thursday’s vote, when they will draw a line in the sand that could determine how future generations picture Volusia’s beaches.
S E E A L I N E I N T H E S A N D , P A G E S 1 7 - 2 0 A
4 P A G E P U L L O U T S E C T I O N
I N S I D E
A truck drives on the beach past the old Desert Inn on Wednesday in Daytona Beach. The property is set to become a luxury Westin Hotel if driving is removed from the stretch of beach behind it.
Volusia County faces a big choice over beach driving
News-Journal photos/JIM TILLER
H O M E O F T H E W O R L D ’ S M O S T F A M O U S B E A C HN E W S - J O U R N A L O N L I N E . C O M
By FRANK [email protected]
Volusia County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Joel Hernandez was in plain clothes but wearing his badge, cuffs and gun on his belt last year when he walked up to an SUV parked outside Fryer’s Towing in Daytona Beach, the deputy’s attorney said.
Hernandez was telling the driver through the SUV’s rolled up passenger window that he was a deputy.
But when the driver didn’t roll down the win-dow, Hernandez opened the SUV’s passenger door, according to a letter from defense at-torney Michael Lambert to the 7th Circuit State Attorney’s Office.
The driver, Edward P. Miller, who was deaf according to his family, reached into his pocket as the deputy yelled at him to pull his hand out. Mill-er then pulled a gun from his pocket and started turning it toward Hernan-dez, Lambert wrote. Hernandez shot and killed Miller.
Lambert’s letter reveals details of the 52-year-old Miller’s shooting on Sept. 20, 2014. Miller had been causing a disturbance and Hernandez was
O F F I C E R- I N VO LV E D S H O OT I N G
Attorney: Victim
pulled gun on deputy
A young beach-goer waits before deciding to cross the traffic lane in front of SunSplash Park in Daytona Beach.
SUV driver fatally shot during 2014 tow yard incident
EDWARDP. MILLER
SEE SHOOTING, PAGE 10A
By DINAH VOYLES [email protected]
DAYTONA BEACH — U.S. Sen. Bill Nel-son wants Congress to help him block oil exploration companies from using seismic air guns off Florida’s Atlantic coast.
“I want to cut them off at the pass before they get any further,” Nelson, a longtime drilling opponent, said in an interview Friday at the Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach.
Citing potentially negative impacts to tourism and wildlife from the blasting, the senator said he filed
E N E R G Y E X P LO R AT I O N
Nelson files bill to block seismic tests off Fla. coast
More OnlineRead the bill at news-journal
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A N E W S - J O U R N A L S P E C I A L R E P O R T
A LINE IN THE SAND
By CHRIS GRAHAM and SKYLER [email protected] [email protected]
A quarter of a mile of beach may not seem like much, but it’s enough to divide Volu-sia County.
To some, it’s a path to a revitalized beachside; for oth-ers, it’s a link to a heritage of beach driving.
On Thursday the Volusia County Council plans to vote on ordinanc-es that would remove cars from 1,300 feet of beach behind a pair of potential upscale resorts and set standards for future development in Daytona Beach. The one thing all sides agree on is that the ramifi-cations of those votes could extend far beyond the city’s core tourism district.
“People will look back 20 years from now and realize this County Council had a tough decision,” said County Chair Jason Davis. “This will be a legacy, and it will either be a good one or a bad one.”
Prominent community leaders see a good one in giving up the two short stretches — equal to about 1.5 percent of the existing 15.7 miles of beach driving — in return for the development of a Hard Rock Hotel & Cafe and the redevelopment of the Desert Inn into a four-star Westin resort. The projects, which would re-quire the builders to replace parking spots lost on the beach, represent a $174 million investment, but may be worth even more in the momentum they create in restoring a beachside filled with derelict buildings and empty storefronts.
“We’re so close to a new begin-ning,” said Peggy Farmer, former president of the Ormond Beach Chamber of Commerce who served on a citizens committee that helped develop the standards developers must meet to have cars removed from the beach. “What a sad day if we lose both of these projects be-
cause we as a community can’t come together and give and take a little.”
But beach driving’s supporters see a threat to their legacy. They’ve amassed thousands of followers through social media; yard signs line neighborhood streets and a flier accus-es council members of selling out their constituents to deep-pocketed devel-opers. To them, the vote is not about a quarter-mile of beach but the eventual end to a century-old tradition.
“When you give them an inch, they are going to take a mile,” said Paul Zimmerman, president of the Sons of the Beach. “We are not stupid.”
In truth, the miles have been dis-appearing for decades.
‘CHIPPING AWAY AT A TRADITION’For almost as long as the automo-
bile has been around, Volusia beach-es have been open to vehicles. But the miles available for cruising have been eroding over the past 30 years.
Night-time driving was banned in the 1980s. In the ‘90s, the county closed nine miles of beach driving where sea turtle nests were more
common to secure a federal permit that allowed driving to continue elsewhere. More recently, parking was banned in front of Daytona’s SunSplash and New Smyrna’s Flagler Avenue parks. Ormond’s Andy Romano Beachfront Park was granted a traffic-free zone. The closest parallel to this week’s votes came in 1996, when the county voted to close a mile-long stretch from Seabreeze to International Speed-way boulevards to encourage the Ocean Walk Village project.
Former County Councilwoman Pat Northey recalls people opposing that project, too, but called it a more civil debate.
“Beach-driving advocates see it as chipping away at a tradition that has defined their view of Daytona Beach,” said Northey, who believes cars should be removed from the beach. “Things have escalated. It’s taken on a life of its own.”
Beach-driving supporters say they heard many of the same arguments promising waves of economic development when the Ocean Walk
Village opened and that stretch of beach closed in 2000. Greg Gimbert’s skepticism prompted him to found the political action committee Let Volusia Vote, which is gathering signatures for a referendum that would require voter approval for future beach-driving restrictions.
“People were willing to give them the benefit of the doubt (then),” Gimbert said.
Not this time.“It’s been a one-way taking of the
beach; there’s never been any com-promise,” Gimbert said. “There’s never anything for the residents except for less beach.”
A year ago when developers of the former Desert Inn asked for a no-driving zone and Hard Rock Ho-tel representatives started pushing for the same thing, Gimbert and others rallied public opposition, prompting the Desert Inn to with-draw its request.
Gimbert said he doesn’t see the connection between economic de-velopment and beach-driving bans. He noted that in 2014 Daytona Beach had its best tourism year since the 1980s with the county attracting 9.1 million visitors.
“I would love to have some au-thentic economic development — economic development that came to our town willing to build within our rules,” he said. “We’d welcome them with open arms.”
Even if beach driving hurt eco-nomic development, it’s still not worth taking cars off the beach because that would hurt the quality of life for residents, Gimbert said.
“Regardless of what tourists may think, that beach belongs to every-one in Volusia County,” he said. “That’s our beach. We share it with the tourists.”
Zimmerman said he fears Thurs-day’s actions will lead to more beach taken in the future.
“This is just another step in the
4 P A G E P U L L O U T S E C T I O N
Volusia County faces a big choice over beach driving
The Daytona Beach News-Journal Sunday, May 3, 2015 17AA LINE IN THE SAND
What beachgoers are saying about driving on the beach
“I think it’s convenient.” MIKE CIULLA
38, Melrose, Massachusetts
“We enjoy taking our camper on the beach.
We have signs on it that attest Jesus loves people, and we hope
they don’t stop it.” BRENDA FARLEY70, Caribou, Maine
“It’s too much of a liability. It’s too busy, and I don’t think they should be doing it.”
TERRI SAYRE47, West Palm Beach
“It’s a parent’s responsibility to make
sure the kids don’t get into traffic
(on the beach).” SCOTT NEWELL
31, DeLand
“I wish there would be designated areas
for families.”ANNA FAWCETT
Pine Grove, Illinois
News-Journal photos/JIM TILLER
The Volusia County Council plans to vote Thursday on ordinances to remove cars behind two potential upscale hotel sites in Daytona Beach.
SEE SAND, PAGE 20A
A woman keeps a close eye on a child as cars roll by.
