DeLand City Commission postpones vote on apartment complex in hopes developer will add elevators

The DeLand City Commission agreed to pick back up on a developer's proposal for a 204-unit apartment complex, comprised of nine three-story buildings, next month in the hopes the plans could be adjusted to include elevators.

Commissioners agreed there's a need for multifamily housing and housing in general, an issue not unique to DeLand.

However, after discussing accessibility and affordability, they agreed with the suggestion of Mark Watts, the Cobb Cole attorney representing Hill Point Development, that it'd be worth going back to the drawing board on a couple of concerns.

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"Planned developments are a give-and-take, so some of it is allowing more density for them to potentially make more profit in exchange to allow more people the use of their product," Vice Mayor Charles Paiva said. "[Housing] is a need, however, I don't feel that it's fitting a need if you can only provide service to a limited number of people."

The Pointe Grand apartments are planned for an approximately 14-acre wooded site west of AdventHealth DeLand, near the northeast corner of the intersection of North Spring Garden and West Plymouth avenues.

Watts said it can be difficult to incorporate elevators into the cost of a three-story building.

"Elevators become required when you go to a four-story building and so the entire nature of the building construction shifts," Watts said.

He said the overall cost of development receives an assist when the buildings are four stories as that would mean more units.

Watts said the project will comply with the standards set by the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Act, which ensures the availability of units "for people who have a disability to be able to rent and so those are your, primarily, your ground floor units throughout the project."

During Monday night's City Commission meeting, Paiva explained it's not just seniors or people with physical limitations who could benefit from the complex having elevators; people with small children who need strollers or people with multiple dogs would be able to move around easier, too.

"Not everyone can be on the first floor," Paiva said.

Commissioners also raised concerns about landscape buffers, which Watts said the development team could look at, given the closeness of The Cascades, a single-family home subdivision, and affordability.

He said the complex is being designed as a market-rate community.

"Affordability tends to be a supply-and-demand issue," Watts said. "We're hoping that by adding additional supply to the market, it helps with that affordability without being a tax credit (project) or otherwise going through an affordability program through the state."

Hill Point Development also has complexes in development in Daytona Beach, where rent prices are advertised as starting at $1,846, and Palm Coast.

Commissioners generally agreed the project's location makes sense and would be a good fit given what's already in the area.

"One thing I do like about this site is that within walking distance you have medical facilities, restaurant options, even a farmers market at the corner there," Commissioner Chris Cloudman said.

The proposed development is slated to come back before the commission during its second regularly scheduled meeting on Aug. 15.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: DeLand commission postpones vote on 204-unit apartment complex