PLDRC approves several variances for housing and agricultural parcels; key votes summarized

The Planning and Land Development Regulation Commission on May 21 approved multiple variance requests affecting agricultural and residential parcels across Volusia County.

Feral Construction LLC (case V‑26‑042) sought nine variances on an A‑1 (prime agricultural) parcel to allow construction of an 1,800‑square‑foot mobile home, a 638‑square‑foot accessory garage, and to legalize a 2,684‑square‑foot after‑the‑fact farm building. Planner Kelly Tucker corrected the staff report to note that variances 5–7 met four of the five variance criteria rather than five of five. Staff recommended variances 1–4, 8 and 9 meet all five criteria and recommended approval overall with five conditions. Amy Munizzi of the De Leon Springs Community Association spoke in support of the property improvements. The commission approved V‑26‑042, 1–9, with the five staff‑recommended conditions.

Case V‑26‑049 involved a replacement 1,568‑square‑foot mobile home on a 0.26‑acre, nonconforming A‑1 parcel. Planner Laura Costa said the variances would resolve two open code violations (a dilapidated mobile home and a resident living in a camper) and noted the applicant provided a valid nonconforming‑lot letter. The applicant said the larger unit was needed to accommodate family caregiving. The commission approved variances 1–3 with three conditions.

Waterfront case V‑26‑054 requested reductions to an east front yard and a west waterfront yard for a single‑story house on a narrow lot along the Halifax River. Staff recommended approval with two conditions, citing limited buildable area (224 square feet after applying a 50‑foot upland buffer). The applicant's representative said adjacent lots are unbuildable and the lot shape constrains development; the commission approved the variances with two conditions.

Each approval was made with staff‑recommended conditions. The commission recorded unanimous votes on the three approvals. Where staff found corrections or typographical errors in reports, several commissioners asked staff to update narratives to better explain how findings met variance criteria.