18A Sunday, May 3, 2015 The Daytona Beach News-JournalA LINE IN THE SAND
By SKYLER [email protected]
COCOA BEACH — In an old image in the city’s archives, cars line the hard-packed sand of Cocoa Beach.
More than 40 years ago, Cocoa Beach’s leaders decided to ban cars on the beach, taking a different path than Daytona Beach.
It’s now a minor footnote in the community’s history, and city offi-cials say most residents aren’t even aware there was a time when cars were allowed on the beach.
“We have done very well not driving on the beach,” said Charles Holland, Cocoa Beach’s acting city manager. “I don’t know of anyone who is lobbying to drive on the beach. I think it is a nonissue here.”
Parking, however, has been an issue for the community, which recently spent $24,000 to hire a con-sultant to conduct a parking study.
On a Friday in the town’s down-town, families toted coolers and bags with chairs strapped to their backs. Drivers circled the block looking for an open spot. A man sat underneath a rainbow-colored umbrella next to a sign that offered all-day parking for $10.
Despite this, beachgoers say they are willing to endure the conges-tion to find a spot in the sand, and by noon, sunbathers packed the beaches.
Several locals sitting in a beachside park said they could do without the weekend crowds — es-pecially during spring break — but they see beach driving as subtract-ing from a day at the beach rather than a solution.
“I say take down the Ron Jon signs and put up ‘Go to Tampa,’ ” said Dave Hofer, 62, referencing the city’s famous surf shop.
Parking is a pain on holidays and sometimes on the weekend, but “you know little spots no one else does,” added Hofer, who has lived
in Cocoa Beach for seven years.Another fear of city leaders and
residents: Beach driving could damage the thousands of sea turtle nests that line Brevard County’s coast. That’s a concern of Nikki Serf, a server in her early 30s at Fat Kahuna’s restaurant in downtown Cocoa Beach.
Parking can be problematic during busy times, but “the locals definitely know where to go,” Serf said.
A study conducted by Walker Parking Consultants found there isn’t enough parking in the city’s core area — amounting to a deficit of 53 spaces — during peak times on holidays and good-weather days.
Parking is a problem about 33 days a year, said Melissa Byron, director of marketing and economic development. Not everyone agrees with that, though.
Jack Kirschenbaum, a local attor-ney and planning board member, told city commissioners inadequate parking is hurting economic de-
velopment in the city’s downtown. Business owners are reluctant to expand because there aren’t enough spaces to accommodate more cus-tomers, he said during a February City Commission meeting.
“There is a parking problem every day in downtown Cocoa Beach,” he said.
Beach driving came to a gradual end in Cocoa Beach.
A press account from 1950 mentioned the city was implementing a “safety zone” that would be closed to traffic “so children and bathers may have a safe area in which to swim and play.”
Eighteen years later, the city created a 50-cent fee to drive on the beach, and by March 1969, beach driving had been phased out entirely.
At the time, merchants feared banning beach driving would send tourists flocking to Daytona Beach, according to a 1985 Orlando Sentinel story recalling the beach-
driving ban. That never materialized, Byron
said. The city is attracting 2.6 million visitors a year, she said, thanks in part to a bustling and expanding port, a direct freeway to Orlando and a reputation as a “family friendly resort area.”
Cocoa Beach’s hotels commanded a higher occupancy rate and higher average daily hotel rate than Daytona in 2014, according to data from STR, which tracks hotel occupancy and rates globally.
City officials say parking isn’t stopping visitors from coming.
Several beachside parks in Cocoa Beach offer free parking. For metered spaces, annual parking passes are available for $10 for residents and $60 for nonresidents.
In the downtown, street parking is available but with a 90-minuite limit, a measure to ensure parking is available to customers and patrons of downtown businesses.
Metered parking is available for either $1.50 or $2 an hour for those who decide not to buy a parking pass. Paid parking is also available in vacant dirt lots in the downtown area, but city officials are trying to shut down those operations
The parking study included numerous recommendations, including building a municipal parking garage. One item it did not mention was driving on the beach.
Sandy Eslinger, 62, of Cocoa Beach, agreed that isn’t a solution.
She couldn’t envision putting vehicles on the beach, even though it’d be more convenient. Eslinger, who is retired and handicapped, said she never has a problem finding a spot nearby.
“The beach is for sea turtles and people,” she said. “It’s not for cars.”
Staff Writer Chris Graham contributed to this report.
Cocoa Beach, a similar tourist beach, gave up beach driving more than 40 years ago
TALE OF TWO CITIES
News-Journal photos/JIM TILLER
Crowds pack the sand on Cocoa Beach, where beach driving ended decades ago and is “a nonissue’’ today, officials say. Parking can still cause problems and long walks lugging gear, below.
There are a number of factors that threaten beach driving in Volusia County in the future:
RED SAND: Coarser red sand from crushed coquina rock has been drifting south from various locations along the coast. The red sand has led to periodic closures of beach approaches.RISING OCEAN LEVELS: Sea level at Daytona Beach rose about 5.5 inches between 1925 and 1983, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A 2010 report by the Florida Oceans Council estimated the sea could rise anywhere from 20 to 36 inches by 2100. The Oceans Council concluded the “question for Floridians is not whether they will be affected, but how much.”INCIDENTAL TAKE PERMIT: In 1996, Volusia County obtained a federal incidental take permit that allows Volusia County to have beach driving with the expectation that sea turtles and other animals may be affected. As part of its agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the county agreed to maintain a habitat conservation plan. The federal agency is also required to conduct a review of the permit every five years.
Possible Threats To The Future Of Beach Driving
About The SectionEDITORS: Pat Rice and Derek Catron
DESIGNER: Keith Saunders
WRITERS: Skyler Swisher and Chris Graham
PHOTOGRAPHERS: Jim Tiller and David Tucker
Seab
reez
e Blvd
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Mai
n St
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Int’l
Spe
edwa
y Blvd
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WestinHotel
Unive
rsity
Blvd
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EXISTING NO DRIVING ZONE
DAYTONA BEACH
Silve
r Bea
ch A
ve.
No parking
Hard RockHotel
Atlantic Ocean
Leno
x Ave
.N. Atlantic Ave. S. Atlantic Ave.A1A
Volusia County ordinances being considered Thursday would create traffic-free zones for the Hard Rock Hotel & Café and the former Desert Inn property, which may be redeveloped into an upscale Westin resort, provided developers replace lost beach parking and meet a number of other standards. Traffic flows would also be altered in certain areas, requiring motor-ists to make U-turns.
Proposed Traffic-Free Zones In Daytona Beach
News-Journal/JOHN KLIPFELSOURCE: Volusia County
PerspectiveRead more views on the beach driving debate, 13A
Coming TuesdayThe News-Journal partnered with Stetson University to conduct a survey to determine residents’ views on beach driving and the proposed ordinances before Volusia County. Read the results in Tuesday’s paper.
S E E V I D E O S O N B E A C H D R I V I N G O N L I N E A T W W W.N E W S-J O U R N A L O N L I N E.C O M
The Daytona Beach News-Journal Sunday, May 3, 2015 19AA LINE IN THE SAND
By CHRIS [email protected]
Long before Greg Gimbert was fighting Volusia offi-cials to keep cars on the beach, Shirley Reynolds was fighting the county to
take cars off of it.Technically, Reynolds lost the
lawsuit she filed against the county 20 years ago to protect sea turtles. But to win the suit, Volusia had to take cars off nine miles of beaches — a revolutionary change that cleared the way for subsequent compromises on the county’s century-old tradition of beach driving.
Today, the former hospital ad-ministrator is living out her life in a cabin tucked away in the Colorado mountains. But the beach and the plight of creatures like baby sea tur-tles and piping plovers still dominate her days. She sends regular emails to U.S. Fish and Wildlife authorities urging stricter enforcement of the permit that allows cars on Volusia’s beaches.
“I wish I could give it up,” said the 78-year-old, who moved away from her New Smyrna Beach home after the death of her husband. “I pray to God every day to take this off my heart. I just need to close that door. But I can’t do it to save my life.”
Reynolds and her late husband moved to New Smyrna Beach in 1968 after falling in love with the quiet beach town. A decade later, the cou-ple bought an oceanfront home with picturesque views of the Atlantic Ocean and sandy dunes below.
