Riverwalk, Down Under area, infrastructure: Port Orange town hall updates residents

PORT ORANGE — Riverwalk, the Down Under district and infrastructure improvements were just some of the topics discussed at Thursday’s Port Orange town hall meeting.

City officials, including the City Council and the heads of most departments, hosted roughly 30 residents at the Lakeside Community Center at City Center to discuss the latest happenings.

Mayor Don Burnette led a presentation providing an overview of the city’s latest efforts in infrastructure, public safety and projects.

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Here are the main takeaways from the meeting.

Riverwalk, Down Under projects

Burnette highlighted two highly anticipated projects, Riverwalk and the Down Under district, during his presentation.

Riverwalk, a 10-acre property located on the corner of Ridgewood and Dunlawton Avenue, has for decades been a spot the city hoped to bring back into the tax rolls.

The $80 million to $90 million project, headed by Tennessee-based Bristol Development group, aims to transform the area into a new “destination” in the city.

It will involve a mix of residential, commercial and public space in a highly sought-after riverfront part of the city.

According to Burnette’s presentation, the new Riverwalk will include:

• 450 multi-family units.

• 35,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space.

• Public park along the river.

• 320 public parking spaces.

Construction is expected to begin at the end of 2025.

The city’s Down Under district is also set to undergo infrastructural and aesthetic changes.

The area, located under the east side of the Dunlawton Bridge, is currently home to five businesses: Our Deck Down Under, Jimmy Hula's, Dunes Brewing, Dairy Bar and Two Jerks Seafood Market.

The planned revamp of the site, which is expected to cost around $5 million, will include:

• Expanding the parking lot from 130 to 250 parking spaces.

• Incorporating underground stormwater drainage for optimal space utilization.

• Introducing aesthetic enhancements like improved lighting, gateway signage, business directories, and murals showcasing the area's rich history, culture and marine life beneath the bridge.

The city this year will try to secure the necessary funding for the project, which “is anticipated to be a combination of city and CRA funding and grants, along with possible assistance from community partners and business owners in the Down Under area.”

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Burnette said the two projects are part of the “next big phase for Port Orange.”

“How do we reinvent ourselves? In an area like Ridgewood Avenue … how do we improve areas like that and do it in a way so that not only can people live there but current residents can go down and enjoy those things?” Burnette asked.

Addressing flooding and city infrastructure

Burnette also touched on several points related to recent infrastructure improvement efforts in the city.

He mentioned the recent sewer plant and lift station upgrades, which were especially important during 2023 given the flooding seen in the city due to 2022’s Tropical Storm Ian.

Almost 1,000 homes in the city were affected in some form by the flooding, according to Burnette.

“We have over 100 lift stations in the city we have to maintain,” Burnette said. “Unfortunately, sometimes, they get tested under fire. You can field test them a little bit, but when I say ‘field test them under fire,’ sometimes that means you have to have a hurricane to find out how well things work and don’t work.”

He mentioned improvements to lift stations near Cumberland Farms on Nova Road as part of the Public Works department's recent efforts to address concerns.

Many of the areas heavily affected by flooding in the city during Ian are “low-lying, older parts of the city that were built to much older codes.”

“Those areas have always been flood-prone for years and many of them we’ve been working on for years,” Burnette said, citing the Virginia Avenue drainage project as an example. “Unfortunately a lot of things don’t happen as fast as we’d like, but when you have an event that is as catastrophic as Ian, it only exacerbates the problem and it showed what our vulnerabilities were in a more painful way.”

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Another effort in the works includes a “major pumping station on Dunlawton,” Burnette said.

He also mentioned the 21,000 feet of sewer pipelining completed last year, with almost double the amount projected for 2024; 10,000 feet of repaired sidewalks (up from the 700 feet in 2022); and recent road-paving projects either underway or planned for Town West Boulevard, Willow Run Boulevard, Peninsula Drive and Madeline Avenue.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Port Orange hosts town hall to update residents on city projects