She sued Volusia to force cars off the beach behind her home, saying they were violating her property rights. A judge eventually sided with the county.
Years later she tried again, with a focus on protecting sea turtles, whose hatchlings she’d found crushed beneath the tires of passing vehicles or disoriented and led to their doom by beachfront lights. She recalled stopping traffic at times only to watch as motorists zoomed through flocks of shorebirds.
“For nine years I carried the bro-ken bodies off the beach,” she said.
Reynolds, who served as executive director of the Volusia County Bar Association, started attending county and city meetings advocating for environmentally friendly legislation. After her concerns fell on deaf ears, she filed a lawsuit along with fellow environmentalist Rita Alexander, claiming the county was permitting harm to sea turtles. The suit asked for driving to be banned and more stringent lighting regulations during the May-to-October nesting season.
“She saw what was happening down there and wanted to right the wrongs,” Alexander said of her longtime friend. “She has the heart of a warrior.”
The suit enraged beach-driving advocates. Paul Burke, former
president of the beach-driving advo-cacy group Sons of the Beach, once called her “the most hated person in Volusia County.” The group stirred support with bumper stickers that said the turtles could stay — it was Reynolds who needed to go.
Critics questioned whether she had more than sea turtles on her mind.
“I think she used the turtle issue because she didn’t want cars on the beach in front of her property,” said Councilman Pat Patterson, adding she often complained to county officials about loud music and people drinking on the beach. “She cost us a lot of money.”
For two decades, though, Reynolds has stuck by her cause.
The sea turtle lawsuit was dis-missed five years after it was filed, but only after the county banned driving on nine miles of beach, adopted more stringent beachfront lighting regulations and hired two code-enforcement officers to monitor lighting levels. Later, Volusia built the Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet to care for injured sea turtles. The county, which estimated its legal costs at $2 million for the case, was ordered to pay $286,000 in legal fees to Reynolds’ attorneys because the suit had prompted so many changes.
Beaches without cars proved so popular, the County Council that fought her so vehemently took the cars off a 1-mile stretch behind what is now the Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort in 2000. In 2012, the council eliminated parking in front of popular oceanfront parks like SunSplash in Daytona Beach and the Flagler Avenue boardwalk in New Smyrna Beach. A year later, the beach behind Andy Romano in Ormond Beach was made into a traf-fic-free zone. Now a new council will consider extending no-driving zones to benefit additional hotel developers.
Reynolds finds little vindication in Volusia’s new beach-management proposals. Despite her failing health, her voice remains steeled by the anger that fueled her crusade.
“They have no idea what they’re doing on that beach, and Volusia County isn’t about to do anything about it,” she said. “When they take the cars off the beach, don’t you think for one moment there will be any environmental concern whatsoever.”
Shirley Reynolds fights for car-free beachBy SKYLER SWISHER
Greg Gimbert’s ideal day is as follows:
The 45-year-old Daytona Beach resi-dent loads up his 2005
Toyota4Runner and drives a few blocks down to the beach with his 8-year-old son.
He pulls out onto the hard-packed sand as the ocean breeze blows through his open windows and parks in the perfect spot.
It’s that accessibility and convenience that Gimbert loves about Volusia County.
“It gives the residents a millionaire’s level of beach access,” Gimbert said. “It allows you to pick your own spot, bring all your stuff and come and go as you please — no matter what time of the day.”
Gimbert is fighting to keep Volusia’s beaches open to cars, leading a petition drive that would require a voter referendum anytime local elected officials make changes to beach driving. As he puts it, “You get the government you deserve, and I am trying to deserve a better one.”
Along the way, he’s earned the reputation for some as a passionate grassroots leader committed to preserving the community’s heritage. Others, though, say he’s an aggressive bully with no interest in compromise.
While Gimbert sees beach driving as an issue of personal freedom, others oppose it because of concerns about the environment, safety and its potential to limit high-end development.
A native of Richmond, Virginia, Gimbert said he and his family moved to the Daytona Beach area when he was in the fourth grade. He grew to love the area, riding motorcycles, driving on the beach and taking his truck off road.
“Daytona Beach has kept me here,” Gimbert said. “The beach access — you don’t get (this) anywhere else in the world.”
He said he was apathetic about politics until eight years ago. Concerned about encroaching high-density development on Daytona’s beachside, he began attending city meetings and founded an advocacy group called Striving Towards a New Daytona.
Gimbert, who lists his occupation as a phone technician with AT&T, declined to discuss his political leanings, but state records show he is a member of the Libertarian Party of Florida. He hesitated to discuss his family or past, saying he wanted media coverage to be about the issue of beach driving instead of him.
His latest cause is Let Volusia Vote, a group he founded that is pushing for ballot referendums on beach driving. He’s also advocated for opening trails in Tiger Bay State Forest to off-road vehicles and voiced concerns about what he perceived to be a bias toward Islam in school textbooks.
Paul Zimmerman, who heads the pro-driving beach group Sons of the Beach, says Gimbert has been a fierce advocate for a large group of people who feel local elected officials have turned their backs on them.
“There are a lot of people who feel this is part of their heritage, part of their tradition and what made Daytona Beach famous,” he said. “They see this as being an issue where their own politicians are betraying their trust that they placed in them.”
To Gimbert and other beach- driving advocates, money-hungry developers are influencing politicians to strip away the rights of the people.
Gimbert’s tactics haven’t been embraced by everyone.
Pat Northey, who spent 20 years on the Volusia County Council, describes Gimbert as a “bully” who is “always about his goal — never about shared goals.”
“He’s an articulate speaker, but it’s all about bullying someone to do what he wants to do,” said Northey, who favors ending beach driving. “There is no compromise with Gimbert.”
She finds it “offensive” when people claim to have a right to drive their car on the beach, noting that airplanes once landed on Volusia’s beaches but it would be absurd to think pilots have a right to land on the beach.
But Gimbert says he’s not backing down, and people should have a say at the ballot box on what happens in their community.
“The only rights you have,” he said, “are the rights you are willing to stand up and defend and your neighbors are willing to defend with you.”
Greg Gimbert fighting for beach access
DIFFERENT VIEWS
The Volusia County Council plans to consider ordinances that would create two zones without beach driving behind the proposed Hard Rock Hotel and redeveloped Desert Inn, as well as standards for developers in the future. Five votes are needed for the ordinances dealing with beach-driving changes to the two proposed hotels, while four votes are required to pass the ordinance outlining overall standards. The council will meet at 9 a.m. in the council chambers at the Thomas C. Kelly Administration Center, 123 W. Indiana Ave., DeLand. Here is where the council currently stands on the issue:
Three ordinances will be considered. One will create regulations for future developments seeking traffic-free zones between University Boulevard and Silver Beach Avenue. The other two ordinances will set parameters for how the Hard Rock Hotel & Cafe and Westin will be able to obtain traffic-free zones.
The traffic-free zones for the Hard Rock and Westin will total 1,316 feet, close to the size of 4! football fields. That equates to 87 beach parking spaces combined that will have to be replaced by developers and must provide direct access to the beach.Both hotels will have to provide a number of amenities including spa services and a concierge desk. The projects will also have to be fin-ished before beach driving is eliminated behind the properties. The Westin and Hard Rock will have to be completed by May 7, 2017, and Dec. 31, 2018, respectively.
Five votes each will be needed to pass the ordinances dealing with the Westin and Hard Rock. The third ordinance would allow new development and existing sites in the core district to invest in their properties in exchange for the elimination of beach driving behind their properties.
In order to get rid of beach driving behind properties, developers would have to replace a parking spot for every 15 feet of beach driving lost if the lot is on the east side of State Road A1A. Parking lots on the west side of the road would have to provide one space for every 10 feet of beach driving lost.
That ordinance will only require four votes to be approved, though subsequent attempts to remove beach driving will require five votes.
About The Ordinances
A look at the ordinances and how the council could vote
No Indication
COUNTY CHAIR JASON DAVIS: Has previously stated he is against removing beach driving. He said he is willing to listen to both sides.
Strong No
AT-LARGE COUNCILWOMAN JOYCE CUSACK: Sees merit in bringing development here but will stick to campaign promise.
Leaning Yes
DISTRICT 1 COUNCILMAN PAT PATTERSON: Favors mix of beach driving and traffic-free zones. Has voted to remove beach driving in the past.
Strong Yes
DISTRICT 2 COUNCILMAN JOSH WAGNER: Has previously stated he supports beach driving and contribut-ed to the Let Volusia Vote campaign, but will vote for ordinanc-es in order to keep projects.
Leaning Yes
DISTRICT 3 COUNCILWOMAN DEB DENYS: Said in most recent election campaign she favors beach driving, but voted for ordi-nance to be heard. She said she is willing to look at the “big picture.”
Leaning No
DISTRICT 4 COUNCILMAN DOUG DANIELS: Favors end to beach driving but says ordinance smacks of favoritism to the rich. Wants up or down vote on beach driving in general or changes to ordinances.
Strong Yes
DISTRICT 5 COUNCILMAN FRED LOWRY: Favors compromise, against countywide ban of beach driving.
The Volusia County Council on Thursday plans to consider three ordinances that could create two traffic-free zones for the Hard Rock Hotel and former Desert Inn, which could become a Westin. Here are some key facts to know ahead of the vote:
Photos Courtesy of Volusia County
News-Journal/DAVID TUCKERNews-Journal file photo
20A Sunday, May 3, 2015 The Daytona Beach News-JournalA LINE IN THE SAND
incremental closing of the beach,” he said.
More than 12,000 people have signed a petition in support of Let Volusia Vote — a proposal the coun-ty contends is unconstitutional and is likely to face a legal challenge. The county attorney has cited a 1986 decision by a circuit judge who ruled a similar effort could not be put to a ballot initiative.
‘TRY SOMETHING NEW’Daytona’s last major new beach-
front development was Ocean Walk Village, and that took place only after cars were removed from the beach behind it.
So long as beach driving contin-ues, both of the major new proposals remain uncertain. The Desert Inn owners said they would develop a lower-caliber hotel. Hard Rock’s attorney, Glenn Storch, said that project could be halted altogether.
In hopes of reviving those proj-ects, discussions resumed this year among a citizens committee that included Farmer, Storch, real estate agent G.G. Galloway and Jim Cam-eron, vice president of government relations for the Daytona Region-al Chamber of Commerce. They came up with standards developers between University Boulevard and Silver Beach Avenue would have to meet to get cars removed from the beach.
Those standards — the same ones found in the ordinances being considered Thursday — include benchmarks requiring a high level of
investment by the developer and the replacement of any parking spots lost on the beach.
Abbas Abdulhussein, whose fami-ly-owned Summit Hospitality Group is renovating the Desert Inn and owns two other beachside properties, said he doesn’t want to build just another run-of-the-mill hotel. He sees the potential in Daytona Beach for a world-class destination — an image that he says is incompatible with beach driving.
“As human beings we want things to stay the same,” Abdulhussein said. “Unfortunately, the world doesn’t stand still. The world is constantly changing.”
The former Desert Inn property will be redeveloped regardless of Thursday’s vote, Abdulhussein said. Currently, the project’s budget is around $24 million.
If beach driving is not removed, he said the property will likely be turned into a more modest Four Points by Sheraton and the project investment will shrink substantially.
“It will be back to the drawing board,” he said.
He added he understands people’s concerns, but Abdulhussein ques-tioned why people are against chang-ing the status quo.
“Why are we so afraid to try some-thing new?” he asked. “It’s almost as if they’re afraid that this will be successful and will work.”
Henry Wolfond, CEO and chair-man of Toronto-based Bayshore Capi-tal Inc. who is pushing to bring the $150 million Hard Rock to Daytona, declined to be interviewed. But in a letter to The News-Journal he said taking cars off the beach seemed the “obvious” thing to do.
“Two significant projects on the table at one time present an unprec-edented opportunity to take Daytona Beach to the next level,” he wrote.
“Individually, each of these proj-ects will act as a catalyst to enact positive change. Together they are certain to attract more tourism, more investment, and more prosperity to the core area of Daytona Beach.”
The view is shared by many in the community. Members of the CEO Business Alliance, comprised of some of the area’s leading corporate executives, believe the hotels will have a trickle-down effect for the rest of the county.
“The concept of momentum in economic development is a big thing. The momentum is here,” said Kent Sharples, who serves as CEO of the economic development group. “We have the opportunity to keep that momentum moving in the right direction.”
Even those who support preserving beach driving elsewhere have come out in favor of this plan. Chris Bowl-er, chairman of the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce board, said most businesses in the community do not favor an end to beach driving, but the chamber is urging its members to lobby the County Council to “support the beach-driving compromise.”
THE DECISION-MAKERSThough council members have
not said publicly how they intend to vote, separate interviews with each suggests the fate of the ordinances is unclear.
Typical of the willingness to compromise for what they see as a greater good is Councilman Josh Wagner, a beach-driving supporter
who contributed to Let Volusia Vote. Wagner said he doesn’t want to be responsible for Volusia losing out on some of the largest projects considered for Daytona’s beachside in the last quarter of a century.
“This is a very big deal for me to vote this way,” Wagner said. “The only reason I am willing to vote for these projects is because they won’t happen unless I do.”
Councilman Doug Daniels, who has long been a proponent of ending beach driving, said he doesn’t par-ticularly care for the plan, adding it “smacks of selling the beachfront to wealthy developers who can afford it.”
“There are good reasons to get cars off the beach,” said Daniels, who said he would not support the current ordinances. “We should just do it.”
Council members Deb Denys, Pat Patterson and Fred Lowry also indi-cated varying degrees of support.
Chair Davis said he is hoping to make sure residents are protected in the event the hotels fail. He did not say how he was going to vote.
“I’m working to make it a good compromise for everybody,” he said.
Councilwoman Joyce Cusack, who ran on a campaign promise of supporting beach driving, was more torn.
“As heart-wrenching as this is, at the end of the day my integrity will be intact,” she said, giving voice to an ambivalence that’s split the county.
“It’s tradition versus growth,” Cusack added, “and both sides of that equation are very important to the citizens of Volusia County.”
SANDFROM PAGE 17A
1902The first race on the beach.
1904 to 1935Land speed races held on beach; Malcolm Campbell sets land speed record in 1935 with speed of 276.8 mph.
1936The first stock car race is held on Daytona Beach beach/road course.
1959NASCAR holds first race at Dayto-na International Speedway.
1985Night time beach driving banned.
1988Volusia County takes over man-agement of beach. Daily beach tolls start at $3.
1993Daily tolls increased to $5
1996Nine miles of the beach closed in certain sections in response to lawsuit filed to protect endangered and threatened sea turtles. Volusia County enters into incidental take permit with federal government allowing for beach driving to continue.
2000About one mile of beach driving eliminated behind the Ocean Walk Village and current-day Hilton Day-tona Beach Oceanfront Resort.
2012Volusia County implements chang-es including one-way zones and no-parking zones. Beach parking banned in front of SunSplash Park in Daytona Beach and Flagler Avenue Boardwalk in New Smyrna Beach.
2013Andy Romano Beachfront Park in Ormond Beach granted traffic-free zone.
2015Daily toll increased to $10. Annual passes also see hike.
HISTORY OF BEACH DRIVING
News-Journal file photos
Daytona Beach Police officer Ryan Forrest checks out a damaged vehicle while patrolling the property with officer Tearany Hardaway at the Gardens of Daytona apartments in Daytona Beach on Thursday night. NEWS-JOURNAL/NIGEL COOK
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HOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS BEACH | Flagler Edition
Officers have answered more than 5,000 POLICE CALLS at Gardens of Daytona apartments since January 2012. During that same time, the 230-unit complex has received more than $9.5 MILLION from the federal government to provide ‘decent, safe and sanitary housing’ to low-income families. THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN, and
residents, taxpayers and police pay the price.
By Eileen [email protected]
DAYTONA BEACH — Millions of taxpayer dollars swirl around the Gardens of Daytona every year, but that
hasn’t been enough to extinguish constant crime on the sprawling apartment property, halt a mold epidemic or keep dishwashers and air conditioners functioning properly.
By the end of this year, about $9.5 million in federal rent and utility assistance will have been sent to the low-income com-plex in the city’s core since the beginning of 2012. With so much money flowing from Washing-ton, D.C., there are rules for the government, owner, apartment staff and 700-plus residents.
Some are breaking the rules, though, and everyone is paying the price.
Police have been called to the Gardens of Daytona more than 5,000 times since January 2012, an off-the-charts volume that triggered a city law used to fine the apartments $94,350 for excessive requests for law enforcement. Over the course of the past four years there have
HIGH COST, HIGH CRIME
CostThe Gardens of Daytona has received more than $9.5 million* in federal housing subsidies since January 2012.
Rent subsidies: Approximately $2 million per year; 4-year total of $8 million
Utility subsidies: $378,168 per year; 4-year total of $1,512,672
*Includes full-year totals for 2015
SOURCE: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
CrimeSome more serious crimes reported at the Gardens of Daytona since early 2012:
Assault/Battery: 133Narcotics: 39Theft: 36Burglary/residence: 31Hit & Run: 23Assault/Battery w/injuries: 21Shooting: 19Child Abuse: 8Armed robbery: 5Sex Offense w/child: 5Person Shot: 4Sexual Battery: 4Sex Offense: 3Carjacking: 1Home invasion: 1SOURCE: DAYTONA BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT, POLICE CALLS FROM 1-1-12 TO 7-31-15
More on this story■ For more police calls for serious crimes, A5.
■ See the full list of police calls and a photo gallery from Gardens of Daytona apartments at news-journalonline.com
■ What life is like at the Gardens of Daytona, A6.
■ Who is James Kincaid, owner of the Gardens of Daytona?, A7.
Terra Harp, with her 2-year-old daughter Patience Shellman and 8-year-old son Xavier Reed, has lived at the Gardens of Daytona since 2010. “We’re not all here for handouts, and we’re not all criminals and bad people,” Harp said. “We’re just people in a bad situation with no other place to go.” NEWS-JOURNAL/NIGEL COOK
SEE POLICE CALLS, A5
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By Katie Kustura [email protected]
York Bodden, the suspect in a triple shooting that killed two Bethune-Cookman University students, died after hanging himself in his Miami jail cell, officials said.
Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood said he learned late Saturday afternoon about Bodden’s death b y s u i c i d e , which also was confirmed by the Florida Depart-m e n t o f L a w Enforcement.
“ H e s a v e d t h e s t a t e t h e expense,” Chit-wood said.
Bodden, 27, w a s a r r e s t e d Friday in North M i a m i a f t e r fatally shoot-ing 19-year-old Diona McDonald and 21-year-old Timesha “Lisa” Carswell and critically injuring Micah Parham, also a 21-year-old B-CU student, Thursday afternoon in a residence at Carolina Club Apartments in Daytona Beach, officials said.
The loss of McDonald and Carswell was mourned from their home state of Michigan to the campus of B-CU. And in the midst of tragedy, one family member said, loved ones found solace in Chitwood’s compassion.
All three B-CU students were studying music. Bodden ini-tially was believed to be a local student, but Chitwood said that’s likely just one of the lies Bodden told real students in the community.
FDLE agents tracked down Bodden just before noon Friday standing in front of a North Miami home. Bodden, who is from Miami, tried to run
CONTINUING COVERAGE: TRIPLE SHOOTING
Suspect in B-CU murders hangs self in jailFamily, friends mourn victims from Michigan to Daytona
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been five armed robberies, 19 shootings, 154 assaults, 37 burglaries, 39 narcotics cases, 72 fights, 231 noise complaints and 36 weapons complaints, according to police department records.
“The last 10 years the crime has become more serious,” said Nicholas Fiore, a retired Daytona Beach police officer with 29 years on the force who works for the department part time now. “It’s the perception of a place where you can get away with it.”
“There’s a lot of apathy,” said Police Chief Mike Chitwood, who regularly bicycles through the property. “A lot of people just want to mind their own business and criminals know that.”
Inspections at the apartments over the past 15 years have racked up a less-than-stellar collection of grades, according to reports the News-Journal obtained from the U.S. Department of Hous-ing and Urban Development, although those low scores have not blocked the stream of federal dollars to the complex’s owner. Last year’s inspection ended with failing scores of 54 and 57 for two of the three clusters of buildings in the complex, and notations that all three areas had at least one life threatening health and safety issue, according to the HUD records.
“We’ve got bed bugs, cock-roaches, rats and mold,” said resident Terra Harp, a 35-year-old mother of five who has lived at the Gardens of Daytona since 2010. “They don’t care about us. They look at us and they just see dollar signs.”
‘Soul City’ is bornBack in 1969, when the
Vietnam War was raging and Daytona International Speedway was 10 years old, a large piece of land just east of Nova Road and south of Orange Avenue began to transform into the 32-building Gardens of Daytona. Construc-tion was completed in 1971 on the maze of two-story concrete block buildings covering three city blocks.
The apartment complex has always been privately owned, and at some point after 1974 it became a place where low-income residents could receive federal government rent assis-tance through the Section 8 program, now called the Housing Choice Voucher Program. Most families in the 230 units bring in less than $30,000 per year and a good portion of their rent is cov-ered by tax dollars.
The majority of residents are black, spurring a nickname for the apartments that has stuck over the years: Soul City. The apartment demographics mirror what U.S. Census data reports for the surrounding neighborhood: predominantly black, single women heading up households and more renters than homeowners in a place with some of the highest crime rates in the city.
Some are third-generation residents of the apartments, unable to break out of the cycle of poverty.
The broader neighborhood, called Midtown, has the city’s highest rates of poverty and illiteracy, Chitwood said. The complex is just outside the boundaries of the Midtown Community Redevelopment Area, which for the past 17 years has received special attention from the city government for improvements.
Rules versus realityApartment managers in prop-
erty-based voucher programs such as the Gardens of Daytona have the burden of figuring out who qualifies for the rent assistance, and coordinating with both the owner and HUD on everything from purchases to government inspections. Marilyn Baker, who’s been the property manager for 10 months, works for Pittsburgh-based NDC Real Estate Management, Inc., which the apartments’ owner hired in 2013 to handle day-to-day operations of the complex.
Owners get into contracts with HUD, and owners’ properties, rent charges, budgets, contracts and vouchers are monitored by both HUD and the private agen-cies HUD hires to do most of the checking. Since 2004, the Gardens of Daytona has been
monitored by the North Tampa Housing Development Corpora-tion, a private non-profit hired by HUD that monitors 450 HUD contracts throughout Florida covering 120,000 tenants.
Apartment owners who request significant HUD fund-ing increases have to go through a rigorous review from agen-cies such as the one in Tampa, but they also have the option of asking for something akin to a cost of living increase and get-ting a less involved review. The Gardens of Daytona, owned by low-income housing investor James Kincaid of Cocoa Beach, has used the less thorough review process for more than a decade, said Don Shea, director of the North Tampa Housing Develop-ment Corporation.
Kincaid has been out of the country since August, according to his asset manager, and could not be reached for comment.
HUD sends out private inspec-tors it contracts with to check on the condition of properties. Properties that receive a score of 90 or higher aren’t scheduled for another inspection for three years. Scores of 80-89 spur the next check in two years, 60-79 are re-checked one year later and those that score below 60 trig-ger re-inspections in 60 days. A grade of 30 or lower will bring demands for corrective actions and possibly the end of HUD funding.
The Gardens of Daytona has received scores ranging from 44 to 91 since 2001, HUD records show. Last year’s inspection records note reports of bed bugs and damaged fire extinguishers, walls, door locks, stoves, dish-washers, refrigerators, toilets, paint, roofs, fencing and steps. The next inspection is scheduled for this month, and everything from smoke detectors to kitchen sink sprayers will be checked out, Baker said.
Another type of inspection, which checks behind manage-ment, produced ratings ranging from “below average” to “supe-rior” at the Gardens of Daytona, according to HUD records from 2001 through 2011.
Shea said his organization, an affiliate of the Tampa Housing Authority, has done those man-agement site inspections at the Gardens of Daytona over the past decade to verify budget items, check that promised repairs were made and evaluate management. But those visits haven’t taken place in Daytona, or at the other places the Tampa agency moni-tors, for three years because of a
contract dispute between HUD and agencies such as Shea’s that HUD chooses through a bidding process to oversee voucher pro-gram properties.
Shea said the dispute went into the federal court system, the private companies won at the appellate level and the U.S. Supreme Court decided in April to not take the case that centered on the way the private companies were chosen by HUD.
“It used to be we’d go once per year to look at the files and prop-erty,” Shea said.
Shea said no one has filled that inspection gap for three years.
“There’s no verification now,” he said. “God only knows what they’re doing now because there’s no eyes out there.”
A closer look insideResidents contend that there
are plenty of problems at the apartments. They complain about stubborn mildew, ram-pant gnats, mold that they say gives kids respiratory problems and cockroaches that set off smoke detectors.
“They’ll spend money on a (security) camera but not to kill a bed bug,” charged 40-year-old Darrian Sanders, who grew up in the apartments. “Nothing out here is consistent. ... Some of these apartments should be condemned.”
Harp has had a protracted battle with management over bed bugs, and in August she received a written eviction warning from Baker accusing her of intimidating her neigh-bors into telling a News-Journal reporter they had mold in their apartments.
“Just because we’re low
income they feel they can treat us like this, and it’s not cool,” Harp said. “We’re not all here for handouts, and we’re not all criminals and bad people. We’re just people in a bad situation with no other place to go.”
Despite residents’ accusa-tions about the condition of the apartments, Daytona Beach code enforcement officers say they only get about two viable cases per year that fall in line with what they monitor. Code Officer Denzil Sykes said ear-lier this year he helped residents who had rats coming in through a hole in their roof.
Tenants who have complaints they don’t want to take to the apartment manager can turn to Shea’s Tampa organization. Shea said he has a call center that documents problems and contacts the owner.
“They have to reply to us how they handled it,” Shea said. “HUD is notified.”
Residents also have a right to organize tenant associations with elected leaders and meet on the property without the owner or manager present.
Deborah Hallisky, a longtime attorney with Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida in Day-tona Beach who recently left the agency, has helped Gardens of Daytona residents learn their rights and navigate HUD rules.
“They’re so afraid if they complain their assistance will be taken away from them,” Hal-lisky said. “They’re some of the most protected tenants.”
Deeply rooted crimeThe 230-unit Gardens of Day-
tona has had about 116 police calls per month since January 2012, and at the 71-unit Villages at Halifax apartment complex owned by the Daytona Beach Housing Authority that runs
along the north side of Interna-tional Speedway Boulevard there have been a little more than five calls per month over the past two years, according to police records. The Gardens of Daytona has about three times as many apartments, but its monthly average of police calls is 21 times higher.
Police say a significant portion of the Gardens of Daytona crime is committed either by people living there without being on a lease or non-residents coming onto the property. Harp said her kids have found bags of mari-juana and cocaine while playing outside, and most restaurants refuse to deliver food to the apartments because of the crime.
The Rev. Monzell Ford, who said he spent a lot of his younger years as a member of the Crips gang in south central Los Angeles, has tried to attack the lawless-ness. Ford said when he worked at the Gardens of Daytona as an assistant property manager in 2010, some apartments were makeshift neighborhood stores selling everything from soda to marijuana.
Ford said it’s hard to catch criminals in the complex because “Soul City is not stupid. They have lookouts everywhere.”
Shane Sarver, an asset man-ager for the company that owns the apartments, said his agency hires off-duty police to be on the property 20 hours per week.
“It seems to help,” Sarver said. “It’s big and it can be a chore monitoring who comes onto the property. We’ve seen a dramatic improvement with crime.”
Chitwood said his biggest challenge has been the constant turnover of apartment manag-ers, which has made it difficult for him to develop a partner-ship. But he has high hopes for Baker, who since this summer has allowed officers to use part of her office building for a small police substation and is open to connecting her security cameras to police computers.
Baker has evicted about 20 people over the past year, some for felony convictions, others for violent fights — including some with hammers.
“It is hard. I’m not going to lie to you,” Baker said. “I need the neighbors to get involved and tell me about drugs. A lot of people like to complain, but sometimes it does take a village.”
Baker said she “won’t rest until they’re all behind bars.”
“I see a lot of little kids, and they deserve to grow up in a safe place,” she said.
Refusing to give upFord said he interrupted crimi-
nal activity so much a few years ago that his life was threatened “many times.”
“Some people there felt like they were in prison and couldn’t enjoy their home, and I wasn’t OK with that,” Ford said.
Over the summer, retired Judge Hubert L. Grimes, Volusia County’s first black judge, held an event at the apartments for kids that included Chitwood, the Bethune-Cookman University football team, a bounce house and a water slide.
“There’s a lack of trust with law enforcement, and the only way to overcome that is to develop relationships,” said the 62-year-old Grimes.
Angie Bee, who runs a Chris-tian ministry, has held outdoor movie nights and workshops on things such as domestic violence. Former resident Joy Daniels comes back to help struggling residents.
“You can be scared of an area, or you can go there and try to help,” Daniels said.
Belinda McMillian-Haynes, who runs an educational and wellness service in Daytona, also helps residents.
“Instead of the government doing everything we’re just working together,” she said. “We’ve all got to come together. Sitting behind closed doors is not going to do it.”
Chitwood said it’s ultimately up to the apartments’ owner and management to make things better at the Gardens of Daytona.
“If you have good manage-ment, screen tenants and enforce the rules, the apartment complex will take care of itself,” the chief said. “Management has to make a financial, moral and ethical commitment to the tenants that they’ll provide a quality of life they’re entitled to that’s crime-free and bug-free.”
POLICE CALLSFrom Page A1
The Daytona Beach News-Journal | Sunday, September 20, 2015 A5
HIGH COST, HIGH CRIME
Kids strike poses for the camera at the Gardens of Daytona apartments recently amidst a sea of shopping carts. The complex’s manager says “I need the neighbors to get involved and tell me about drugs. I see a lot of little kids, and they deserve to grow up in a safe place.” NEWS-JOURNAL/NIGEL COOK
Police responsesPolice have been called to the Gardens of Daytona apartments more than 5,000 times since Jan-uary 2012. Not all of those calls were pleas for help with violent crimes or other felonies. Records show 891 calls, for instance, were classified as “extra patrol,” which means officers checked on the property of their own accord, the property manager asked for increased police presence or the officer was directed there by a supervisor based on recent activity at the apartments. But many of the calls were for seri-ous crimes. Here’s a breakdown:
Disturbance: 400Domestic disturbance: 200Assault and battery: 133Fight: 59Narcotics: 39Theft: 36Weapons complaint: 36Burglary/residence: 31Stolen Vehicle: 28Hit and run: 23Assault and battery w/injuries: 21Fight w/injuries: 21Shooting: 19Child abuse: 8Strong-armed Robbery: 8Armed robbery: 5Sex offense w/child: 5Person shot: 4Sexual Battery: 4Sex offense: 3Carjacking: 1Home invasion: 1SOURCE: DAYTONA BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT, POLICE CALLS FROM 1-1-12 TO 7-31-15
Daytona Beach Police officers Tearany Hardaway and Ryan Forrest talk with Shymond Alderman while patrolling the property at Gardens of Daytona apartments in Daytona Beach on Thursday. Alderman talked to the officers about his hopes of becoming a professional fighter. NEWS-JOURNAL/NIGEL COOK
St.
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Source: maps4news.com/©HEREGATEHOUSE MEDIA
DAYTONA BEACH
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Gardens of Daytona apartments
A6 Sunday, September 20, 2015 | The Daytona Beach News-Journal
HIGH COST, HIGH CRIME
By Eileen [email protected]
DAYTONA BEACH — Inside some of the garage-sized apartments, mold spreads like cancer. Slabs of raw wood cover broken windows. Bed bugs, cockroaches and rats scurry across soiled black carpet.
Outside, bullet holes scar some of the concrete block walls, and empty 2-inch-square plastic bags that once held mar-ijuana and crack cocaine poke out of the grass like weeds. Dozens of black security cam-eras attached to light poles and buildings are ever-present sentinels recording 24-7. Kids climb on swing sets with no swings and rusting metal slides as old as their grandparents, and they give each other rides in stolen shopping carts that are a fixture in the courtyards.
Welcome to the Gardens of Daytona, home of more than 700 people, many of whom would be somewhere else if they didn’t rely on the federal government dollars sent to the complex to help cover their rent and utility bills.
“Some people would say this is the place society gave up on,” said the Rev. Monzell Ford, who moved to Daytona Beach in 2009 specifically to try to improve things at the cluster of two-story apartment buildings located just east of Nova Road.
Since January 2012, there have been more than 5,000 calls to police for everything from armed robberies to burglaries to shootings at the apartments located on the western edge of Daytona’s crime-saddled Mid-town neighborhood.
Tenants are black, white and Hispanic, young and old. Their common thread is they’re poor, most making less than $30,000 per year and getting well over half of their rent paid for by the U.S. Department of Hous-ing and Urban Development, known to most people as HUD. Their total rent ranges from $623 per month for a one-bed-room apartment to $896 for a four-bedroom apartment, but nearly 120 of them pay nothing and some pay as little as $12 per month.
Locals who remember when the 32 apartment buildings went up from 1969 to 1971 say they were nice when the first few waves of tenants moved in. But over the past 45 years, the property deteriorated along with the quality of life.
There’s little elbow room in the complex. Shouts blast through walls, and front porches cluttered with toys, bikes, plastic chairs and grills provide about six feet of turf and no privacy.
There is no shortage of noise. Carolyn Smithson, who doesn’t work and is at home all day with her 5-year-old daughter, said she can count on ear-splitting fights among upstairs neigh-bors every night on cue.
“You can get your own little Jerry Springer Show,” she said, looking up at the ceiling of her cramped apartment.
Darrian Sanders, a 40-year-o l d w h o g r e w u p i n t h e apartments and moved to Holly Hill five years ago to escape the mayhem, said people put “con-cert-sized speakers outside at night until 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. It’s a big party town.”
Management staff is gone by 5 p.m., and nightfall also brings rampant drug dealing and casual sex under the stars.
“It’s free game after hours,” said Sanders, who comes back to the apartments every week to spend time with his mother, who still lives there. “If you stay here long enough you’ll see a fist fight. We never know if there’ll be a gunfight.”
Tenants and management at war
Residents mostly blame apartment staff for the con-dition of the 230 units, which have rusty, decades-old gas stoves and broken dishwashers that the apartment’s manager said are eventually going to be stripped out. Residents say the five maintenance men make Band-Aid repairs, and most of those improvements are tack-led only when they know HUD
inspectors are coming. Those inspectors, whose reports have the power to choke off the millions of dollars in rental assistance that flows into the Gardens of Daytona every year, are due to be on the property this month.
Marilyn Baker, who’s been the property manager for about 10 months, said residents and their visitors are the ones tear-ing up the property. Baker said the problems are rooted in residents breaking things themselves and not taking care of their homes.
Some residents hiding people living with them who aren’t on the lease, or doing illegal things behind closed doors, change their locks and don’t let main-tenance men in to spray for
pests or make repairs, she said.“I can’t fix what I don’t know
about,” said Baker, who has kicked out about 20 residents over the past year, most for violent fights.
Several people around the community are trying to fix things at the apartments, too. Ford, the pastor, brought Christian rappers and free food to the apartments on a Sunday afternoon in July. Retired Volu-sia County Judge Hubert L. Grimes organized an event for kids at the apartments in June that included motivational speakers, a bounce house, water slide and food. Belinda McMil-lian-Haynes, who lives near the apartments, has helped resi-dents get educations and jobs.
Marianne Maegiore said
she’s seen things improve in her nine years at the Gardens of Daytona.
“It’s better today than it ever was,” said Maegiore, who’s had her apartment windows broken out twice and lost a lot of her things in the May 2009 floods that deluged the complex with a few feet of water overflowing from the nearby Nova Canal.
The 61-year-old stayed through all the problems because she’s had little choice financially, and because it became home.
“People ask, ‘where do you live?’” she said. “When I tell them they say, ‘You live there?’ I’m proud of it.”
Maegiore, nicknamed “the Nana of the Ghetto” because she’s one of the older residents and offers a caring ear for her neighbor’s problems, said she’s raised her two teen-aged grandchildren in the apart-ments and maintains “they love it” and are “straight-A students.”
“When I first moved in there were a lot of fights, gunshots, drug deals in plain view, crime galore,” she said. “Now they know police walk through and it’s getting better. ... Change is happening, but it’s slow. A lot of people are trying to change things, but there are bad apples.”
Even Smithson, who said she’ll move somewhere with fewer problems the first chance she gets, has made her apart-ment home for now. A huge smile spread across her face as she proudly pointed to her small daughter’s collection of beauty pageant trophies, sashes and crowns that have taken over a set of shelves in her living room. The surrounding walls are dotted with unframed family photos that are kept in place by Scotch tape.
Bed bugs and burglariesIt’s hard to find residents who
like their home as much as Mae-giore. It’s a lot easier to come
across tenants such as 26-year-old Delmetia Joseph, who said her apartment became so unliv-able with mold, bed bugs and rats that she had to clear out in May and move into a motel — while she’s still forced to pay $178 every month for rent on her empty apartment.
Seeing a rat scamper out of her toddler’s bedroom one night while he slept was a low point.
When Joseph first moved in a little more than two years ago, she said she brought in furniture that was “brand-stinking-new.” But she said within months mold spread over her furniture, carpet, clothes and 3-year-old son’s toys.
“I went through three beds and three couch sets,” she said. “They’ve got the same carpet from when they got flooded out. I don’t know how they keep that place open.”
Joseph said she’s spent thou-sands of dollars covering motel bills and replacing furniture, clothes and toys. As a McDon-ald’s employee who recently got a raise from $8.35 an hour to $9.32 an hour, it’s money she didn’t have to lose.
Baker said Joseph’s claims bear little resemblance to the truth. She said Joseph changed her locks back in June so staff couldn’t get inside, and the mold didn’t reel out of control until Joseph shut off her power.
Joseph said she’s also had to deal with crime. She said one day she came home from work to find someone had broken in through her living room window, grabbed her flat-screen TV along with $500 in cash and took off. Baker said the burglary never happened, and the story was fabricated.
Police Chief Mike Chitwood said his officers investigated, but neighbors all say they didn’t see or hear anything during the break-in that was reported to have happened during the day, so it’s been difficult to make a case.
R e g a r d l e s s o f w h e t h e r Joseph’s apartment was broken into, there is most certainly crime at the Gardens of Day-tona. Women avoid carrying purses in plain sight. It’s not uncommon to see police speed-ing onto the property to chase a suspect.
Chitwood said a lot of the crime is committed by “people who don’t belong there.” The chief said the rest is being com-mitted by a small percent of the residents, but the tenants play-ing by the rules are unwilling to talk to police.
Better than the streetsSmithson, whose neighbors
provide the Jerry Springer-style fights, said she’s still waiting for replacement of her severely stained and worn carpet. Her bathroom vent is rusted and the ceiling has a moldy area about a foot across that’s sagging down in a bubble that looks like it’s ready to burst.
When Smithson’s not worry-ing about something broken in her apartment, which is filled with damaged secondhand fur-niture and scattered trash, she frets about crime.
“The worst fight was the year before last,” she said. “Some-one shot across my porch. I literally had to pull my baby inside. There’s still bullet holes in my wall.”
She’d love to move. But she said she and her husband, who’s trying to get training to become a boat mechanic, can’t afford anything else. The couple pay just $73 for their portion of the monthly rent, but she said her disability check that she gets for having seizures has to cover other expenses, too.
Her daughter Julia, who’s never known another life, gig-gled and played with her two puppies while her mother ran through her list of problems.
“I’m teaching my daugh-ter this is not where you want to stay,” she said. “Until I get myself straight this is where I got to be. I’m just grateful I have something. Without this I’d be on the streets.”
She said her dream is to have a house with a backyard and “a swing where my baby can play.”
“God will bless me,” Smith-son said. “I’ll keep on trying.”
‘We never know if there’ll be a gunfight’
Delmetia Joseph doesn’t live here anymore. She moved into a motel to escape the mold, bed bugs and rats. But the McDonald’s employee still pays her share of the rent. “I went through three beds and three couch sets,” she said. “They’ve got the same carpet from when they got flooded out. I don’t know how they keep that place open.” NEWS-JOURNAL/NIGEL COOK
Carolyn Smithson has family photos taped to her living room wall. She said she’s teaching her daughter “this is not where you want to stay.” Smithson said a couple of years ago “someone shot across my porch. I literally had to pull my baby inside. There’s still bullet holes in my wall.” NEWS-JOURNAL/EILEEN ZAFFIRO-KEAN
Marianne Maegiore, right, thanks Pastor Monzell Ford for organizing a recent Sunday afternoon festival. Maegiore is nicknamed “the Nana of the Ghetto” because she’s one of the older residents and offers a caring ear for her neigh-bor’s problems. NEWS-JOURNAL/NIGEL COOK
“It’s better today than it ever was. People ask, ‘where do you live?’. When I tell them they say, ‘You live there?’ I’m proud of it.”— Marianne Maegiore, a nine-year resident at the Gardens of Daytona
The Daytona Beach News-Journal | Sunday, September 20, 2015 A7
By Eileen [email protected]
DAYTONA BEACH — James W. Kincaid lives in Xanadu.
The 15-story oceanfront tower in Cocoa Beach with $300,000 condos, a private boardwalk, tennis court, heated pool, gym and clubhouse is a galaxy away from the dozens of low-income apartment complexes that Kin-caid and his business partners have owned over the years.
The amenities at Kincaid’s Day-tona Beach apartment property, the Gardens of Daytona, include a public bicycle path that runs alongside muddy water flowing through the Nova Road canal, a laundry room with no air condi-tioning, decades-old playground equipment and 32 security cam-eras watching residents’ every move outside. The complex is packed with more than 700 ten-ants who make less than $30,000 per year — many less than $15,000 — and rely on federal government rent subsidies, utility assistance and food stamps.
Few of them could afford Kincaid’s $525 monthly condo maintenance fee much less his mortgage. About four of their apartments could fit into the 2,340-square-foot piece of Xanadu that Kincaid bought in 2002.
One major financial boost Kin-caid gets to make the Gardens of Daytona a profitable venture is the roughly $2 million in rent assis-tance he receives every year from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. That $2 million is sent first to the North Tampa Housing Development Corporation, a private nonprofit organization hired by HUD that has monitored the finances and federal government contract with the Daytona apartment complex for the past 12 years.
“The (Gardens of Daytona) budget is proposed by the owner and is reviewed by my staff for compliance with guidelines
and standards set in the regu-lations and HUD policy,” said Don Shea, director of the North Tampa Housing Development Corporation.
Apartment owners can use both the HUD rent subsidies and remaining portions of rent paid by the tenants for virtually anything connected to running the complex including improvements, main-tenance, appliances, property taxes and insurance, Shea said. The owners are required to keep debt to a minimum and maintain reserve accounts that they can only tap with HUD’s approval, he said, but whatever is left over after reserves and bills can go for profit.
“The amount of profit is deter-mined by the market and the extent to which the property is managed to earn any profit,” said Shea, whose agency, an affiliate of the Tampa Housing Authority, oversees about 450 other rental properties throughout Florida.
The 68-year-old Kincaid lives in a world of big numbers and big risks. He’s been sued several times, winding up on the losing end of decisions with big-dollar judgments in at least a few of the suits, court records show. He’s also faced IRS legal action for not paying personal income taxes for eight years, and one of his companies filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012, records show.
Kincaid, who according to his asset manager has been out of the country for the past month, could not be reached for com-ment. His business is privately held and financial records were not available.
The companies behind the man
Records kept by the Florida State Department’s Division of Corporations list 18 companies, 11 of which are still active, that name Kincaid as the registered agent. About six names, including Kincaid’s, repeatedly show up on annual reports as officers within the limited liability partnerships.
Kincaid signed many of the docu-ments as vice president, general partner and registered agent.
Shane Sarver, an asset manager for Kincaid’s Cape Canaveral-based parent organization, The Heritage Companies, said the investors have whittled down their holdings to about 20 affordable residential properties throughout the Southeast, less than half of which are in Florida.
One of their Florida properties is the Twin Oaks Villas Apart-ments in Pensacola. Pictures a resident posted online show a nice, clean apartment with attrac-tive furniture.
Here’s one review from a Twin Oaks resident posted online a year ago: “I am pleased with this living facility. I only (wish) the apart-ments were larger ... Loving the cameras on the property to keep us safe and management informed of what’s going on the property.”
But another Twin Oaks tenant alleged in a 2012 review that there was no pest control or security, “the noise is horrible and (it) is drug infested.” The writer con-tinued that “the violence out there is ridiculous and the office is not helpful.”
Many residents of the Gardens of Daytona have equally low opinions about their complex, and they complain about every-thing from mold to burglaries. The apartments’ manager, Marilyn Baker, said she jumps on problems as soon as she hears about them.
Kincaid and his group bought the Gardens of Daytona in 2001 for just under $3.2 million, according to Volusia County property appraiser records. The property now has a just value of $5.67 million, records show.
Shortly after Kincaid took over the property, Sarver said he used a tax credit program to tackle a multimillion-dollar rehab of the 32-building Daytona complex that included adding central air conditioning, new doors, new windows and more three- and four-bedroom apartments. A
city of Daytona Beach Permit & Licensing Division form from June of 2001 lists intended work at the apartments including “new exterior stucco, grade beams, columns, portico roofs, shingles, interior plumbing, central heat & air, cabinets, patch & paint walls & floor covering.”
The “total valuation of work” listed on the form was typed in as $7 million, but someone crossed it out and wrote next to it $218,750. A city government building permit with the same date and work information lists the value as $218,750. A 2003 building permit application that lists most of the same improvements also has a value of $218,750.
Additional city permits for the property that go through 2008 show applications for improve-ments and repairs collectively valued at about $34,000. Online records of the Volusia County property appraiser don’t list any large improvements or repairs since 2001.
Not all work requires permits or mentions in property appraiser records. The dozens of security cameras installed last year at the Gardens of Daytona cost a few hundred thousand dollars, and the company spent thousands a few years ago repainting all the buildings, Sarver said. He said the company tries to “provide a safe and decent living environment.”
Baker, the property manager, said she generally gets enough money for repairs and new appliances when she submits requests.
Trail of legal troublesCourt records indicate Kin-
caid and his partners have spent millions covering judgments and attorneys’ fees in lawsuits brought against them and their companies.
One of their most costly cases stems from Kincaid’s 2002 project to build a 92-unit multi-family housing project in Lima, Ohio, according to court records. The
project was spearheaded by Waterford Townhomes Limited Partnership, an agency Kincaid was connected to as general part-ner, records show.
To build the affordable homes, the Waterford partner-ship secured a $1.5 million loan from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, a state government entity that extends financing for low-income housing in Ohio. The agreement was for Water-ford to pay back the $1.5 million by September 2012 with annual installments. There was also a provision that called for an addi-tional $1.15 million to be paid in interest, late charges, collec-tion costs and attorneys fees if necessary.
Waterford never made any loan payments, according to court records, and by December 2009 the Ohio Housing Finance Agency filed suit. After a flurry of legal action, in April 2013 an Ohio trial court ordered Heritage and related partners to pay more than $3.5 million. Last year an Ohio appeals court upheld that ruling.
One of the business partners on the deal has since paid $1.55 million of the total $3.5 million judgement, according to Ohio state government officials.
In July 2012, two months before the final deadline to pay back the $1.5 million loan, Waterford Townhomes Limited Partnership filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, records show. Kin-caid signed the bankruptcy forms as “debtor.”
The eight businesses and two governments seeking money from Waterford listed claims ranging from $143 to $2.3 million.
It’s not clear if all of those claims have been paid, or if the IRS has received the full $254,538 that records indicate the agency sought from Kincaid in unpaid personal income taxes for eight years between 1991 and 2004. At least some of that tax debt has been paid off, records show.
Gardens owner has properties statewideHIGH COST, HIGH CRIME
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